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Inappropriate Behavior (Beach Holme $14.95)
Life's Fantasies and harsh realities collide with one another in Irene Mock's debut collection of short stories Inappropriate Behavior (Beach Holme $14.95).
The title story "Inappropriate Behavior"; (nominated for this year's Journey Prize) is the first of a trilogy set on a psych ward where Ellie, a young nurse, sadly realizes some people are afforded privileged treatment depending on their position in society.
Twenty one year old Harold, picked up at a peace demonstration because he was soliciting for an organization which didn't exist, is drugged and placed in solitary confinement. Room 11, or the Quiet Room as it is also known, has thick metal bars and a slot in the door for sliding a food tray through.
"We need an admitting diagnosis,"; says psychiatrist Dr. Cooper to Ellie, as he scans a list of possibilities. Ellie tries to convince him that although Harold's moods correspond to tensions in world politics - which Harold monitors on his transistor radio - there's no need to keep the boy in solitary confinement.
In the third story of the trilogy, "Rapture,"; Ken, a prominent lawyer who has a nervous breakdown after brutally assaulting his wife, is served coffee on a silver plated tray from the staff room.
Dr. Cooper won't allow the nurses to record Ken's admissions about his 'special' relationship with Suzette, his ten year old daughter (although Ken infers Suzette is the reason he had to 'take care' of his wife), for fear of legal action.
"You'll have to be careful with this one,"; Dr. Cooper cautions Ellie. "He's a brilliant criminal lawyer, and we don't want a malpractice suit on our hands.";
Mock, who co edited Journey to the Interior: An Anthology of Kootenay Women Writers, lives in Nelson and is a founding member of the Kootenay School of Writing.
[BCBW 1997]
The title story "Inappropriate Behavior"; (nominated for this year's Journey Prize) is the first of a trilogy set on a psych ward where Ellie, a young nurse, sadly realizes some people are afforded privileged treatment depending on their position in society.
Twenty one year old Harold, picked up at a peace demonstration because he was soliciting for an organization which didn't exist, is drugged and placed in solitary confinement. Room 11, or the Quiet Room as it is also known, has thick metal bars and a slot in the door for sliding a food tray through.
"We need an admitting diagnosis,"; says psychiatrist Dr. Cooper to Ellie, as he scans a list of possibilities. Ellie tries to convince him that although Harold's moods correspond to tensions in world politics - which Harold monitors on his transistor radio - there's no need to keep the boy in solitary confinement.
In the third story of the trilogy, "Rapture,"; Ken, a prominent lawyer who has a nervous breakdown after brutally assaulting his wife, is served coffee on a silver plated tray from the staff room.
Dr. Cooper won't allow the nurses to record Ken's admissions about his 'special' relationship with Suzette, his ten year old daughter (although Ken infers Suzette is the reason he had to 'take care' of his wife), for fear of legal action.
"You'll have to be careful with this one,"; Dr. Cooper cautions Ellie. "He's a brilliant criminal lawyer, and we don't want a malpractice suit on our hands.";
Mock, who co edited Journey to the Interior: An Anthology of Kootenay Women Writers, lives in Nelson and is a founding member of the Kootenay School of Writing.
[BCBW 1997]
Submitted on August 13, 2003 in By David.
