at the clinic

At the Clinic

The Junky, sat in the purple
swivel chair in the Clinic waiting
for the CPN & the Student Nurse
(Aida a black demoiselle from
Uganda with plaits intricately
growing from her scalp -
in retrospect he
imagined little ribbons tied to
each plait) to draw up
the injection of Clopixol.
First they made sure the
tablets were all there, Annette
Grimaldi (her Husband was
a descendant of the famous
Italian Clown) explained what
each tablet was for, it took
an age. The Clopixol was for
Schizophrenia & was intra-
muscular. He took off his
jacket & bent over. Resting
his arms on the
couch, the needle after the
student’s enquiries if that
spot was allright & after she
pinched the flesh (there
wasn’t much of it) went
into the left
buttock. Initially it
hurt, he knew he mustn’t move
but only a dull, rather thrilling
pain. He didn’t even know
when it was over.
So that was that for another week.

Christopher Baily
Thursday 7 February 2002

©estate of Christopher Baily