Broken Wings 2 - Midnight Flight Andrews, C. (books for students to read TXT) 📖

three days they wouldn't let hereat anything, and all she could say about that was she was a little too heavy anyway.”

“It doesn't sound like she belonged here,” I said. “Sounds like she belonged in some mental institution.”

“Don't we all,” Mindy muttered.

Everyone was silent, contemplating what she had said.

“Dr. Foreman believes she can change anyone. That's the point,” Gia finally piped up. “Don't you get it yet? No behavior, not even mental illness, can't be changed or cured. She thinks we're all Skinner pigeons.”

“Skinner pigeons? What's that?” Robin asked.

I looked at Teal to see if she knew. She shook her head and shrugged. “I wasn't exactly a good student,” she said. “What is it, Gia?”

“Didn't anyone tell you guys anything about this place and Dr. Foreman before you were sent here?” she asked.

“Not much more than this is your last chance,” Teal said, smirking.

“Same for me,” I said.

“Me, too,” Robin chimed.

“Dr. Foreman is a behavioral modification scientist. They believe they can change the way people act and think by using certain techniques like carrot and stick, positive and negative reinforcers. Do this and there's a reward; do that and there's a punishment. If it's repeated and repeated, it gets so carved into you, you behave accordingly.”

“But why did you call us all Skinner pigeons?” I asked.

“This scientist, Skinner, is famous for getting people to believe in these things. He did it with pigeons in abox. If they pressed a lever, they got fed. They soon understood that if they did this, they were rewarded. If they didn't, they weren't. That's what Dr. Foreman means by her stupid reality checks. We get rewarded for doing what she wants us to do, and when we do something she doesn't... we suffer. That's reality. That's the way it is out there,” Gia said, waving toward the door.

“Dr. Foreman,” she concluded, “believes those theories apply to everything. She can change anyone. We're not here just to be good little girls. Just like she said the first day, we're here to be changed, completely and utterly remade.”

“Posy had to be very frustrating for her,” Robin said. “Here she was a so-​called expert on all this and her own daughter was a problem.”

“Exactly,” Gia said. “She has success with strangers, like our buddies and like us. Her methods do work most of the time. You're not going to get into any fights so quickly now, are you, Robin? You don't want to go back to the Ice Room.”

Robin looked at me and then looked down.

“And you, Teal. You going to run away again?” Gia taunted.

“Maybe.”

“You won't. Anyway, the difference with Posy was no matter what they did to her, what negative reinforcement they applied, she smiled at them. And then she would go and make up a story about it like she had to clean the pigpen all by herself because we were too busy or she was good at it. They would just get angrier and angrier at her. She never let them make her face reality. You know she never had a mattress, pillow, and blanket the whole time she was here.”

“How could she stand that so long?” Teal asked.

Gia shrugged. I began to wonder if she didn't admire Posy as much as she pitied her.

"She told me she was used to sleeping on hard surfaces. She liked to go camping, and mattresses and sheets and pillows made her itch and sneeze. I actually believed her for a while. She was really good at it, at telling tales. I can just imagine the stories she had people believing. It must have driven our Dr. Foreman bonkers.

“But . . . Natani liked her,” Gia said wistfully. “He favored her, talked to her all the time, taught her stuff, like how to meditate and step out of pain. That's the way she put it. I know the good doctor wasn't happy about that and eventually told him to stay away from her.”

“Why does he obey her, work for her?” Teal asked.

“His granddaughter was a drug addict. She managed to get her on the straight and narrow. At least, that's what I think,” Gia said.

“It's true. He told me something similar,” I said, “just not in as much detail.”

“Whatever. He must owe her big time to put up with all this,” Robin said.

“He doesn't see it that way,” I told her.

“Then he really is a crazy Indian,” Teal quipped.

“Well, how did Posy end up? I mean, why don't you know what happened to her?” I asked Gia.

“No one would talk about her. I quickly saw it was forbidden to mention her name. One morning she was just gone, and when she didn't return for days, I knew she was gone for good. At first I assumed she was sent home or somewhere else.”

“So, then that's what happened,” I said, shrugging. “What's the big mystery?” From the way Mindy andGia glanced at each other, I saw they had other ideas. “What?”

“I'm sure I saw her from time to time, but only at night,” Gia said.

“And then you stopped seeing her altogether, right, Gia?” Mindy said.

“You never saw her at night or otherwise?” Robin asked Mindy.

“Never.”

“So, then she is gone,” I concluded. They didn't look convinced. “Is there something else?”

“The one thing I think Posy needed more than anything was company, friends. She tried so hard to get us to be her friends. I could tell she was making up story after story about all the best friends she had. She often contradicted herself or forgot a name or a story,” Gia explained.

“So?”

“So Gia thinks Dr. Foreman decided her best way to change her was to isolate her from people. She hated being alone most of all,” Mindy said.

“So much so that she invented people to talk to, just like a little girl or little boy might.”

“I often heard her talking to someone, and then if I asked her who she was talking to, she would say no one, but she would smile at the air as if someone