‘ Hollow ‘ Halloween: Janice And Mr. Bones ….[ Boozing; Loneliness; Mental Health; Psychiatry; Halloween; Fictional; Long Enough ] Poem by Bri Edwards

Janice worked 9-5 as her boss's secretary.
At work she was sedate. But her evenings could be scary.
You see, Janice lived a bit on the ‘wild side',
something which, from her coworkers, she did hide.

She was single,25, had a tattoo on her ass.
In the evening she drank and smoked "a little grass".
She ‘bar-hopped' and some nights took some guy back home.
Janice lived by herself, but did NOT like …..being alone.

One October 31st, yes, a night of Halloween, …..
Janice was ‘flying high', feeling like a freaking queen.
She'd dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein, in itself scary,
and on her way home from a bar walked into a cemetery.

She must have passed out there, among the mossy graves.
At 3 A.M. she woke up, seeing, at first, multi-colored waves.
But then a strange man appeared, quite pale, tall, and thin.
She wanted sex, and before too long he was well in-
side of her.

At dawn she awoke, lying across two gravestones.
"He" was not there, but she recalled his name: "Mr. Bones".

[[ 3 months pass ]]

That November 1st she had called into work "sick".
She'd gotten home, had showered off real quick.
She felt VERY ‘creepy'. Soon she was alone in her own bed.
Sleep overtook her again the moment her pillow hit her head.

A few weeks later all was not well. "Mr. Bones, indeed! "
She was drawn back to the cemetery. She felt a pressing need …..
To find the man called "Mr. Bones", but he was not there.
She cruised the bars and shops nearby, ‘not turning up a hair'*.

She'd gone back to work November 2nd, to no avail.
She just could NOT concentrate and, at her job, she did fail.
She said she was having psychological problems; she WAS!
She saw a psychologist to figure out the cause.

BUT Janice was too embarrassed to tell the doctor "ALL".
After three visits and no improvement, both the ‘doc' and she hit a ‘wall' …..
beyond which neither felt they could proceed. The visits now did end.
She fell into a deep depression; spiraling down her life did wend.

Nights were the worst times for Janice. Nightmares did abound.
In her past she could not stand to be alone; now she wanted no one around.
She lived on her three credit cards, paying the minimum allowed.
She ate mostly "fast-food, take-out", avoiding any crowd.

She tried, and failed, to kill herself. She ended up hospitalized.
After three days a "shrink"** came by, one highly-specialized.
Dr. Graham [not related to "Cracker"] spoke in soothing tones.
Janice, sedated, told her of her night with "Mr. Bones".

[ But first the hospital spoke to Janice's mom, as part of protocol.
"Mom" was a widow. She said: "Doctor, make her well. It's all
……..I want." ]

A few more days passed while Janice recovered more and more.
Doctor Graham hypnotized Janice, hoping to learn the "score",
"the score" meaning "the reason" for Janice's mental troubles.
The doctor would try to find AND burst some "imaginary bubbles"***,

"bubbles" being beliefs of Janice which were not backed by facts.
Graham hoped to find, in her patient's mind, useful psychiatric ‘tracks',
‘tracks' hidden in Janice's subconscious, tracks to make her well.
The doctor knew that mental problems could be ‘a living Hell'.

Back through her recent past the doctor took Janice, searching.
She took the patient back months, Janice sometimes lurching …
forward from her sitting position, her face at times looking pained.
Though the process looked at times distressing, much could thus be gained.

They ‘went back' at last to October 31st, and "Mister Bones".
NOW, besides lurching and grimacing, Janice let out ….some groans.
BUT, "No pain, NO gain", an ‘old saying', certainly did apply.
Soon, in a day or two, Janice was up and about, smiling. Here's why:

It came out while she was hypnotized, there'd been no nighttime sex!
Beer and drugs? Yes. A cemetery? Yes. Wishful thinking? Maybe. But NO SEX! !
No "Mr. Bones". Only in Janice's mind did Mr. Bones exist;
a Halloween trick had been played on her, a nonexistent tryst!

Now, more months gone by, Janice no longer frequents after-work bars.
But she's at a new job, has a cat, and collects colored rocks in jars.
She goes to McDonald's, but she also walks her building's treadmill.
AND she's dated the same guy three times this month. Wish her luck! Bri will.


(October 16th and 25th 2017)

* "not turning up a hair" ……..not finding a thing; finding nothing (that is looked for)

** "shrink" ….a psychiatrist

*** "imaginary bubbles" …misconceptions; untruths in Janice's thinking