“I have to protect you,” he answered.“We all have to protect you.That’s all.If we protect you, then you’ll handle the rest.”
“Did He tell youhowto protect me?”
His brows furrowed again.“He said that we have to believe in you.If we believe in you, then we’ll be granted a victory, because only those who aren’t afraid to die can be victorious.”
Yeah, no,
Psychiatry 101 taught you that allowing a patient to speak about death was a no-no.You had to interest them in life, not death, and though it was a basic teaching concept, you weren’t always able to steer a patient away from the topic.
“Can you tell me how your conversation with God made you feel?”I asked.“The nurses said that you seemed upset when they came to check on you last night, and so that’s why I’m asking.”
He shook his head again.“I wasn’t upset.”
“No?”
“I was...worried,” he clarified.“I was worried, not upset.”
“And what were you worried about, Luther?”
He cocked his head at me.“You.”
“You were worried about me?”
He nodded.“Yeah, because God said that nothing bad can happen to you.”
I relaxed a little, that last sentence making me feel a little bit better about his episode.Since I was Luther’s doctor and in charge of his care, it made sense that he’d want to make sure that nothing happened to me.If he ever hoped to get out of here to live a normal life, he couldn’t do that without my help and guidance, so I could see why he’d believe that God told him to take care of me.
“Well, I think that God doesn’t want anything bad happening to either one of us,” I replied, keeping my voice even, doing my best not to come across as condescending.
“That’s why we have to stick together when they come,” he said, and while this would be easier if I could just ask him to recite the entire conversation verbatim, that’s not how this worked.“And they’re going to come soon, Dr.Batya.”
“Did He say anything else?”
“He said that I can finally go home once my work here is done,” he answered, and my heart skipped a beat.It was hard not to feel compassion for people that needed your help the most, and even though Luther didn’t know it, I wanted him to be able to go home to his family more than he did.“God said that He’d leave me alone once my work here is done.”
“Well, I think that anything’s possible when God is involved,” I told him honestly.“I think that He truly wants what’s only best for His children.”
“You’re going to beat them all, Dr.Batya,” he said, back to not making any sense.“But you have to connect first, so...so go do that, and then we can form a plan afterwards.”
“I can do that,” I lied.“But how about we take a walk in the garden and talk some more?It’s a beautiful day out today.”
His brows scrunched up in thought.“Well, we probably should.I mean, with war coming soon, it might not be so beautiful later.”
War?
“Okay, well...I’m going to call Paul to join us, if you don’t mind,” I said, referring to one of the day-shift orderlies.
Luther nodded as he said, “I wonder if Paul is one of your soldiers, too.He’d be a good one.”
As I just smiled at him, I knew that I was going to have to re-evaluate his medication intake.
