"Thanks." Piscatella said and took a sip of the coffee. Healy watched as he drank and tried to come up with something to discuss.
"Hm, a new taste?" Piscatella asked after a few sips.
"I guess I just put too much sugar." Healy said innocently.
"Nevermind, it's good." Piscatella said and drank some more. He finished the coffee and put the cup in the trash.
"Thank you, Healy." Piscatella said. "You're a good man." he continued and Healy knew that the drugs were starting to affect him already. He looked at Healy with a dizzy look.
"Everything okay?" Healy asked.
"Yes. It just feels cold." Piscatella said slowly and looked at his hand confused. "Look, I have blood in my hand." he said and showed it to Healy who didn't see anything. Suddenly Nicky approached them.
"What happened to ma?" she demanded.
Piscatella started laughing.
"What's funny?" Nicky said upset. "What did you do to her?"
"You look like a walrus." Piscatella laughed.
"Excuse me?" Nicky said confused. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" she continued when he didn't stop laughing.
"Caputo, you should come to the main hall." Healy called in his radiophone.
Piscatella laughed and laughed and soon every inmate was looking at him confused. Suddenly he stopped laughing and looked at them sharply.
"What are you all looking at?" he shouted. He took a few steps towards Taystee and lifted up his hand.
"Do you know whose blood this is?" he asked. Taystee looked at him as if he was crazy. She didn't see any blood.
"What the hell is he talking about?" she whispered to her friend.
"I assaulted your friend." he snapped in her face. She looked terrified.
Caputo arrived and asked what was going on. Healy motioned towards Piscatella who turned around when he heard Caputo.
"Mr Caputo, the big boss." Piscatella said. "You think you can help these filthy inmates." he continued and reeled his way to Caputo as if he would have been drunk.
"Are you drunk?" Caputo asked.
"I'm sick of this place." Piscatella snapped. "Look at them!" he shouted. "They don't deserve anything. Look at that fat bitch there, I should beat her up." he continued and pointed at Taystee.
"What is this guy on?" Nicky asked confused.
"Do we have a problem here mr Piscatella?" Caputo asked.
"Yes. You run this place too softly." Piscatella snapped. "These criminals should be tortured, to death." he continued.
"What did you do to Red?" Nicky hissed.
"Oh yes, your protege." Piscatella said to Caputo and ignored Nicky. "She's in medical."
"What did you do to her, motherfucker?" Nicky shouted. He turned to her.
"I hit her and her friend." he blurted. "And it felt damn good."
"How could you!" Nicky shouted. "She hasn't done anything."
"Because I hate her. And I hate you too." he said. "And guess what I would like to do with people like you? I'd hang you in that tree over there." he said and pointed at a chair behind Nicky.
"What fucking tree?" Nicky asked as she didn't see any tree. "You're fucking nuts."
"I think he's hallucinating." Healy whispered to Caputo.
"I'll call the police." Caputo said. "And maybe an ambulance too." he continued and picked up his phone. He went aside for a couple of minutes to make the call. Meanwhile Nicky was demanding answers about Red.
"Why the fuck would you beat her up?" she said angrily.
"She defended that girl." Piscatella said. "That darkie."
"What did you do to my friend?" Taystee asked threateningly.
"I stumbled over her in the dark." Piscatella said and laughed. "It was so dark I didn't see her." he continued laughing.
"You fucking racist." Nicky said.
"And you know what the best part is?" Piscatella continued still laughing. "You can't see any bruises because she's black!" he laughed at his own joke. Everyone was looking at him quite confused. Healy didn't know what to do.
"You fucking mean piece of shit!" Taystee called and gave Piscatella a push. He was about to hit her but Healy interfered.
"Maybe you both should calm down." he said and stopped Piscatella.
"You know mr Healy, I never knew that I was this funny." Piscatella said. "I feel so creative, these jokes just come out of my head." he continued amazed.
"Maybe you should sit down for a minute." Healy said and offered him a chair. Piscatella sat down.
"Why don't you tell me what happened today?" Healy asked calmly and took out his phone to record the conversation.
"I followed the nigger because she was running and she dissed me for being gay." he said. "I mean, it's okay to be gay, isn't it?"
"Of course." Healy said assuring him that he should continue.
"She said that nobody would want to have a relationship with me." he said and tears started to form in his eyes. "And I just broke up a couple of days ago." he cried.
"What did you do?" Healy asked.
"I found that he was cheating on me!" Piscatella sobbed. Healy didn't care. He knew it was just emotional outbursts, like he had had.
"No, no, I mean what did you to the girl, Maria?" Healy asked.
"I beat her of course." Piscatella said as if it would have been the only right thing to do.
"And what about Reznikov?" Healy asked sharper.
"She tried to stop me and I got pissed so I hit her too." Piscatella said.
"I think you just got yourself fired." Caputo said and arrived with two policemen behind him. They had heard everything.
Piscatella looked up and saw one of the policemen was black. He dried his tears and smiled.
"I have one more!" he said enthusiastic. "What do you call a smiling nigger?" he asked as the policemen took out their handcuffs.
"A snigger!" Piscatella cried out and laughed again. "What are you doing?" he asked as they put him in handcuffs.
"You're coming with us, mister." one of the cops said and led him out.
The inmates followed them curiously to the door. Outside Piscatella got a panic when he saw the police car. For him it looked like a UFO and he thought they were going to take him to outer space.
"Not the UFO." he called and tried to get away, but they were holding him steadily. They put him in the car and a nurse came to take a blood test from him.
"He must be on drugs." one of the cops said.
"Yeah." the other agreed. "I don't think we'll be going to space or anything." he laughed.