Chapter 8
I sat in the outer interrogation room waiting for the Joker to be brought in. I was sitting so that I was positioned behind Dr. Young's right shoulder, which would give me a fairly good view of the patient. Within moments two orderlies roughly pulled the Joker through the door. I was disturbed to see that Charlie was one of the orderlies on transportation duty today after discovering that he was feeding the Joker information on me. I still wasn't quite sure what to do about that. I could report him to Dr. Arkham, but I had no proof and that would likely just exacerbate the rumors that Dr. Arkham was showing me preferential treatment for services rendered. I could confront Charlie on my own, but what good would that do? I had nothing to threaten him with and even if I did, the Joker was a hell of a lot scarier than I was.
The patient was cuffed by his good wrist and both ankles with a chain running between them. I was a little nervous about his broken arm not being restrained. Once the chains were securely attached through the rings on the underside of the tabletop and the patient was seated he placed his folded hands on the edge of the table and simply stared straight ahead. He was not looking at Dr. Young; he was obviously staring at his own reflection in the mirror but it felt like he was staring directly at me. That was probably just paranoia on my part but I had no way of knowing if Charlie told him I'd be observing these sessions or not. Dr. Young cleared her throat and began the session.
"Wednesday December 9th, 3PM. Session with patient 0801 also known as "The Joker" real name unknown. Good afternoon Mr. Joker, I am Dr. Young and I will be your new therapist. Per state law I am required to perform a standard intake mental health screening, which should really not be a surprise to you at this point. We will begin with a basic Rorschach test, followed by a Thematic Apperception Test and concluding with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Mr. Joker are you ready to begin?"
The Joker didn't bat an eyelash, just continued staring straight ahead acting as if Dr. Young wasn't even in the room.
"Mr. Joker, I know this must be tedious for you but the sooner we begin the sooner we're finished. Mr. Joker? Mr. Joker, if you're not going to cooperate I'm going to have to end the session early."
Ever so slowly the Joker's bloodshot eyes sharpened and slid over to glare at Dr. Young. He still didn't speak but the look in his eyes was murderous and I suddenly feared for Dr. Young's safety. Dr. Young held up the first Rorschach card first towards me so I could make notes, then turned it around to show the Joker and inquired.
"So Mr. Joker, tell me what you see on this card?" The Joker slid his gaze back to the two-way glass and replied
"It's a bat"
"And this one?"
"A bat."
"And this?"
"They're all bats Doc, and so am I." Dr. Young gathered up the Rorschach cards.
"Let's move on to the TAT."
"I'm all giddy with suspense." He deadpanned.
She brought out a new set of cards each with a drawing on it. The patient is supposed to respond with as detailed a story they can come up with based on the picture. She held up the first card, it was a picture of four male workers sleeping in a field together.
"So, Mr. Joker tell me what's going on in this picture."
"That's an easy one Doc, it's the fallen bodies of the victims from my most recent punchline!"
The next card was a photo of several shirtless men lined against the walls of a small metal enclosure. To me it looked like it could be a submarine.
"And this one Mr. Joker?"
"Jews about to be gassed by Nazis at Auschwitz."
The next card was a crowd of people at an arena or stadium smiling and clapping.
"And this?"
"Those are my adoring fans sharing their adulation for me. I rewarded them with a heavy dose of my Smilex gas so they could be as handsome as I am." God the freaking ego on this guy! I heard he was a narcissist but this is ridiculous.
I was furiously scribbling notes as Dr. Young pulled out the last card. It was a photo of a man silhouetted against a large window. I should add that throughout most of this exercise the Joker continued to stare at that same spot on the glass, and it was frankly starting to creep me out.
"How about this one?"
"That one is me. Escaping Arkham. Again."
"Very good, Mr. Joker we'll move along to the MMPI now."
The MMPI is a list of 567 general yes or no questions, most of which are very benign such as "I am easily awakened by noise" or "I don't always tell the truth". While some of his answers were interesting, I could tell he was outright lying about most of them which honestly, I kind of expected and of course he never stuck to yes or no but had to expound on everything. I had a lot to put into my notes however, which was great since I didn't think he'd cooperate at all.
A little more than halfway through the test you could tell he had lost all interest and that look of dangerous annoyance had returned. He was fidgeting and began tapping the heel of his foot against the floor.
"Question 362, I can remember "playing sick" to get out of something. Yes or no Mr. Joker?" He finally turned his head to glare at Dr. Young again.
"Wanna know what I'm sick of? I am sick to death of all the self-important, insipid, lifeless eunuchs Jerry keeps sending down to me! You're no fun at all. You want me to cooperate, you want to get your sticky fingers inside my brain and rummage around, at least give me someone interesting!" He again turned his head to stare at the two-way glass. "You want me to be a good boy and answer your questions?"
"Well yes Mr. Joker it is what these sessions ar-"
"I was being rhetorical, you brainless twit!" He snapped, "You want me to behave, to comply, then send her down to me." My blood suddenly ran cold. Even more disturbing was the familiar clench just below my belly.
"I'm sorry Mr. Joker, I'm not sure I understand. Her, who?" He gestured with his index finger and pointed directly at me through the glass.
"HER." He drawled wickedly. "She is very alive and very interesting. T'was beauty that tamed the beast, after all."
Dr. Young glanced behind her shoulder at the spot the Joker was leering at as if she expected to be able to see me sitting there.
"I'll take it up with Dr. Arkham, Mr. Joker, but I wouldn't hold your breath." She sighed heavily, "Seeing as you have no intention of participating further today, we'll just end the session now and you will be escorted back to your cell."
She activated the call button under the table and within a minute the orderlies were ushering the Joker back out the door. I released a breath I didn't know I has holding. Why me? What the hell is he going to do to me? If Arkham wants to assign me his case what do I do? I'm not quitting, that's for damn sure. I've worked too hard to get to where I am. Surely Arkham isn't foolish enough to throw a first year resident in with that grinning demon, right? Still I think it was Ben Franklin that said "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail", and I certainly had no intention of failing. Preparation it is.
I grabbed the tape from the recorder and headed to the file room. I was greeted by a secretary named Gladys who allowed me entry. I headed over to the wall of filing cabinets and searched until I found the drawer marked J. All client files are kept in triplicate as it's not uncommon for several different doctors to be treating a single patient if the case is severe enough. Once I opened the drawer it didn't take me long to locate the Joker's file. It was massive, nearly three inches thick. I flipped to the first page and located where to find the appropriate boxes of interview tapes. I walked to the other side of the room found the corresponding recordings box and pulled it off the shelf. Behind that was another smaller box marked "Joker". I opened it and discovered some of the Joker's confiscated personal effects. Why it was here and not in the property room I had no idea but I was curious so I grabbed that as well and brought all of it out to Gladys so she could catalogue it and have me sign for it. I don't know why I did it but I signed the ledger "Dr. Penelope Young".
From there I headed back to my office to finish out my daily sessions. Luckily it was actually a quiet day around the asylum and I was able to get caught up on all my patient files and managed to organize my notes and observations on the Joker and prepare my report to give Dr. Arkham on Friday. Joker's sessions would resume next week on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I had plenty of time to construct a game plan before I had to see him again. I turned off my computer, grabbed my gym bag and pulled out my gear. It was easier to change in the comfort of my own office than in the locker room. It was Gotham after all and in a city this size you never knew what kind of bacteria and germies were crawling around in a public locker room. I threw on black leggings and a pink tank top that said Gotham Athletic Dept., socks and sneakers. I pulled the uncomfortable bun out of my hair and separated it into two high pigtails on the sides of my head, topped the ensemble with a hoodie and headed to the Y.
Dick was waiting for me when I got there and was looking a little anxious. He met me halfway across the gymnastics mat.
"Hey Harley. You want to tell me what's going on now?"
"Thanks for coming Dick. I need your help." He raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow which I took as a sign to elaborate. "Here's the thing, Dick. I have, um, somehow attracted the attention of a very dangerous inmate. I kn-"
"Wait, what? What inmate Harley? What kind of attention are you talking about?"
I paused for a moment, he wasn't my patient in any way therefore there really wasn't a conflict of interest in revealing who the patient was. There was no doctor patient confidentiality to consider.
"The Joker, and don't ask me what he wants with me, but he paid an orderly to dig up information on me and today he requested that his current Doctor petition Dr. Arkham to assign me to his case."
Dick blanched as his bright blue eyes grew round as saucers. "Oh Harley I am so sorry." He placed both of his hands sympathetically on my shoulders, "How can I help?"
"Well I remembered you taught a women's self-defense class a few months back, but my job at the hospital didn't leave me any time to go to it. I need to be prepared. I need you to teach me. Will you help me, Dick?"
"Of course I will. C'mon let's get stretched out first."
Dick was a great martial artist and actually a very patient and competent teacher. We started on basic punches and kicks then moved on to defensive blocks and throws. He was very hands on, adjusting my body if my position were off, shadowing my punch so I could see what my follow through should look like, adjusting my foot with his if my stance was wrong. I have to admit I didn't mind it. I had to work my butt off to finish med school with honors, which left me very little time for dating. I wasn't the kind of girl who dabbled in casual dalliance very often either so it had been a pretty long time since I felt the heat of a man's body against mine. And let's face it, Dick is like the perfect physical specimen of the male gender. It's not fair for someone to be that gorgeous and rich and talented. I was considering how to discreetly obtain a sample of his sperm to keep frozen in case I ever decided to procreate when he caught me off guard. I was supposed to be throwing him to the ground but he got the drop on me and threw me instead.
I hit the ground with a "whoomf" and the wind was partially knocked out of me. I was now VERY aware of Dick's weight on top of my body. He raised himself up on his hands and gazed down into my eyes. I could feel my body reacting to his nearness and I felt myself suddenly grow wet. O M G Harley! Think clean thoughts, think clean thoughts! When I could finally draw in a solid breath it caused my breasts to brush Dick's chest and I felt something twitch against my thigh. I could feel my face flushing and my heart started pounding. Slowly Dick began to close the distance between our faces and I panicked.
"So, um okay then. That was a really good lesson." Dick raised his upper body back up with his arms and I took the opportunity to roll out from under him and stand up. "Yeah, so, it's getting kinda late and I have work early, so same time tomorrow?"
Dick seemed to shake off whatever had come over him and though I thought he looked a little disappointed he played it off well, which made me feel more comfortable.
"Sure Harley. You're right it is getting late. I was supposed to meet Bruce for dinner about ten minutes ago. He's probably going to burst a blood vessel." As we grabbed our gym bags Dick's cell phone started to ring. "One second Harley I gotta get this." He swiped the phones screen and held it up to his ear. "Hey Bruce, sorry I know I'm late, I'm on my way now. I really can't discuss that at the moment. No but something important has come up. There's been a new development with your friend. No not that one, the funny one. Yeah, I'll be there shortly. Bye Bruce."
Dick opened the gym door for me. It was freezing and I only had a hoodie on so Dick placed his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his warmth as he walked me to my car. Despite feeling all warm snuggled against Dick I still had a cold chill I could not shake. It felt like we were being watched so I looked around but didn't see anyone. We reached my car and Dick did a double take. I forgot we hadn't seen each other since before the accident.
"What the hell happened, Harley?"
"The Joker happened. In the past week that clown has caused me a ton of grief and I think it's only gonna get worse."
At that point Dick wasn't letting me out of there until I spilled my story to him. Since my heater was shot we sat in Dick's fully restored 1971 Hornet while the cars warmed up and I filled him in on the past week of my life.
"If it weren't for bad luck you'd have none at all Harley!
"Yeah, how about telling me something I don't already know, Pretty Boy."
We both laughed and I leaned over and kissed Dick on the cheek before hopping in my clunker and loudly driving off. That feeling of being watched stayed with me until I got on the Elliott Expressway at which point I forgot about it.