(continued from page 17)
You talked to the straw man. That was the important thing. You
told him what you had done that was Malo, that was bad, then you
set him on fire, and he took the bad things away from you. Willie
and I stared at each other. This man was serious and he wanted this,
but starting fires around oxygen and blowing up the fire alarm were
not things I could permit. Jorge explained.
I asked, could we draw the straw man, and he could talk to it, and
his daughter could take it outside and burn the paper. They conferred.
I said, no other way. Jorge had to go back to work; this was it.
I sent Willie to get a red ink pen from the nurses, and he drew
a man in a hat, and then in red ink lots of flames around him. Mr.
Arturo liked it. We left him alone. Then Willie solemnly took the
paper from him, I sent him outside to burn it, and I slept for nearly
three hours. I was grateful for the sleep, and grateful for the concept,
that you could burn your sins away in someplace not Purgatory. That
was a thought to be thankful for.
Dr. Barry practices Internal Medicine with Norton Community Medical
Associates-Barret. She is a clinical associate professor at the University
of Louisville School of Medicine, Department of Medicine.
18
LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
Happy
Holidays
and a Happy
New Year
from the
staff of the
Greater
Louisville
Medical
Society