Cian had enjoyed his little tussle with the Doctor. Not enough to get into lockdown or the strait jacket for, just enough to leave a mark. It was checkup day, and my little Rusty Blackbird needed her mark to know I was still playing the game. Her grayish color and the line over her eye was kind of like the birds my father used to drag me along to look for in the woods, before he took off and left me on the street.

The game with the Doctor had started a while back, since I had caught my Rusty's eye. I fell into that eye, deeply, and got lost in those green depths. She was amazingly like me, that eye said. She was not mentally ill, she just had a dark side, as I do.

I had discovered my dark side to be much like my father's. I had watched him kill animals in the wild in cold blood; just twisting the necks of birds and other animals which disappointed him. He was a huge man, as I am, tall and broad with trained speed due to his Green Beret times in 'Nam. My training came from a Dojo in Wisconsin near home; my dad had wanted me to "be a man". I started to take pleasure in his killing... and he left before I could kill him.

The dark side had led me to many fights on the streets, and finally to deep brooding silence. I was deep in my thoughts for many months, and woke to realize that I was in a mental institution. For the longest time I fought... I still fought. But I picked my fights, and watched for the opportunity to hurt the doctors who kept me in this prison. The day would come when I could get out. When I could take my Rusty and get out for good.

Doctor Bruce Pytka was a Cleveland Polack in my mind; he wasn't Polish as I am, he was a Polack. Stupidly slow in his mental activity. Almost a slave to the system he worked for, unchanging day-to-day. It was funny to tease him, to hit him *just* hard enough to get my release and not to make him mad. And he had shown my mark to my Rusty today.

I saw Rusty go by on the way to the lunch room! She NEVER leaves her room. And Doctor Pytka was coming into my room. And my cousin Chester was visiting right after the doctor was done. He was bringing his woman Marta along. Could today be the day?

The good Doctor asshole was walking into my room, acting as though he had never seen the pictures of birds on my walls before. The biggest one I had was from National Geographic, and it was of a Rusty Blackbird, perched on a reed in some marshland somewhere. It was right opposite my bed, where I could look at her. I smiled at him.

"Sorry about the lip, Doc. Those damn nurses were getting pushy again; you know how I can't stand being pushed. They push me so far, touching me, and I get so nervous. When you let me out, I'm heading for the North Woods, up in Canada somewhere, as far away from people as I can get."

Doctor Polock smiled and made some notes, and I saw Chester and his woman outside the door. I decided: this is the time. Gesturing at Ches to come in, I grabbed the doctor and took him down with a kick to the chest. Taking his keys, I stood up and told Chester, "I'm breaking out. Help me!"

A quick pat on the back and I knew I was covered from behind. We ran together into the lunchroom, and there was my Rusty, all alone by a window. I ran to get her.

"Rusty, we're breaking out. Come with me!" She jumped up and nodded, smiling.

Chester had found an empty dish cart, and lifted it over his head, tossing it out a window. State budget cuts had left little funding for repairs, so the screen outside the shattered glass tore easily. The four of us jumped the ten-foot drop and rolled to our feet. A quick run to Chester's two Harleys and we were gone.