Free Flesh Failure by Sèphera Girón Page A

then a study. There was another smaller sitting room and then a kitchen. It was an oddly set-up place but it was like a palace to me.
    â€œYou have a lot of books,” I remarked as I gazed upon room after room filled from floor to ceiling with books. He also had many strange artifacts. The walls were decorated with tribal masks and maps. In his study, there were many drawings of the human body. The brain, various organs, the skeletal system. It was all intriguing and I eagerly anticipated absorbing it all.
    After he had shown me around, he stood and looked at me.
    â€œSo now, what to do with you. The sitting room by the kitchen might be the best place for you. We can get you a bed eventually but for now, we’ll have to put you on the couch.”
    I nodded. “I hope I’m not too big for it.”
    We returned to the sitting room and I lay on the chaise lounge. It was slightly too small but it would do.
    â€œThis will work,” I said as I reclined on it. “I’m rather tired now that I’m lying down.”
    â€œWhy don’t you rest and I’ll prepare water for a bath.”
    â€œA bath? I’ve not enjoyed a bath.”
    â€œYou will like it but it will take time to heat the water. You rest and I’ll get everything prepared.”
    As I lay on the couch, he returned to the room a few times to spray it with a lovely rose water fragrance to dissipate my stench, to bring me a basin and water, towels and other little comforts.
    He set blankets across the room from me. “You can use them when you’re cleaned.”
    â€œMmm.” I moaned sleepily. I didn’t care. I felt like I was home for the very first time.
    The next day, he tried to entice me to the hospital with him. He had a few hours before he had to work with the interns and wanted to look at me.
    â€œWill I get to see Joseph Merrick?” I asked as I sipped my tea. The day was bright and I had noticed that he had one electric socket. It may be necessary but so far, it seemed as though the jolt from the tavern continued to sustain me. Perhaps my body parts were all finally working together.
    He raised an eyebrow.
    â€œQuite frankly, if you don’t today, you very likely will eventually if you accompany me on a regular basis. I will be taking you to the research lab where top-secret patients reside. These are the ones who suffer from the rarest of abnormalities or insanities. We study them to see how they became the way they are and if any of the new treatments are beneficial.”
    â€œDo you have others like me in there?” I asked him.
    â€œWhat do you mean, like you?”
    â€œI mean, experiments. Half-done, thrown away such as myself?”
    He laughed.
    â€œYou my dear, are unique.”
    I picked up my toast and bit into it.
    â€œYes, unique.”
    He had an assortment of robes and veils in one of his wardrobes.
    â€œSometimes I enjoy dressing in a theatrical flair to deliver my lectures,” he said as he sorted through his menagerie. At last, he pulled out a black robe.
    â€œTry this,” he said. I clumsily draped the robe around me. It reached to my knees but it would do. He was still rummaging until he pulled out a long piece of black netting.
    â€œWe can cut this to pin to one of your hats,” he said.
    I nodded. “I can’t sew very well but if you could do it.”
    â€œBring me your hats and let’s see.”
    I produced the three hats I had chosen to bring. He looked at them thoughtfully then picked a black felt piece with many black ostrich feathers. I had always worn it with a scarf pulled up high on my face. He held up the hat.
    â€œI have some adhesive,” he said and he went into his study. In one of the towering bookcases there were little drawers I hadn’t noticed before. He opened and shut a few, bottles rattling and tinkling until he found what he was looking for. He returned with a small brush and a bottle of something.