I Ain't Stuck in Stupid.

Visiting an emergency room is not exactly how I planned on spending my Saturday. However, it probably was better than what I planned: a radio model for WORK!

A friend of mine was in the ER and I went to keep them company. Most of my stay was pretty uneventful. There was a crying kid which was sad. It was obvious he was very sick.

But the best part of the evening was probably Mr. Hale. You see Mr. Hale was placed in the stall next to my friend's. He was in for some sort of pain in his foot. He was a homeless man. He was definitely one of the more, ehh, eccentric of the lot.

The nurse came in and began asking him several questions. It's best summed up in the following conversation:

Nurse: Good evening Mr. Hale, what seems to be the problem?
Hale: It my foot, lovely lady. It hurt.
Nurse: Mr Hale, have you been drinking?
Hale: No.
Nurse: Do you drink?
Hale: No, haven't touched da stuff in years.
Nurse: Drugs?
Hale: Not fo just as many years.
Nurse: What did you take?
Hale: This. That. A little bit. A lot. Sweetie, what's you gosta see: I ain't stuck in stupid. I wuz young and stupid. I done shifted gears since den.

This continued for several more questions. Then the nurse left saying that she'd be right back.

"Okay now. Come right on back, lickedy-split darlin'."

Well sure enough, the nurse walked by. Only thing is Hale kept talking. We was pretty sure he was alone, but he was having an entire conversation. His conversations were deep, involving, and had emotion. It included confrontations, complements, and apparently a stage performance which he received a standing ovation.

"Thank you. Thank you. Stop it, now. You're too much."

Later a different nurse came in.

Hale: "Der you is! I knew you'd be back."
Nurse: "I've never been here."
Hale: "Sure you have."
Nurse: "No sir. We've never met."
Hale: "Sure we done... in my dreams!"

Nurses and doctors continued to check in on him. Each time he never stopped talking. In fact, I think in the hour or so that he was there, he never stopped talking.

He was finally given some Tylenol. Soon after he "needed" to take a cigarette break.

"Oh, I'll be right back. I'ma just gonna take three puffs. I gosta have me a cigarette."

He never returned.