Yellow Mama E zine

“The Knight”

Devin O’Leary

          The doctor’s office was cramped. A small room with no windows that uncomfortably allowed space for a desk and two rusted file cabinets. Files were strewn about the desk and piled on the floor. The doctor sat in his beat-up chair, now placed in front of Eddie, who sat on an old folding chair. The doctor reached and grabbed a file from his desk and opened it, turning to look the large man before him in the eyes.
   “You doing alright today, Eddie?” The doctor asked.
   Eddie stared at the doctor. He was looking through him, somewhere far beyond the confines of the office.
   “Would you like to know how she is?” the doctor asked.
   “Yes,” Eddie responded.
   “She’ll make a full recovery. She suffered mostly superficial injuries, aside from the cut to the side of her head. No concussions or damage to her neck. However, there is worry for her mental health, but it may be too early for that kind of assessment at this time,” the doctor explained.
   “I saved her?” Eddie asked.
   “In a manner of speaking. Eddie, I want to understand how this happened.”
   “She was a damsel in distress.”
   The doctor pinched the bridge of his nose and took a breath.
   “Yes, she was a damsel in distress, but that isn’t a sufficient answer.”
   “It’s the one that I have,” Eddie said, looking at the floor.
   The office grew silent again. Muffled by the office door, an intercom blared an announcement. Eddie sat unmoving, unphased by the sudden sound of the announcement.
   “Eddie, it took courage to save a ‘damsel in distress’. Especially when you could have been harmed yourself.”
   “Knights have courage. They need courage and honor to be good knights,” Eddie said.
   “Knights? What does that mean, Eddie?” asked the doctor.
   “Like Lancelot or Sir Galahad. They’re heroes and save damsels and fight monsters.”
   “So you believe you’re a knight?”
   “It isn’t about belief. I have honor. I showed chivalry by saving a damsel in distress. I showed courage by fighting the monsters. I would now be a knight in King Arthur’s court,” Eddie said, fixing his posture.
   The doctor quickly made a note in the file. Eddie wasn’t staring through him anymore. The doctor leaned over to his desk for a pen, moving his chair back from Eddie in the process. He did not move it back to where it was before.
   “An Arthurian knight, that’s interesting. So how would one of the Knights of the Round Table save a damsel in distress?” asked the doctor.
   Eddie continued to stare, “Are you mocking me?”
   “No Eddie, you compared yourself to a knight of King Arthur. I was merely continuing on that line of thought.”
   Eddie leaned forward, “To mock me is to insult my honor.”
   “I wouldn’t dream of mocking you. I just want to know how one of King Arthur’s knights would save a woman,” the doctor said.
   The large man was staring through the doctor again. A drop of sweat dropped from the doctor’s forehead onto the notes in the file sitting in his lap. He continued to keep his gaze on Eddie.
   “If a knight came across a damsel being accosted by a brigand or monster, he would be honor bound to help her, right?” the doctor asked.
   “He would.”
   “What if he was unarmed and didn’t have armor?”
   “He could find something nearby.”
   “Like the lid to a trash can and a broken metal pipe?”
   “If the pipe was straight and had a sharp jagged edge, sure. Every knight needs a sword.”
   A muffled announcement blared in the halls once more. This time, before the announcement concluded, the sound of multiple people running approached the office then passed by down the hall.
   “What if there were people there to witness that particular scene? Would a knight still feel honor bound to intervene if other people were around to help?” the doctor asked.
   “They didn’t,” Eddie said flatly.
   “How would a knight protect the damsel, Eddie?”
   “He’d issue a warning to let her go. Then, when they didn’t, he’d challenge them.”
   Eddie was leaning forward now, watching the doctor’s face. The already small office, now impossibly smaller. Another drop of sweat fell from the doctor’s brow.
   “A true knight fights until no more monsters draw breath,” Eddie said.
   “Even if a monster repents?”
   “Monsters are sinful and evil.”
   “Are they unable to repent?”
   “They could do it again,” Eddie said.
   “What would happen after the challenge?”
   “A knight would charge into battle, attacking the closest monster. He’d dispatch him and move toward the damsel, subduing another monster. When the last monster starts to run, begs for mercy, the knight silences him. Then he’d make sure the damsel is safe and finish off the monster that hurt her.”
   Eddie sits straight once more in his chair. The doctor writes another note with an unsteady hand. The small office, shrinking more. The doctor’s shirt sticks to his back.
   “What would the knight do once the damsel was safe?”
   “He would check her for wounds, call for help.”
   “Calling for help could have helped before the knight decided to fight.”
   “Something could have happened in the time it took for help to come,” Eddie said, “They needed to be destroyed, shown absolute justice, before they could harm her again.”
   “How do we know the knight isn’t the monster, Eddie?” asked the doctor.
   A scowl flashed across Eddie’s face. The doctor’s pen fell from his shaking hand. As he reached to pick it up, a shadow fell over him.
   “Comparing the knight to the monsters is an insult to his honor,” Eddie said, standing over the doctor.

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      Devin O'Leary lives in New Jersey where he studies chemistry and math at Kean University. Despite focusing on math and science, he has a passion for writing and a love for reading. 

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    Bernice Holtzman’s paintings and collages have appeared in shows at various venues in Manhattan, including the Back Fence in Greenwich Village, the Producer’s Club, the Black Door Gallery on W. 26th St., and one other place she can’t remember, but it was in a basement, and she was well received. She is the Assistant Art Director for Yellow Mama.