User:DoctorWho42/Lunatic Assignment

"Lunatic Assignment" is a short story by American author Sonya Dorman. It was first published in the January 1968 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Plot
Four men meet around a bed. Braun tells them they must trust the plan. The nurse calls for Keepsy. Keepsy thinks about a martini. In the elevator, Keepsy feels himself being poured from one bottle to another. He shifts from gin to nitric acid. Keepsy meets Dr. Manner in his office. He sits down in a chair with an orange Naugahyde cushion. Keepsy hates orange so he sits with caution. Previously, Dr. Manner told Keepsy his fantasies should be consistent with reality. Keepsy wants to get a job. Dr. Manner asks if he wants to look at cards. A girl delivers the cards. Her shadow falls on Keepsy which nourishes him. The Doctor opens the box. He presents them to Keepsy. There is a dark maroon pattern. Keepsy sees violence. Keepsy tells him it's a carousel with a pipe-organ. Another is black like the angel of death. Keepsy tells him he sees a schoolyard with children flying kites. Keepsy wonders if he did okay. The nurse calls in Arrigott. Arrigott puts his thumb in a fist. Braun said you'll break your thumb punching. Arrigott broke his bones in a motorcycle accident evading a patrolman. Since then, Arrigott walks on his toes. He walked flat-footed to sound confident but begins to question this. In the office, Arrigott switches to the second-person. You sit in the chair and look out the window. You see pigeons shitting. You decide to say what you set out to say. You hold it in your mouth like a marble. Arrigott admits he shouldn't spend his life meandering. Arrigott begins "I" but starts shouting it. Arrigott goes on a tangent about the first-person. Arrigott switches to second-person, but remains stuck. Dr. Manner asks about walking. Dr. Manner tells Arrigott they'll talk more tomorrow. Arrigott walks back on his toes. Braun asks how he did. Arrigott says you did very well to get away from here. Braun thinks about the system of objects. Fomer follows Braun. The nurse calls them out. They go to the assignment point. A man in a silk suit reads a clipboard of vacancies. Minister: Arrigott steps into a black limousine. Soldier: Fomer gets into an olive green truck. Teacher: Keepsy goes into a taxi. Doctor but no one moves. Physicist: Braun moves into a sedan. The man says no doctors today nor yesterday. They complain they can't run a city without doctors.

Reception
In 1968, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction editor Edward L. Ferman noted "there is a force to this prose tale about four inmates in a mental institution that extends beyond its narrative, as perfect and strong as that narrative is." In 1970, Analog Science Fiction and Fact's P. Schuyler Miller commended "Sonya Dorman [...] convinces us that society is insane . . . and does it in a unique way."