The Last Madman
by William Sanders

saturday afternoon we went to see the madman
daddy and mama and jacky and me daddy said
we were lucky lots of people all over the world
would like to see him and would never get the chance
they had him in a big kind of room with a whole wall you could see through
some kind of special glass or plastic i guess because the guard man said
he beat his fists against it a lot he didnt do that this time though
just sat there on the bed looking at the wall jacky said
why doesn't he do something i want to see him do something crazy
mama said hush dont talk like that about the poor man daddy said
yes jacky this isn't some kind of show for your amusement
this is an educational exhibit the last living skizzofrenic
in the world jacky said whats that i said it means hes nuts
and jacky laughed and i laughed and mama said hush again and
the guard man said thats all right mam he cant hear them mama said
i dont care its cruel poor man cant they cure him daddy said
for gods sake ethel thats just like you here weve finally got rid of mental illness
no more crazies on the street bothering people you remember how
they used to scare you mama said yes but daddy said and now
theres only this one left for the scientists to study and the kids to learn by
and you want to cure him they cured too many already thats the problem
should have saved a few this big tall black man beside us said
cured my ass tell it like it is bro cured wasnt what they did
not to the ones on the street anyway daddy looked mad well he said
they did what had to be done come on ethel he pulled mamas arm and
made us all move away from the black man all of a sudden
the madman jumped up from his bed and ran to the front of his room and
started beating the glass just like the guard man said and
he was screaming real loud you he yelled looking out at the people
the guard man said he cant see you but it sure looked like he could
you bastards he yelled your the ones who are crazy your sicker than i ever was
there daddy said to jacky and me thats what skizzofrenia was like
it made people act wild and say things that made no sense wow jacky said cool
i hoped the madman would act crazy some more but he went back and
sat down again on his bed later on we all went and had ice cream