Excerpt--February-April 1969: Driven

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The Long Road to Cherokee
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(Cherokee, Iowa)
Driven:

To the institution. I remember this part in black and white. The police car threaded up a hill, wheels crunching the ice. Bare deciduous trees, black evergreens, a gray scape of snow, dead grass, frozen earth. A dreary castle at the apex, spires, a place where a dungeon might exist, not a place I wanted to be.

The car stopped just short of a stone portico. The woman unlocked and opened the car door, motioned me out. “Come along, you.”

The sheriff, the escort, and I climbed some steps. The woman pushed me through the door.

I disappeared inside Cherokee.

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The Stone Portico to the Cherokee Administration Building
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Driven:

To forget. I don’t remember much about those first few hours in Cherokee: an intake report, a brief physical, and a mug shot. Maybe even a bathroom break.

Just the terror, the anger, and the thumping of my heart, all in bas relief, the physical details distorted behind crackled glass.

To escape.

For two months, I plotted, begged, cajoled, and lobbied for my release. I wanted only to flee the institution, Iowa, my grandparents.

Close-up of the Portico
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Excerpt copyright 2008, Jennifer Semple Siegel.

Text may not be reposted or republished without permission.

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