The Snake Pit Page #3

- Come on, Virginia.

You go in now.

Come on.

- What are you doing here, Grace?

- I just came along with Virginia.

- How many more left?

- Twenty-three, Doctor.

Virginia Cunningham from three.

First treatment.

- Is this the patient

you told me about this morning?

- Yes.

- I see.

- All right, Virginia. Get on this table.

- Come on. I said to lie down on this table.

- How are you, Mrs. Cunningham?

You're going to electrocute me.

Was my crime so great?

No, Mrs. Cunningham.

Nobody's being electrocuted.

Dr. Sommer and I are just trying

to make you well. We're your friends.

All right, Nurse Davis.

Pat, Mary, get on this side. Evelyn.

Would they dare

to kill me without a trial?

If I say I demand a lawyer, they'll have

to do something. It's in the Constitution.

- Now, just relax, honey.

- Three against one. It isn't fair.

Yes. I'd better

call a lawyer right away.

- I want...

- Nurse Davis,

I want her held loosely.

- Just guide her arms and legs.

- Yes, Doctor.

Don't be afraid, Mrs. Cunningham.

I've got a place to go,

and the doctor knows it.

Ain't got a temperature

or nothin'.

Ain't got a temperature or nothin',

and you can go home.

- Where are you going, Margaret?

- John was here today.

He wouldn't take me home.

I want to see my baby.

He can't take you home to that

crowded house with all his folks around.

You know that, Margaret.

- That's why you're almost well...

because you know it.

- Yes. I couldn't go back.

They all knew what to do for the baby,

and they said I didn't.

I think you knew

better than they did.

Sometimes I forget...

because I want

to see the baby so much.

You will...

soon, Margaret.

John's trying to find a place

just for you and him.

- And the baby?

- Of course.

Go back to bed now. You don't want to

have a cold when John comes to visit again.

Thank you, Doctor. Somehow you can

make me understand things.

- I always feel so much better

after you've talked to me.

- All right, Margaret. Come on.

Dr. Kik?

- May I please talk to you for a second?

- Yes, Mrs. Cunningham.

- How long have I been here?

- Here? What do you mean?

- The hospital. It is a hospital, isn't it?

- You came in May.

- What month is this?

- October.

June, July, August, September, October.

Five months, and I don't

remember a moment of it.

- I don't remember a moment of it.

- You've been ill.

That's why you don't remember.

But you're much better now.

- Am I?

- Of course. Very much better.

Now you must sleep. I'll see you in my office

tomorrow, and we'll have a long talk.

Yes, Doctor.

Why do they hate me

when I love them so much?

Leave me alone, I tell you.

Just leave me alone.

I'm better, but I'm one of them.

- Do you still have

Mrs. Cunningham's chart here?

- Yes, Doctor.

- May I have it?

- Yes, sir.

- Here it is.

- Thank you.

- I'm taking her off shock.

- But she didn't complete

the full course, did she?

No, Miss Hart. I was only using it

to establish contact with her.

Yes, Doctor.

Well, what are you waiting for?

You should know by now. On the table.

What's Mrs. Cunningham doing here?

Didn't you check her chart?

No, Doctor. Sorry, but it just so happened

that I didn't have the time.

Besides, I forgot that this is one

of your special cases.

You weren't supposed to come here

this morning. I'm sorry. It was a mistake.

I know, Doctor, that in addition to all this,

I'm supposed to be supervisor here...

but I don't have to tell you how many patients

we have here and nurses to take care of them.

You can go back

to the ward now.

Tell Miss Hart I want to see the patient

in my office in half an hour.

- Very well, Doctor.

- There are two more of my patients.

- Do you mind if I take them next?

- Of course not. Go right ahead.

All right, Virginia. You heard

what Dr. Kik said. You can go now.

Come on, Virginia.

Why does she hate me?

I haven't done anything, have I?

Come now.

- Wait outside, miss.

- Yes, Doctor.

- Would you like to sit down?

- No, thank you.

- Did you have breakfast?

- If you can call it that.

- Would you like to smoke?

- No.

You do know who I am?

- You're the one who saved me out there.

- I didn't save you.

I didn't think you needed

any more shock treatments,

because last night in the dormitory...

- You remember talking

to me last night, don't you?

- Last night?

- Yes. I remember. You're Dr. Kik.

- That's right.

- Do you remember speaking

to me before last night?

- When?

Many times. In the ward.

In the courtyard. Here in this office.

I don't remember being here before,

but I remember your voice.

- I liked your voice.

- That's probably because

you liked talking to me.

- You told me I came here in May.

- Yes.

It was warm then.

Now the summer's over...

and I've lost all those months.

I know some of the problems you're facing,

and I know how you're struggling to solve them.

I want to help you, but I'll need

your cooperation. Do you understand that?

- I think so.

- Good.

Tell me, Mrs. Cunningham. What do you

remember of the time before you were ill...

before you came

to this hospital?

I don't remember anything.

I don't even remember coming here.

But before you came here,

when you were still outside, in New York.

New York. Yes.

I used to buy groceries,

and I was writing a novel.

- And I couldn't sleep.

- Yes, it's very bad, not being able to sleep.

You wake up early, and all kinds of

strange thoughts come into your mind.

- You're tired and frightened.

- Yes, yes.

I felt as if I'd done something,

and I just couldn't remember what...

- as if something was following me

all the time.

- I know.

You come to a point

where you just can't see any way out...

and you do things

which seem impossible to understand.

But you and I, we know there must be a reason,

like trying to push time out of your mind...

and saying it's November in May.

It's nothing to be ashamed of.

It could happen to anybody.

Why are you so nice to me?

Why are you so interested in me?

Because I want to help you.

I want you to feel that even if you think...

you did something you shouldn't have,

nobody'll punish you here.

Why do you want to make me love you? I can't

love anybody! I can't love anybody! I can't!

- You want to hurt me. Why?

- I don't...

Oh, I don't know why. I don't know.

- You want to hurt anybody

who tried to stop you...

from doing away with a day,

a very important day in your life.

Wouldn't it be better

to try to face it? May. May 12.

I don't know.

It means nothing, nothing.

- Unless...

- Unless?

I don't know.

I don't remember.

- Who was with you the morning you became ill?

- I was alone.

- You mean, your husband wasn't with you?

- I have no husband.

- You know that.

- You've told me many times you were married.

- How can you be married

without having a husband?

- Yes, that's strange, isn't it?

- What's your name?

- Virginia Stuart.

- Is that your full name?

- Isn't it?

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