Welcome to Rumblestrip Vermont, this is Erica. I am working on a number of shows at the moment, but the truth is all I've been doing for about a week is having the flu and

watching Black Beauty on YouTube and crying.

So this week I bring you another great show by my friend Scott Carrier.

It's called The Test.

Here's Scott.

I was hired to interview men and women in the state of Utah who receive Medicaid support for treatment of mental illnesses generally diagnosed as schizophrenia.

I had little understanding of schizophrenia before I began, and I have little more understanding now.

I took the job because I had no other. I took the job because I just quit my

steady job, my professional job, after realizing that what I wanted more than anything was to put my boss on the floor and stand on his throat and watch him gag.

Then my wife moved out, took the kids and everything.

She said,

I've thought about it and I really think it's to me and because it was all there seemed to be. And it seemed somehow predestined,

a karmic response that could not be avoided. It would only be temporary, something to get

through the summer, and I was told that they needed someone willing to drive

around the state through this small towns searching out individuals who are often transient

and prone to hiding. I like to drive, I like to travel, and I like the idea of pursuit.

So I took the job and did the job and my life will never be the same. The patient is 21 years old and has lived with his parents since his discharge from the army.

He has no friends, no recreational activities, not give him any

any pleasure. He has lost weight, has general anxiety and

loss of libido and occasional feelings of

unreality. He is worried about his unpredictable behavior, for example,

getting down on all fours and chewing the grass because he was thinking what it would be like to be a cow. The patient is 25 years old and believes that she is the devil and therefore responsible

...