Herbert The Hermit - Part 1

Herbert The Hermit

 

Part 1

By Paul McCann

 

After graduating as a registered nurse in my chosen field of Mental Health I  just moved into an
upstairs flat in this old three storey Georgian home near to the hospital where  I was working . I was happy and at peace with life after going through some issues when a long relationship had fizzled out . 

It had been 5 years since the day she walked away and 4 years since I began my studies in nursing .

Out of the blue one afternoon I heard this voice calling for help . I did as anybody would have done and rushed to help .

The voice came from one of the rooms on the ground floor of the building , so I made my way down the old oak staircase and then in through a door that was left hanging by one hinge to the door frame .

I looked around the flat and found an old man lying there on the floor unable to get to his feet . He said his name was Herbert and there in the dimly lit room I could smell the reeking stench of alcohol and I suspected Herbert had been a heavy drinker most of his life .

Even as he lay there with blood everywhere he still clung to the bottle in his hand .

As a mental health nurse I rendered assistance to him emotionally , physically and psychologically .As I checked his wounds and assessed his overall situation I was able to diagnose his state of mind  and called for an ambulance . He was in need of detox and proper nutrition and support in other areas of his life .’
Herbert was a sad  case , he had become a cranky old man with abusive language and during the time I was waiting for the ambulance to arrive Bert decided to launch into a barrage of weird and savage name dropping of which I was quite accustomed to in my line of work .
.

I was able to help Herbert to his feet and sat him on a chair at a small table in his flat  .

As I opened the curtains the sunlight was having an issue streaming through the dirt on the
window . The room itself was filthy with empty bottles lying all over the wooden floor . I began to get a picture of Herbert’s problem as he started to tell me more about himself . Here and there were a few photos in frames of him with a wife and children .

It was the summer of 1989 when fate had decided to introduce Herbert into my life and the fact was Herbert had been abandoned by his wife ten years ago .

I assume that his poor wife had taken just about all she could and could take no more  so walked out the door .

Was it just by chance or destiny I stumbled upon this lonely old man ?

I hoped that I would never end up the same way as Herbert ; angry with life and everyone in it

Herbert’s story is only one in of many I could tell you .

Herbert was a thin man with a baby face . His Irish complexion seemed slightly deceiving with the tracks of hardness written all over his face  .

Somewhere buried deep inside of him I knew there was a good man , a family man ,  a  caring person , a different and better man . The sad reality was that I was being confronted by Mr Hyde in the horror scene of a movie . Herbert was now fuelled with alcohol and he wasn’t able to reason that well . At this point in his life Herbert was not someone who enjoyed the social scene , or getting out and about around town . He was not the sort of person caught up in a passionate lifestyle .

Herbert was getting ready to go . His life was  in its latter stages and every now he had an ability to talk over some of his desires and then suddenly he caught himself on a would exit out from that communication about his life and try to drink from the empty bottle in his hand as if he could cope better with whatever moment .

Even though Herbert has his own answer still the question remained unanswered to the story of his life which was a message in a bottle .
Sadly no one else could read it as well as he could and I could see that Herbert he needed to read that message himself  .

Eventually the ambulance came and I handed over to the medics what I had seen and found . After speaking to the hospital they informed me that Herbert was a regular patient there and that he was placed in the mental health system so with the doctors authority Herbert was going to be scheduled
for a detox program  and some other support inside a section of the hospital where I was working .

The ambulance took Herbert away and I began cleaning up his flat . After I finished my shift in the hospital I called by to see Herbert .

“Hey , how’s it going today Herbert ?”  

He looked at me and gave a wave .

“Hey Doc , call me Bert .“

‘ok Bert , so are you getting along with everyone here ok ?”
He gave me as look as if to say , you must be kidding and said .

”Do you see that Mad Dog over there well I’ll tell you if I was fifteen years younger I would knock him out .‘

I smiled and replied.

“‘Well the thing is Bert you’re not 21 anymore so you better just settle down and remember that you are probably twice his age and only half as smart as he is  “.

“The thing is Doc I was always fond of a drink and there is nobody more fond of the drink as I am . For instance yesterday I was craving fro a drink so much that I got through the window and it was that Mad dog sitting over there who told on me and as I was making my way there through the Park
they captured me and brought me back here again , so now they have me on an hourly sight check .”

“Well Bert you have to watch yourself now , maybe on Friday night we can watch  the football  match on TV 
“

Bert looked at me as if I was mad and said .

“Only if I have a bottle of Scrumpie in my hand  :

 

I laughed and replied

“When I was a lad of fifteen I played football and did some boxing . Memories of Friday nights are still as real to me today as they were back them . Have you gotr any memories of your young years Bert ?”

Bert closed his eyes and he sighed  ,

“I can tell you this , I was the main man . The head of the mob .
We were called the Bone Boys and we were all heavy drinkers long before our teenage
years . I was tough and rough and ready enough for anything and anyone back then
. “

I smiled and thought to dig deeper ,

“Were you ever married or had children Bert ?

I asked and he immediately replied

“I already told you the story Doc the day you found me on the floor of my flat . She was living on the edge with me and the kids always heard me singing when I had a  session . I
never laid a finger on any of them Doc .“

“ Did you never want to quit the drink Bert ?”

“I was born with the gene . It’s a proven fact Doc , an iinherited condition they say .“ 

In his words he was reading that message in a bottle that I wanted him to know and share . He at last was able to see it and accept it .
Most alcoholics just hide from the truth and wash it all down their throats  , bottle after bottle without measure or accounting for their behaviour  .

There he was , a wild man , a hard case  a sailor lost in his own sea of sadness without a care in the world . People like Herbert are unique as such become like a hermit in a world where they don’t fit and they rarely want to make any change to their condition

“So Bert , you were the man . A leader of the pack .”

“That what I was all right Doc , I was the leader of a gang and we were all joined together by the same connection . Our love for the drink . It’s a wonder any of us remained sane after all those Fridays nights we had back then “

“Well Bert at least you have memories .“’

“ I don’t really like those memories you know  ., I still get half tore just thinking about
it Doc. Have you ever tried to remember something in your life that you tried
to forget and then you can never recall what happened ?’

 

 

End of Part 1

 

Link to Part 2  Herbert The Hermit

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/herbert-hermit-part-2