At the nurse’s station, Nurse Kendall and Antoine are flirting up a whirl, which is just another way to pass the time. From his pocket, Antoine retrieves a roll of peppermint Life Savers. He peels one off the top, pops it in his mouth, and then offers one to Nurse Kendall, and one to Bunny, too. Bunny does not want a peppermint Life Saver. She’s here for a piece of Nicorette gum. “You already got one this morning.” Nurse Kendall rations the Nicorette as if nicotine were an opiate.
“Come on. Have a heart.” Antoine cajoles Nurse Kendall on Bunny’s behalf. “Give the woman a damn piece of Nicorette gum.”
Because the crazy people are Not Allowed to touch anything remotely related to medication, not so much as a vitamin, with their own hands, Nurse Kendall peels away the backing on the Nicorette wrapper, and Bunny receives the piece of gum on her tongue as if it were a Communion wafer.
“You need anything else?” Antoine asks.
“Yeah,” Bunny says. “Could you tell me the weather? Outside. Is it cold?”
“You bet it’s cold. It’s damn cold.”
“Is it overcast? Or is the sun out?”
“It was sunny when I got here,” Antoine says. “But now, who knows. They’ll be back from the walk pretty soon. One of them can tell you better.”
Pretty soon turns out to be all of two minutes, when snap! just like that, the corridor is swarming with crazies taking off their coats and then wandering off in every which direction, while the social workers, like kindergarten teachers on a class outing, try to keep order. Group Walk was cut short because of Josh, because he bummed a cigarette from a construction worker. Josh doesn’t smoke. He bummed the cigarette to give to Andrea, but no one cares why he did it. It’s Not Allowed, and there is nothing more to be said.
In the living room, Andrea spreads her coat over her legs. She is still shivering, and Josh says, “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? Forget what those fucks said. You did us all a favor.” She turns to Bunny and says, “You would not believe how fucking freezing it is out there.” Then, in perfect imitation of one of the social workers, the one who is very petite except for her breasts, which are the size of Volkswagens, Andrea mimics, “One rotten apple, that’s all it takes. One rotten apple,” she repeats, and Josh looks like he is about to laugh, and Bunny realizes that she is holding her breath in anticipation of what isn’t going to happen.