Untitled Story

Coraline's modus operandi was classic. With an ulterior motive in mind, she became buddies with every single Resident, especially New Arrivals. She became just intimate enough that if the person didn't catch onto her game he became vulnerable. Once vulnerable, Coraline had her where she wanted her: able to humiliate her at will. It didn't take a horoscope wizard to know Coraline was Scorpio Incarnate. Some where, some how, at some time, this two-legged, human scorpio had perfected her art to state-of-the art.

Coraline had become so accomplished that her condition was discussed at every Medical Meeting, Staff Meeting, Administrator Council, and coffee chit-chat. Everyone agreed that the saying once a witch, always a witch was made for Coraline. Occasionally the group, professional as it was, seriously thought that the only thing to do with this Resident was sedate her, put her in a straight-jacket, then solitary, then completely forget where they put her.

Paradoxically, in time I became thankful for Caroline, for she was the

cause of my coming of age at the Health Center. You see, one day I heard her giving her come-on to a New Arrival. So sweet and buddy-buddy. Like she was the confidant of confidants.

"You can trust me with your private-most secrets and I'll protect you 'cause I know the ropes." We've all heard it before.

Staff was trained not to interfere with Residents' private matters, but Coraline wasn't the everyday Resident. She was infamous throughout the ten-county Health Centers. She was public property so a narrow rule couldn't apply to her. Besides, my reaction was spontaneous. I burst into the room and let her have it directly between her pinched, Scorpio eyes. I didn't tell her to back off and quit conning, I bellowed it big time.

Everyone knows the last thing a con artist wants is to be caught in the act, to be exposed in the light of day with his pants down and spotlight glaring. Worse still is when the breech is broadcasted so everyone hears. Well, I had seen too many Residents hurt by Coraline to let her get away with it again. Had I not been keyed up for battle I may not have stood a chance. But when she was conning at her mellow best, my attack-energy overpowered her.

Another Sugar Loaf policy stated that Staff must always speak in a level tone, never use profanity, never intimidate Residents, nor humiliate, insult, or argue with them. We were there to help, inspire, and empower. But on this occasion no one even suggested that I be reprimanded, for finally, SOMEONE had put the witch in her place. So instead of chastising me, everyone applauded.

What had led up to my outburst was what Coraline had done to Hermie just prior to her meeting the New Arrival. Now Hermie was a quiet, reserved, paranoid whom everyone loved for his gentleness. Everyone knew that the last thing that meek Hermie wanted was for anyone to see

him primp in front of his mirror or know what he did under his covers. But Coraline cleverly extracted from the reclusive man his innermost secrets, and that very morning, out of the clear blue sky, verbally humiliated him in front of every member of the Sugar Loaf family. She told them that he masturbated in bed and had every day since he was in the fifth grade.

When Coraline revealed Hermie's greatest secret, terror flashed through his eyes. It didn't take a roomful of Shrinks to know that he would never trust another human with his secrets as long as he lived. The Witch had undone in three seconds what twelve years of painstaking therapy had accomplished by highly trained psychiatrists. Poor Hermie was traumatized for life.

Years before I began pushing a broom at Sugar Loaf, three enterprising men had joined forces and established a network of health facilities for the handicapped. They purchased complexes in the vicinity of ten county seats. The arrangement gave them the advantages of mass-purchasing, rotating personnel, and keeping their Resident numbers up for tax and grant purposes. When a Resident, or Staff, for that matter, had sorely tried the patience of a given facility, he was moved to a sister facility in a different county. Depending on the individual, a Resident could take as much as ten years before showing up at the first center. The collective Staff called this Riding the Circuit.

This system protected any facility from having to deal with an incorrigible for very long. And God knows that Sugar Loaf was as happy to get rid of Coraline as the next facility in the circuit was sad in getting her.