Purple Haze

                                    PURPLE HAZE

Snake heard the rattling of the drugs trolley long before the sound of the door being unlocked.Something was different tonight. He lowered his magazine and watched silently as the night nurse appeared in the doorway.It was Michael, but he was no avenging angel tonight,his dilated pupils and robotic movements showed that he was out of his head on an unknown substance and it wasn't manna from heaven.

Quickly assessing the seriousness of the situation,Snake grabbed the nurse and bundled him into the nearest dormitory.He removed the man's outer clothes and tucked him up in one of the few empty beds."Goodnight,sleep tight and don't let
the bed bugs bite!" he whispered as he slipped on the white coat.

Once back on the ward,Snake pushed the drugs trolley into a central position  and
banging on the metal side shouted "Line up boys,the Ark of the Covenant has arrived and Lucifer's in charge."  His fellow inmates quickly formed a ragged queue;the symbolic white coat being sufficient authority to produce unquestioning obedience.Several of the more lucid patients started to laugh and one called out,""Hey,the snake doctor's in charge.Let's party!"

With trembling fingers, Snake meticulously matched patients' charts with the contents of neatly labelled bottles and boxes.He was bemused to discover that years of electrical interuptions had not completely erased all memories from his medical training.Finally he carefully lined up a row of plastic cups along the cold,sharp edge of the trolley and reaching for a large purple bottle,filled each one with the magic elixir of chloral hydrate.Raising his potion in the air,he said "Cheers!
No bad dreams tonight!"

After completing the night-time routine,which was as familiar as his own skin,and making sure that the ward door was locked to keep the outside world firmly in its place,Snake slipped into his bed where he lay listening as the purple haze slowly soothed them into a screamless night.