Chapter 5: Employed Humor
"I have not lost my mind - it's backed up on disc somewhere." Unknown
November 6th, 1942
Bennington Sanitarium
11:45 am
Hearing the door open, Breena looked up; upon seeing who entered she stood and smiled. "Mr. Reid we've been expecting you!"
She held out her hand to introduce herself as she stepped out from behind her desk.
"Breena Palmer, I'm the receptionist here in this humble home, but I'm sure to be caught doing other things. I really enjoy staying busy and interacting with our residents."
Staring at the offered hand and deciding against shaking it, Diana firmly replied, "Mrs. Diana Reid"
Not in the slightest bit offended Breena continued, "Well Mrs. Reid, your son has told me a lot about you, according to him you greatly enjoy literature.
I'm glad that there's going to be someone around here who that will share my love of reading." Holding up her finger to excuse herself, Breena picked up
the phone waiting a moment for her call to be answered before replying, "Dr. Mallard, Mr. Reid and his mother have arrived." She paused for a moment to listen than
continued, "Yes Sir, I'll show them around a bit and then take Mrs. Reid to her room to get settled."
She didn't give anyone else time to talk as she waved them to follow her and continued their previous conversation.
"You know I can't even get Jimmy, he's my husband; I'm sure you'll meet him soon, to read poetry.
I mean sure, 'Horton Hatches An Egg' does have bits of poetry in it but he won't listen when I try to tell him about all the other wonderful poets he could be learning from."
Staying towards the back of the group Parker found herself slightly annoyed with the peppy receptionist.
She was however pleased that her mom had taken an apparent liking to the woman and the two were now discussing some book she had never heard of, nor did she really care to.
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Having been at the sanitarium for over two hours making sure her mother was well acquainted
with the staff and had settled in comfortably Parker headed to the car to wait for Spencer, who was talking with Dr. Mallard.
Getting into the front seat she picked up the abandoned newspaper, finding it as good a way as any to pass the time.
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"Thank you for clearing so much of your time for us Dr. Mallard I really appreciate it.
I'm sure you had other matters that needed your attention so once again thank you.
I am also very sorry that Parker frightened Mrs. Prylan.
Really she meant no harm when she remarked on the possibility of hiding a razor blade in her apple.
Parker has always had a vivid imagination to match her odd sense of humor and that was nothing more than a very poorly timed joke." Spencer said rising from his seat and preparing to exit the office.
"No, thank you for entrusting me with your mothers care; it is greatly appreciated." Ducky began as he also rose from his chair.
"As for Miss Parker, there is no need to apologize; I have found myself becoming rather amused with her intriguing personality.
Yes, I have to agree she is quite peculiar, but she seems to be a very lovely young lady and I look forward to her next visit and that goes for you too.
As I'm sure your mother would greatly enjoy it if you came around frequently." Ducky reached across the desk where Spencer shook his hand respectively, if not just the tiniest bit hesitant.
"Well good-bye Dr. Mallard and I promise I will inform Breena when I have more permanent contact information to supply.
I've just been so busy arranging things here and trying to sell the house back in Arizona that there hasn't been much time to find a more
permanent residence. Breena has the telephone number of the hotel we'll be staying at though, so please don't hesitate to call if something
should happen with my mother." With that Spencer left the office, receiving well wishes as he went.
Opening the door and climbing into the car he looked over to his sister who was surprisingly, reading the paper.
Wondering what had caught her attention he asked, "Find something?"
"Yeah, apparently this big shot David Rossi owns a popular hotel and he decided to add an extension.
It's a casino that's due to open next week, says here he's looking for help." Parker finished flipping the paper so her brother could see it.
Quickly glancing at the article his sister had pointed out he started the ignition and said, "Looks like we're headed to 'The Hoot'."
"I don't believe that intelligence can be accurately quantified, but I do have an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, can read 20,000 words per minute... Yes I'm a Genius" (Dr. Spencer Reid -Criminal Minds)