University of Virginia Library

Winning At Western State

a doctor may had suffered an
epileptic seizure. He would be
drowsy and "silly" for another
hour.

Another patient named Doug
then challenged me to a me of
checkers. Looking forward to the
chance to rest I gladly accepted his
challenge. After only a few minutes
I had taken of his checkers and
had only lost two in the process.
The game was going too fast and I
was winning. Several sacrifices later
I met defeat. The victor was
static.

"Who taught you to play
checkers, Boy?"

"I wish I remembered."

"Hell, you come on back here
another time and let of Doug learn
you how."

"I just might."

Lots Of Room

Seeing that I had just lost to
Doug, another man, named Craig,
challenged me to checkers. Ready
for the opportunity to redeem
myself. I sat down to another
checkerboard battle. Being offered
my choice of weapons. I chose red
my lucky color. Several moves
later there was lots of room to
maneuver on the board. There were
nine black and five red checkers
remaining. Making an honest effort
to win I moved into a sophisticated
strategy which cost me four
checkers. The remaining one was
soon surrounded by eight black
checkers and devoid.

Buy Silence

My opponent was good to
me. He didn't brag about his
victory. Instead he offered to let
me buy his silence.

"Got a light?"

"No. . . sorry. Ask Larry."

"You know they don't let us
have matches. How about a dime
for a . . . some coffee?"

I didn't have a dime and he
wasn't supposed to have any more
coffee.

"Sorry, I can't seem to find any
change."

"I know, you spent it on your
wife, didn't ya?"

"No, I'm not exactly married."

"Neither am I, but I got five
kids! How many you got?"

"None, that I know of."

"You will, ha ha, you'll have
kids crawling all over you ore you
know it. I don't let mine come see
me no more they such a bother."

Taking Craig's warning in stride,
I was told we would have to leave.
Saying goodbye wasn't easy.
Several of the men me up to
shake our hands as we left.

"I'm going to practice my
ping-pong so I can me you next
time," I any said.

"And I'm going to learn you
how to play checkers." Craig
shouted.

That was the last I heard of
them that day.

The ride home was quiet. We
only talked a little about our visit
there. Most of us just sat quietly
and thought about what we had
seen and heard and experienced
that afternoon.

Darkness had set in, the sun had
closed its eyes on Virginia. But I
knew that I could never close my
eyes on Larry, Craig, Dick, Dog
and the others at Western State
Hospital. My visit there was one of
the few really rewarding
experiences I had enjoyed since
coming to Charlottesville. I'm
returning this week for more
ping-pong, checkers, and
conversations. It's reassuring to
know that even when I lose I
win.