Disclaimer: My mother was two years old when this book was written. I don't own it.

A/N: I wrote this for my Contemporary Lit. Class and then altered it a bit and made it into a fanfiction.

The Ivory Tower

"You can't understand it, can you, from way up there in your research ivory tower? What do you know about being shut out from every human experience as our patients have been?"

November 21

It had been an exceptionally long day. Almost all of Cottage F had the flu and it was spreading. The nurses were doing what they could but they were already overworked and spread much too thin. I'd called to ask the state for help but they'd told me they couldn't send me anyone for at least three days. I have a veritable pandemic on my hands and they tell me I have to wait three days for emergency staff that I truly need year round. I was tired, frustrated, and I could feel a massive headache building behind my eyes. I sighed and began to massage my temples. Getting upset would not help anyone. We would survive. We always did.

I heard the door creak open but did not look up. Whatever it was I didn't want to know. I wasn't sure how many more crises I could deal with today.

"Ray? Are you all right?" It was Thelma. I almost groaned. Thelma never bothered me in my office without a very good reason and judging by her tone this one was going to be a doozy.

"What is it Thelma?" I asked.

"Well Ray," she hesitated "well – it's – we have visitors." She looked unsure, uncomfortable and I wondered just what it was about these visitors that had unsettled her so. It had to be something pretty bad. I'd known Thelma for years, seen her handle situations that left most people, myself included, floundering with almost preternatural aplomb.

"Now isn't exactly the best time for a tour. Tell them to come back in a few days." I said. I waited for the sound of the door closing. I didn't hear it. "Is there anything else?" My voice was shorter than I'd intended it to be but I was tired and Thelma's uncharacteristic behavior was setting off alarm bells in my already pounding head.

"I'm sorry Ray it's just that Mr. Gordon is back and –"

"Mr. Gordon? What the devil is he doing here?" She opened her mouth to answer but I cut her off again, "Never mind. It doesn't matter. Tell him to leave."

"Ray I don't think that's a good idea."

"What do you mean you don't think it's a good idea?" I was upset now. The entire facility was working themselves into an early grave trying to cope with this latest disaster and here she was worrying about Mr. Gordon and bothering me instead of taking care of her boys where she belonged.

"He's here with another man and he seems," she stopped here for a moment and looked uncomfortable, "different."

"Look Thelma, I don't care how different he looks. Maybe he got a haircut or something. This is not a goddamn zoo so he and his friend can come back at another time to stare at the natives because in case you haven't noticed we're in the middle of an emergency. Now go tell him to get lost." I was yelling by the time I finished my breath coming in uneven gasps. I rarely get angry, with a job like mine you can't afford to have a quick temper, but all my patience was completely spent.

Thelma just stared at me calmly and for the first time since she entered my office I took a good look at her face. She was pale and drawn and the skin around her eyes was bruised from lack of sleep. She looked exhausted and I felt about two feet tall for having yelled at her. I opened my moth to apologize but she beat me to the punch.

"He's retarded."

I stared at her in confusion for a moment before realizing she was still talking about Charlie Gordon.

"Tell him what we tell everyone else. We're very sorry but there's just no room at this time and he'll have to put his friend on the waiting list. Then send them on their way. If he insists on a meeting explain the situation to him and get him an appointment in two weeks time. Hopefully this whole mess will be over by then."

"No Ray, you don't understand what I'm saying. It's not his friend. Mr. Gordon is retarded." She said this slowly, as if I were one of the boys in her care, unable to understand anything too complex.

"That's impossible." I scoffed. "There's no way –"

"Don't you tell me it's impossible Ray Wilson! I've been working in this field since you were still using the word retard as a playground insult!"

It was her turn to be angry and knowing what I do now it's entirely understandable. But I had yet to see what had become of Charlie Gordon and the only image of him that I could conjure was his smug, smiling face as he stood in my office that day he'd taken the tour and I had let loose on him. I know now that the smile had been more ironic then smug but then, at that moment, it had mad me so mad I almost wanted to see him again just so I could yell at him one more time. I was still skeptical but I knew that Thelma wasn't going to budge. I asked her send them in and she nodded before disappearing from my doorway.

She returned a moment later with two people in tow. One was a tall, fair-haired man who introduced himself as Burt Smith. The other was Charlie Gordon. Charlie had changed drastically in the short time since his first visit. Gone was the sharp-eyed, intelligent man from three weeks ago and in his place was a vacantly smiling stranger. Thelma had been right. Charlie Gordon was no longer what he once was. The only question was why.

It was answered soon enough. Burt informed me that he was a graduate student working towards his PhD at Beekman University. For the past three years he had been part of a special project there that's ultimate goal was to enhance the intelligence of a human being through a single corrective surgery. Charlie had been part of that program, the first human test of the method and simultaneously the program's greatest success and most discouraging failure. For a brief time the surgery had seemed effective. Charlie had not only met the program's projected goals but also surpassed them and for a short time had been the most intelligent person alive. However, it had not lasted and soon he had begun to revert. He lost everything he had gained leaving him no better off than he was before, worse even because Burt said there was a chance that he would soon develop potentially fatal physical side effects.

I listened to the story unfold completely stunned by what I was hearing. I could not imagine what it was like to feel my knowledge, my sense of self, everything I had studied and worked so hard for slowly slipping away. It must have been horrible.

Burt was staring at me expectantly and although I had not heard what he said I knew what he was asking me. I almost, almost gave him the standard answer. Nearly told him I was sorry but we just didn't have the space. But did he want to see the waiting list? Then I looked to his right. Looked at Charlie Gordon, staring out at the sky through my small office window. I had been wrong before. It was only now that I knew. Before when I yelled at him, accused him of not understanding I had not known just how well he truly understood. I had been the ignorant one. Now he was locked in an ivory tower, permanently closed of from the rest of humanity. I could not change that. But I could do something.

"Come back in two weeks. We'll have room for him then."

I would make sure of it.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this even a fraction of the amount that I enjoyed the original.

Reviews are, as always, much appreciated and adored, especially the ones with constructive criticism. Hint, hint.