Out of Place
“Ben bunu yapmayacağım . . . I will not do that. He can’t have my shoes, he stole my guitar!” Erkan’s eyes looked impudent beneath his dark brow as his cheeks reddened in fury. His gray-whiskered lips trembled as his hand gripped tightly around the nurse’s wrist. The nurse carefully but firmly freed himself from Erkan’s grasp. He then turned to the caregiver who was assisting him, smiled, and said calmly, “Go get Michelle.”
Michelle was scanning boxes of gauze bandages and stacking them onto a shelf in the storeroom when the caregiver came in and announced, “Phillip’s trying to get Erkan to take a shower and he needs your help.” Michelle rushed out of the store room and down the hall to Erkan’s room.
This was the last week of Michelle’s internship. It was her junior year, and the internship was part of her “Workplace and Consumer Education” class. At first she wanted to intern at her dad’s gas station, but her teacher told her she needed to branch out and signed Michelle up at the Oakcourt Nursing Home, only 15 minutes away from her house.
Wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers sweatshirt and jeans, with dark curls pushed back in a hair clip, Michelle stood out from the crowd of nurses and caregivers in white pants and polo shirts who were standing huddled in the doorway of Erkan’s room. She moved past them and rushed to Erkan’s side. As soon as he saw her, Erkan’s face brightened and he stopped looking like a stricken animal and instead looked like someone who recognized a dear old friend.
“He can’t have them, Michelle. I sold them at the corner,” Erkan shouted, pushing his way to Michelle. “He stole my guitar,” he whispered.
“I know, Erkan, but he was only trying to help you get some money to pay for your trip.” Michelle had been frightened by a lot of the residents of the nursing home when she first started the beginning of the semester. Many of them were incoherent and loud, and some could be very aggressive and scary. Erkan often pushed or kicked and ranted. Michelle had started to regret this internship, and she even avoided going near Erkan’s room whenever possible. “He lives in his own world,” Philip, the managing nurse, explained to Michelle after her first encounter with Erkan’s temper.
Still, Michelle had been curious, and she felt sorry that Erkan had a bad reputation among the staff. She too had felt like everyone mistrusted her—especially at the nursing home where she was so much younger than the rest of the staff—so she understood how he must feel. Besides, he was the only person in the whole place with skin nearly as dark as hers.
Over time, she noticed patterns in Erkan’s rants: He would sometimes mention his guitar and his father and the city of Diyarbakir, which she learned is in Turkey. So she decided that the next time she brought supplies to his room, instead of avoiding Erkan, she would play along with whatever he said. If he lived in his own world, then she would try to join him there. Bit by bit, she discovered that he had immigrated to the United States from Turkey when he was very young. His father had saved as much money as possible to pay for his journey, but he needed to sell Erkan’s guitar to help cover the cost. Erkan had moved in with his aunt’s family in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and finished school there. Eventually he got married, had children of his own, and worked for years signing Turkish singers to a small record label. But he’d never quite felt at home in the United States.
“I know he sold your guitar, but you told me yourself he just wants what’s best for you,” Michelle said, while Philip and the caregiver looked on in amazement as Erkan settled into an armchair. “Now why don’t you listen to Philip, take your shoes off, and have a shower?”
“For you, Michelle, I’ll do it.”
You can feel out of place in a country, in the place where you live, or even in your own head, Michelle thought. But if you’re lucky, someone will know how to find you and remind you that we all feel that way sometimes.
In “Out of Place,” how has Ekran’s relationship with Michelle affected him? Discuss interactions between the two characters and explain how Ekran reacts to these interactions. Use evidence from the text to support your response. Your response should be at least two complete paragraphs.