The Old Man

We speak of young men, we speak of heroes as if they are the only ones with the potential for saving the world, getting the girl, and making things better.

But what about Clyde? The Janitor of the asylum. He's worked that job for 35 years after he quite his job at the steel mill. Clyde had seen it all at the asylum. He had cleaned up every human fluid possible, and every different kind of purred what-not, from floors, walls, ceilings.

Clyde had been asked about stories about the crazies all the time, but he was soft-spoken and never really offered such a thing, he was always asked by his friends who worked all over the city, but he wouldn't give anything away. The only person he ever told anything was his niece K.T. She would come by his house weekly with some new, weird food. He adored his brother's daughter. She was wicked smart and going to school for computer science, but she would spend her nights with Clyde happily.

One night when the food was spicy potatoes and their cigarettes were burning low, K.T. offered the question.

"Have you ever had anything weird happen at your work?"

"Well I work at an Asylum, what do you think?"

"Yeah, but anything memorable?"

Clyde sat back and lit a second cigarette. Took another sip of coffee.

"Well, once there was a man who claimed to have seen aliens. His family had him committed. His name was Jimmy. He was real quiet most of the time. Except for one time, the TV went caput. The static started going, and I tried to thump it before anything. Thumping it did noth'in, only made the static worse, so I went to work on it, but Jimmy came over and began to take it in as if it had something to say to him."

"It's Them! He said to us all, and grabbed that TV as if it was the key to life. Hush, I need to listen! it could mean our life and death! the orderlies noticed that he was being disruptive. Jimmy was dragged out, carry'in on, yelling to me of all people. You hear them, don't you mister? you gotta do it, you know you gotta! I just went on fix'in the TV before everyone else started going insane." 

Clyde looked out the window, a far off look in his eye. K.T. sat forward, "Did you ever see him again?"

"No, he disappeared after that." He looked at his shoes, as if he knew more.

"What happened to him?"

"I don't know, I'm just the janitor." he took another puff on his cigarette.