AI Summary
5 min readAt 7:50 PM on his first night as a night nurse for a home care agency, a man named Burrows arrives at a large brick house in a circular driveway. His patient is Rudolf Tweig, a 104-year-old man who has been in a catatonic state since a stroke 25 years earlier. Burrows is alone. The head nurse, Mrs. Bowie, has left him a letter with a simple routine and seven strict rules. The rules are bizarre: cover every mirror with a white sheet after putting Mr. Tweig to bed; if Mr. Tweig is found out of his room, return him and lock the door; take a phone call between 10:45 and 11:30 PM and write down a message; from 1:09 to 1:51 AM, stay in Mr. Tweig’s bedroom with the door locked—or crawl on all fours if caught outside, because “it can’t see anything lower than three feet from the ground”; the mannequins in the study roam after midnight; at 2:59 AM, place a lidded pot from the refrigerator on the top basement stair and retrieve it at 3:37 AM; if the radio or television turns on, go to the second floor immediately. Burrows assumes the rules are a hazing ritual for new hires.
The first hours: routine and unease
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:35) **The Setup: Patient Rudolf Tweig** - The narrator accepts a night-nurse position for a 104-year-old catatonic stroke patient, Rudolf Tweig, who lives in a large, isolated home.
- 2 (02:09) **The Arrival and the Letter** - The narrator arrives at the empty house to find a detailed letter from the head nurse, Mrs. Bowie, outlining Mr. Tweig's strict nightly routine.
- 3 (03:52) **The Seven Rules** - The narrator reads the seven rules, which include covering mirrors, dealing with roaming mannequins, and a specific time window for crawling on all fours.
- 4 (07:10) **First Encounters with Mr. Tweig** - The narrator finds Mr. Tweig in the parlor as described, a frail and unsettling figure listening to static on an AM radio.
- 5 (08:34) **The Routine Begins and the Mannequins** - The narrator follows the initial instructions, moving Mr. Tweig to the study and covering all nine mirrors with white sheets.
- 6 (12:06) **The Mysterious Phone Call** - The narrator receives a strange call on the landline, as predicted by Rule 3, from a deep, raspy voice with a sinister tone.
- 7 (13:49) **An Unexplained Injury** - While checking on Mr. Tweig, the narrator feels a sharp, intense pain on their forehead and discovers a deep cut that is bleeding profusely.
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Show Notes
I used to be a night nurse with 7 simple rules to follow, I failed...
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