In
A Crossover of American Literature
"Is he just deaf, or is he dumb?"
"He's neither. Chief get over here and sit down," McMurphey called out to the towering man standing awkwardly in the corner of the library. He stood looking out the large open pane window at the fireworks exploding out over the lake. McMurphey moved a couple inches to his right to provide an open seat on the pink floral couch for him to sit on, but he didn't move. The other room occupant's coaxing and teasing didn't help either. The Chief didn't move an inch. "Whatever, have it your way," he muttered at his stiff friend.
"How do yah think he got like that?" one of the shorter kids quietly asked his friend sitting next to him. They were both on the floor out of the way of the adults. The boy was small, dark, and rather ugly if you looked at him real close. Zits seemed to cover him ear tip to ear tip. He might as well had some in his eyes to complete the look. The other rather lanky kid shrugged.
"If you two pipsqueaks are so curious, why don't you just ask him?" Nicolas advised them. He was pouring a couple of scotches by the radio for the lot of them. A party wasn't a party without a couple of drinks.
"But he's deaf and dumb! We couldn't get an answer out of him if we tried!" Huck cried. There was a slap as McMurphy slammed his hand down on the coffee table in front of him.
"Goddamn it, I thought I told you lot already, he isn't deaf or dumb!" he scolded. Everyone was a little frightened by his outburst and was immediately silenced when they caught sight of his infuriated glare. They already knew of his violent tendencies since he broke several windows and a door pane in his attempts of self-anger management. Willy Lowman had his biggest sales replacing those window panes to the hospital. Unfortunately for him, they were his only sales. A firework exploded outside giving the only sense of life in the building. The Chief turned his head to the silent crowd and spotted McMurphey in his own vigilante sense of justice. He was really angry at the lot of them. This was the tenth time that evening he had to remind them that he wasn't dumb. McMurphey caught his eye and let out a deep breath leaning back in his seat again. Everyone else seemed to relax as soon as he did.
"You are never going to see if you get an answer if you don't ask him," he said politely to the children. The two boys looked at each other and then at the Chief. Huck whispered something into Zits ear and the boy stared back at the tall silent man. Nicolas motioned for them to speak up. It was silly how children were loud one second and quiet the next. Zits cleared his throat rather obnoxiously to try and get the Cheif's attention. A slight glance in their direction was all they got from him.
"Are you really an Indian or are you like me?" he asked. The Chief looked down at him. His skin was definitely darker, and so was his hair, but Zits could never tell. He wasn't around indian company for much of his life. As far as he could tell, Bromden could have had one of every race in the nation.
"Are you and INJEN?" Huck asked after a prolonged moment of silence from the Chief. After a moment of hesitation, there was the slightest jerk of the head from the Chief as he turned and looked out the window again.
"See? I told you he wasn't deaf," McMurphey announced.
"Dumbs more like it," Hilly argued from where she was sitting on a cushioned rocking chair across the room. Everyone turned their heads towards her. She acted like she didn't even acknowledge their pinpointed stares. "I am just saying that it was barely an answer at all. Whatever is wrong with him it surely isn't doing anyone any good."
"What are you saying lock him up?" Nicolas asked as he set down a scotch in front of Norman. Hilly smiled sweetly at him, but that candy coated grin was as bitter as a lemon drop.
"Well, Nick, you say it so harsh, I think that we should put it as cleansing society. If someone does something wrong, or is something wrong, then we should try to put them in their place. Isn't that right, McMurphey?" she hissed pointedly. McMurphey looked like he was trying to burn a whole through the woman with stares alone. So far she didn't seem to be melting let alone feeling any sense of uncomfort.
"Nothing is wrong with him," Norman slurred after downing his scotch. He handed his glass back to Nicolas for him to refill. Nick looked a little baffled by how fast the man drink, but didn't hesitate to get up and get him another. The man pointed his finger towards the tan statue near the window. "He has been in hasn't he?"
"In?" Huck asked questionably. He nodded.
"In." Several other men looked at each other. Hilly rolled her eyes at the crazy man's talk. Nicolas returned with another drink and Norman downed it again. He was obviously a little out of it.
"What do you mean, in?" Zits inquired a bit later. It was obvious that no one knew what he was getting at, but he didn't seem to notice. He rolled his eyes and slammed his finished glass on the table. That coffee table was getting a beating that night.
"IN as in in battle. Guns, bullets, comrades laying on the ground half bloodied up, corpses everywhere, IN," he exclaimed waving his hands around for emphasis. "I know it when I have seen it and that man has been in. There isn't anything wrong with him, he is just like me."
"Mr. Bowker, if he was just like you, I think that he would at least have a more interesting conversation," Hilly sniped.
"Well, Mrs. Holbrook, I do decree that you should be having a more interesting conversation somewhere else if you don't stop calling my Chief stupid," McMurphey mocked her. Huck and Zits snickered at his amazing imitation, but Hilly wasn't as amused.
"Well if he is normal, why don't you explain why he is just standing there out of the way like that?" she retorted tartly crossing her arms. She turned her nose up at the scruffy looking man rather diligently.
"We all come out differently, yah see," Norman said picking up his own buffered conversation again. McMurphey carefully slid the drinking glass away from the man with his foot. He probably already finished his fourth glass; his voice was slurring so bad. The kids didn't really seem effected by the man's status for they were too caught up in the conversation, no matter how broken up it was. Norman was leaning slightly to his left, nearly on top of McMurphey.
"They all ship us in together. We go in, but then we all have to come out. Sometimes it is with a couple holes, sometimes it is in a box, and sometimes it is like us," he said motioning towards himself and Bromden. "The only thing we got left is our mind, and that can sometimes be a cruel bitch. A bullet is nicer than it. But we cope. We cope in our own special ways."
"Exactly how do you cope Mr. Bowker?" Hilly asked snidely.
"I drive. That ford out there around, and around, and around. That's how I cope. All I think is gas, break, turn, drive. That's how I cope. Bromden? He's the smart one. He just doesn't listen to the shit in the world cause it doesn't matter. Compared to what we've seen, nothing else matters," he muttered he reached for his glass but Mcmurphey picked it up and walked back to the table pretending to fill it up again. He was taking his sweet old time with it. Obviously Norman wasn't driving home this evening. The two kids looked at each other in disbelief.
"You mean that absolutely nothing is important anymore?" Huck asked staring sadly towards the Chief. A dog could be heard barking across the street. Its cries were just audible over the loud voices of the party downstairs. They all just listened to it for a while. Zits wondered if the Chief could see it where he was standing in the window, but doubted it since all of the firework ash was still clouding the air. Norman shook his head.
"It isn't that friends, family, or anything isn't important, it is just we have seen a lot, felt a lot, and done a lot that we wish we hadn't. Those things compared to the stuff that happened over in the other worlds seems….. a bit dull. Frankly, we just don't give a shit what happens anymore," he said looking around for his glass which seemed to disappear from nowhere. "The Chief is just like me."
"Well, calling family and friends unimportant rarely makes anything better. You should try to see someone about that," Hilly retorted snidely. Norman glared at her crudely. He looked like he was going to whip up a quick tornado of boiling water to throw at the woman, but McMurphey quickly cut him off. It was lucky too that he did or else the conversation might not have been too acceptable for the children.
"Mrs. Hilly, all they do to help people with their….. coping, is lock them in a room and electrocute them for their fallacies. It is like corporal punishment. They zap you every time you even think about that man you saved back on the field. They zap you every time you talk a little too loud even if you can't hear yourself since your left ear was blown off by a grenade. Hell, they will even give you a zap if you ask for more sugar for your cereal. No one in a white suit is gonna help anyone cope with anything." McMurphey stated plainly. He sat back down disappointing Norman that he didn't get him a refill. The cries of the party entered the room again as the people moved from the lobby into the plush green yard. The chief stared across the water at something in the far distance, but it was a little hard to see with the ash still in the air. Nick attempted to give the chief a drink of water to sip on since he had nothing all day. After waving it around in his face quietly for a bit, he eventually took it with a smile. McMurphey seemed to relax a bit seeing that Bromden was actually socializing a bit, of course in his own way. He turned his attention back to Hilly who was sitting rather smugly in her chair. "Mrs. Hilly, I would like to hear your idea of family importance. You hire help don't you? They take care of your child, they feed them, dress them, teach them-"
"Now hold on Mr. McMurphey, if you are saying that I don't love my own daughter, you are gravely mistaken. I love her more than anyone else would love a child," she snipped at him.
"Oh, Mrs. Hilly, I was not saying that at all, I was just wonder what you exactly do for your child. Except buy the house, clothes, and food, what do you really do?" Mrs. Hilly turned a bit red in the face. Everyone's faces were turned at her and all eyes were upon her. They waited for a clever and rather innocent answer but none came. McMurphey smiled victoriously at her as she fumbled for something to latch onto.
"I-I think I need to be excused for a moment," she muttered scrambling for her purse. "W-where is the bathroom?" she asked.
"Down the hall and to the left," Nicolas pointed. She stumbled a bit towards the door. McMurphey chuckled a bit.
"Don't worry Mrs. Hilly, if you get bored I think there is a really interesting book I read called The Help. I think you should read it!" he hollered after her. The door slammed shut in their faces as she raced down the hallway. She didn't turn left until it was the exit. The Chief saw her race across the colourfully lit lawn to the parking lot. He calmly took a sip of his water. McMurphey was still smiling as he kicked his feet up on the coffee table. Pissing people off was his specialty, he had a lot of training with Nurse Ratchet. "Glad that is over with," he hummed basking in the glory of his sweet victory. Everyone in the room now believed that the Chief was the least bit sane. Unfortunately they were probably the only people who believed it. The ash started to settle to the earth, blackening the colourful grass lightly with its dark dust. The people down on the lawn didn't seem to care, they were too drunk to waste their time worrying about their clothes. The rapid swing music came up from the grand hall and entered the library. Nicolas started to tap his foot a bit and swing lightly. Huck and Zits swayed from where they were sitting on the ground. They were never at a party as big as this before.
"Say, who's place are we at anyways?" McMurphey asked as he watched Nicolas practice his foot work across the floor.
"I think his name is Gatsby," Chief's hoarse voice answered softly. The darkened and dusty skies soon settled down and the clear night allowed anyone from miles around to peer out across the water that the large mansion rested on. The people who were dancing bellow were too drunk or distracted to take a glance across it. The chief however, was staring at it all night. He finally caught a glimpse of it, a faint flickering green light.