Chapter Six A Brief Moment in Time

Chapter Six

A Brief Moment in Time

Regardless of what any of the so called experts might eventually conclude, back in the day, most folk were convinced what happened at Black Lodge was at least partly to blame for young Jack Weaver’s unique disposition. After all, until his existence became known to the authorities, that is precisely where he had spent his entire life. 

 

Much to the amazement of many visitors, Black Lodge looked nothing at all like its name had previously conjured up in their mind. It was in fact an impressive, but certainly not imposing, red brick Victorian gatehouse of some historical interest. Despite better days, it stood there firm and proud, like an architectural sentry charged with the responsibility of guarding the one and only legitimate entrance and exit to the entire psychiatric estate. Indeed, for that reason alone, any person with business to conduct within those impressive grounds, simply could not avoid, or otherwise ignore Black Lodge.  Then immediately behind it, a magnificent lime lined avenue stretched for maybe a quarter of a mile before approaching the rather quaint chapel of Saint Caspian and thereafter, until eventually arriving at the hospital itself.

For the moment though Black Lodge must remain our primary focus since that is where Jack is believed to have spent his formative years, and precisely where they found him rocking slowly, backwards and forwards beside the twisted and lifeless corpse of Del Morgan on the morning of Friday April 1^st 1957.

 

Legend now has it despite the carnage that greeted those first on the scene, it took two burly police officers to extricate young Jack from his living quarters and bundle him into the parked police vehicle outside Black Lodge.

 

Just as they pulled off the gravel drive, Big Bob chimed a quarter past the hour and Jack turned toward the clock tower and waved.

 

It is now known that Black Lodge and St’ Caspian Psychiatric Hospital  both held more than their fair share of dark secrets, but from the moment young Jack stepped out into the fresh air and into sunlight, each was about to be opened up for intimate scrutinisation by the authorities.  

 

Although it was not common knowledge of course, for the entire duration of his enforced residency at The Centre, Jack was subjected to all manner of physical and psychological investigations. Some were said to be one off’s whilst others, were clearly more frequent and intrusive.  

 

Blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and respirations were all routinely checked on a daily basis and he was also subjected to regular ECG and EEG investigations. The results of which never ceased to amaze those who were employed to make sense of their respective readings. His height, weight and girth were also routinely monitored, whereas bone growth, and bone density were less often checked.

 

It is also proposed that some of the earliest known work into the relationship between paroxysmal electrical stimulation, brain activity and muscle contractions owe much to Jacks reluctant involvement.  

 

At some point along the way, an interesting yet seemingly impossible observation was made, when by chance it became clear, even on exertion, Jacks heart rate and pulse remained much the same as when resting. In fact, it was while delving into this particular conundrum Banks-Barking made something of a breakthrough. It seemed Jack could switch from let’s say ‘normal mode’, when his body and mind were pretty much relaxed and synchronised. To the flip side, when he was capable of exploding into an uncontrollable rage without any obvious stimulation or provocation whatsoever.    

 

Banks-Barking’s subsequent observations revealed he was capable of demonstrating incredible surges of physical strength without any conscious effort. Furthermore, should he ever flip into what has since become known as ‘devastation mode,’ it was not such a good idea to stand in his way. Accordingly, the whole clinical team was desperate to comprehend the mechanics behind such behaviour and to learn how and why he never tore a muscle, broke a bone or put his back out in the process.

 

Numerous theories were put forward to explain why, when undertaking such remarkable feats of physical strength and endurance as he most surely and regularly did. He never seemed to break into a sweat.     

 

Emily Scott partly hit on the answer while absentmindedly toying with a crossword puzzle one day. Not surprisingly, she had long since given up trying to work out Jacks average score on the ‘emotional reasoning inventory’ but that was exactly when her light bulb moment occurred.  

 

Essentially she went on to prove that under normal circumstances, when there was no direct threat hovering over his shoulder, Jacks scores were consistently exceptional, particularly those for strategising or planning ahead. However, she also observed if any kind of threat was introduced into the equation, kaboom, he simply went off like a rocket without stopping to consider any of the consequences and even more interestingly, for some reason, his body always held out.    

 

Emily went on to demonstrate that if even the slightest hesitation or interruption occurred in a process that effectively took less than a thousandth of a micro second to complete, then some internal damage was highly probable. Therefore, in even less time than he ever had to pause and to think about it, the relationship between synaptic impulse and mechanical function would become grossly distorted. Everything of course was relative, he just never held back long enough to prove her theory was correct, she concluded.   

 

Around about the same time, Banks-Barking had also begun to draw his own conclusions between Jacks legendary rages and the unexplained surges of immense power reported by others at times of personal distress. The only difference between the two, as far as Banks-Barking was concerned was that the quest for answers more than justified any means he might apply to try and extrapolate them, and therefore, all the x-rays and injections in the world would serve only to pave the way to a greater knowledge and legitimate end.  

 

As a consequence of these investigations, it became apparent that in spite of his predicament, Jack was always well orientated, particularly in respect of time and place, and seemed to have a special gift in that respect. For example, even when subjected to those arguably unnecessary and unethical sensory deprivation tests, he never had a problem distinguishing between night and day and was not once more than plus or minus five minutes out, in his estimation of the hour.   

 

As a result of these intriguing observations, many had him marked as some kind of ‘idiot savant’. Whatever the case might be, only Jack knew the true significance of time and how he effectively managed to measure it. Thereafter, successive lab results began to support the idea he may have acquired some of his wacky skills through necessity, effectively to help him survive from one day to the next. Whatever the case might have been, only he and he alone knew of the delicious respite the dark hours once afforded, from his mother’s painful routines. He also knew only in the very dead of night would the promise of temporary oblivion descend and during which, he might occasionally dream of being hugged, of holding Elizabeth’s hand, or of even greater intimacy.

Reviews

[barleygirl]

I've enjoyed all chapters of your book to this point, using a somewhat "slapstick" approach to the psychological industry & being flippant about housing Jack in particular . . . But this chapter, to me, is most interesting becuz it gets into details of actual studies taking place, more about that, than the shenanigans going on in the place. I love how you balance fun, playful presentation with actual realistic study observations (((NUBS))) --- I do the NUBS typo so often, I've stopped trying for NUGS! Fondly, Margie

[Neville]

I got loads of NUGs & Nubs n stuff for ya... I am so grateful to ya for persevering with Jack et al.... N x