Frank Klus - Azaleas Don't Bloom Here

“What do you love most about me?” she prattled on, playfully.

“Everything.”

“But what do you love the most about me?”

Eugene thought about it, smiled, and said, “Your eyes.”

Catherine smiled, playfully. “What about my eyes?”

“They’re the first thing I noticed about you. They’re so beautifully shaped and bright; so feminine….” He hesitated; not sure how to express himself.

Catherine put her head on Gene’s lap and smiled upward at his awkward responses. Eugene returned the smile, wanting to give the perfect responses and fumbling through them. It was what Catherine loved most about him. He was real, unpretentious, and he cared so much to please her. “You have such a beautiful smile, my husband.” She reached up to him and kissed him voraciously.

“Tell me you love me, Genie .”

“Gene.” Eugene sat there with a soft smile on his face.

“Eugene!” Pamela said, more insistently.

Eugene’s smile was gone as he turned to look at her.

“You looked so lost in thought.”

“Oh, sorry. I was just remembering something my wife used to do.”

“You must miss her very much.” Eugene didn’t respond and seemed to prefer to be alone with his thoughts.

It wasn’t until around two p.m. that Jaydan Casimir reached Brigade Unit 187 of the Joliet district. Captain Paoli completed his investigation and escorted Commandant Casimir down to the basement of Joliet Hell House.

“Doc Grifton will be all right,” the Captain said to Commandant Casimir.

“How could this have happened?”

“Fortunately for us, Doc Grifton was able to give us a full report, which is still so fantastic that I’m having trouble understanding how such a thing happened. I’ll relay the essential parts of the report to you now, and then I’ll send you the full report sometime tomorrow, when we’re able to complete it.”

“Start from the beginning, Marco.”

“From what Doc said, everything was going pretty well—at least normally—when… Jeez, he just went off his rocker.”

“What stage was Menendez in at this time?”

“Just the first stage of treatment. He was undergoing initial phase brain probe treatment. He’d been subjected to it eight or ten times. Doc said he’d have to check his notes to get an accurate number. It will be on my report.”

“First stage? He was still in the initial stage?”

“Yeah, for about a month.”

“I know. I had him brought here about a month ago.”

“He resisted just like his ex-wife did. It took her six months to be cured… well… you know that. The way Menendez was going, it would have been probably as long. You can’t always tell, according to Doc Grifton. Some guys stay in Stage 1 for a month… hell, even longer; then fly through the remaining stages.”

“What was Grifton doing here in the first place? I thought… oh, what was his name?”

“Pinzon, Dr. Pinzon, sir. He trained under Doc Sistrunk.”

“So, how did Grifton get involved?”

“It was just recently, sir. When Doc Pinzon was having trouble making progress with Menendez he called on Doc Grifton for help.”

“All right, tell me what happened when he went nuts.”

“It’s like I said, he received eight or nine sessions—I’ll have the exact amount in my final report—and I guess he just couldn’t take it anymore. He was strapped in the chair, given several probes and then released. He appeared pretty much out of it. They usually have to carry him to the table, but this time he stood up on his own, like a drunk who’s still on his feet, but he spoke quite clearly.”

“What’d he say?”

“He said, ‘I’m feeling much better now.’”

“He just went through a brain probe treatment and said he’s feeling better now?”

“Doc thought he was probably in shock. He says it happens sometimes. Anyway, doc says he asked Menendez if he needed help getting on the table, and he says ‘no, it won’t be necessary’. He figured he meant he would climb on the table by himself, but we know now that isn’t what he meant.”

“Then what happened?”

“That’s when he went nuts, sir. He grabbed a bottle of some chemical—I’ll have the exact specimen in my report. Anyway, he clobbers the guard with the bottle in the forehead so the chemicals dripped into his eyes. He screamed and covered them. Then Menendez grabbed a scalpel and—oh, Jeez—just slit the poor bastard’s throat with it.”

“What was the doc doing when this was going on?”

“He froze.”

“What did Menendez do next?”

“Well… and this is the difficult part, sir. Menendez grabbed hold of the doctor and forced him in the chair. I believe the report, sir, will indicate he slugged the doctor, and then forced him in the chair. Anyway, sir, he turned the machine back on. Doc realized what he was going to do and pleaded with him not to touch the probe; that it was a delicate instrument—”

“I know, I know, Marco. Now, was Grifton strapped down?”

“Sorry, I forgot to mention that. Yeah, he strapped his arms and feet in.”

“Didn’t Doctor Grifton struggle with him?”

“Doc said Menendez overpowered him. I don’t think Doc’s very strong. He’s kind of old, sir. He screamed but no one came downstairs.”

“How can that be?”

“According to the other guard, he assumed it was Menendez screaming. He simply ignored it. He says it was just business. He doesn’t go down unless he’s called.”

“Wasn’t Doc calling for him?”

“No. Doc says Menendez was going to kill him if he yelled for anyone. He still had the scalpel in his hand. Doc says he was scared shitless.”

“What about the others: nurse, recorder, others?”

“On break. I guess Menendez just waited for the right opportunity.”

“Okay. Then what happened?”

“Menendez strapped him in. Then he turned on the machine and dialed the volume up high. Doc didn’t think he would know how to use the machine, but he must have been paying attention. Doc tried to talk him through the adjustment process, but Menendez would have nothing of it. Doc tried to reason with him. He said you have to use lower settings or it could destroy the brain. Are you ready for this, Commandant?”

“Go ahead.”

“Doc says Menendez just had this look of a maniac. He had a grin on his face like… Jeez, how do I describe it? It was like that grin Jack Nicholson had in the movie, The Shining, when he went after his wife with the axe.”

“Less dramatics, Paoli. So I guess he turned on the machine?”

“Oh, yeah. Then he planted the probe right on his noggin. That’s when Doc let out a real scream. His whole body went tense. Menendez just kept wiggling it around. He learned that whenever Doc Pinzon wiggled it, it hurt more. Now, this is when it got really creepy. Menendez, with that same diabolical smile says, ‘Like it doc? How ‘bout another one?’ Then he sticks the probe on another part of his noggin. Then he says, ‘Like it here,’ and sticks it in another part of his head and says, ‘How ‘bout there, and there, and there’. All the while he keeps jabbing and wiggling the probe. Then he stopped to taunt the doctor.”

“What did he say?”

“‘There, there, now. That wasn’t so bad now. Oh, you make such a fuss’—shit like that. Doc said it was like he was drilling holes in his brain. Then he resumed jabbing him. All the while Doc says Menendez just had this murderous look on his face while he’s jabbing him.”

“That’s enough, Paoli. I get it. About how many times did he jab him?”