Chapter 4
I woke up disoriented in a strange place. I knew it was a hospital after few minutes, it had that smell. Although I was in a private room, it had a BP machine, 02 and EKG scanner at the side of the hospital bed. In a padded armchair with his feet up slept my Dad, still in the suit he’d worn to the museum tour. Outside my closed door I could see an agent in a neat blue suit, and coming through the door was Ms. Penny carrying a plastic bag from which dangled Dad’s gray pinstripe, what he called his power suit.
“Hey, Danny,” she said softly so as to not wake him. “How are you?”
“What am I doing here?” I grumbled.
“You don’t remember?”
“Naw. How long’s Dad been asleep?” I asked.
“I’m awake,” he said without opening his eyes and Ms. Penny hung his plastic bag up on the hook near the bathroom and then she put a super-sized coffee in his hands. He opened his eyes and smiled. “Oh God, thank you,” after a few sips, he sat up. “Danny, how do you feel?”
“I got a headache,” I complained. He raised an eyebrow at my grammar. “What am I doing here, Dad?”
“You passed out in the car after you puked up Denny’s,” he explained. “Brought you home and we couldn’t wake you up. I called the ambulance, but Jake said it would be quicker if we took you so he drove to Crowley.” He shivered. “Danny, you were limp and boneless. I thought you were dead. Your heartbeat was so slow, I could barely find it, and your breathing was sporadic. We thought you might’ve had food poisoning but Felice was fine and then you wouldn’t wake up.”
“You called Felice?” I interrupted.
“To see if she was sick,” he explained patiently. “She’s concerned, too.”
“Ms. Rickover is on her way over to see how you’re doing, Dantan,” Ms. Penny told me.
“So what’s wrong with me?”
“I don’t know. The Doctor wants to do a bunch of tests today. They did blood, urine, and EKG last night when you came in. Today, they want to do a spinal tap, MRI and CAT scan.”
“Why?” I asked suspiciously.
“To rule out epilepsy, stroke or brain tumor,” he returned grimly.
I stared, my mouth hanging open. Swallowed.
“Dantan,” he started. “About what you said yesterday–.”
“Dad, you have to go to the opening and make sure nothing happens,” I said urgently. “Wait a minute, then.” I held up a hand, the one attached to a finger lead and reached for the tortoiseshell cat. Found it sitting in the window sill, staring out at a silver gray Ford Escape with Maryland license plates. “5DUX – 8894, Dad. Silver gray Ford Escape. 2013.”
“You sure?”
“The plates aren’t his. They’re stolen. I see another set on the table. Virginia MLB 6656P. Don’t know if these are his or not. He’s in the driveway, it’s a circular drive, two houses across the street, blue with black shutters. Mailbox says 7729 Manassas. Does that help?”
Dad bolted out the door, leaving Ms. Penny and me staring at each other.
“Where’s he going? He has to be at the Museum opening in two hours!”
“He knows, Ms. Penny,” I said, and the Doctor came in while Dad was doing some fast talking with Jake James.
“Hi there, Mister De Rosier,” this dude said. He was young and talked with a New York accent. Introducing himself as Doctor Greg Kujowski, he shook my hand and asked me what was up. My answer was a shrug.
“You tell me. I remember puking my guts out on the Interstate and then waking up in here.”
He checked my heart, lungs, and when he headed south for my belly, Ms. Penny left the room. Poking around, his hands were cold and tickled but didn’t prompt any painful reactions. Next, he examined my balls, which made me both uncomfortable and creeped out.
“Sorry,” he apologized. “But sometimes, young boys your age get a herniated testicle.” He went on to explain, and I interrupted him.
“I know what that is. No, I haven’t hit my head or been around any of those encephalitis prone schools. I had a headache, felt nauseous and puked. End of story.”
He shook his head. “No, Dantan. You were unconscious and unresponsive when you were brought in. We ruled out drugs and alcohol, trauma or accident. And your Dad said you weren’t emotionally upset. You had an EKG when you came in and that was strange, abnormally slow but your scans are normal now.
“I have you scheduled for a CAT scan, EEG and MRI. That’s a lot of tests for one day so you’ll be spending a few days here until we can find out what’s going on.
“You will also have a spinal tap and I will warn you, that one hurts even with the numbing medicine and a spinal headache is no fun. You can’t move during or after. Are you claustrophobic? The MRI and CAT scan are in tight tubes so I can give you a tranquilizer if you think you need one.”
“My Dad Okayed this?”
He nodded. “Your father is very worried about you, Dantan. He told me once, he wants the best care we can give you, whatever it takes to get you well.”
“I’m not sick,” I complained. “When can I go home?”
I hated hospitals. That’s where I’d seen my mother last and associated the place with everything bad.
“We’ll see after the tests, okay?”
Ms. Penny poked her head in. “Dantan, the Senator says stay, behave and he’ll take care of your little problem. He’ll be back after the opening. Rest. Do you want anything?”
“My clothes. My Nook, my laptop.” Although it never worked right around me. After a few days, the motherboard fried itself. “On second thought, leave the laptop and bring my notebooks. I’ll work on my homework.”
“On your desk?”
“Book bag on the chair.” I yawned, suddenly sleepy, didn’t see or hear them leaving my room.
*****
I woke up as they were wheeling me down the hallway and grabbed hold of the railings, yelling at the two dudes pushing me and saw that the doc was with them.
“Relax, Dantan,” he said. “We’re just taking you to CAT scan. You had another episode.”
“Episode? I didn’t puke,” I protested trying to sit up. “Let me out of here!”
I saw that the dude in the blue scrubs and he ducked, grabbing my hands while I tried to slide off the gurney. I made it to my feet by using his shoulders and my feet as a fulcrum, swinging over his head. The angle forced his hands to release so I took off running down the corridor, sliding on the slick floors with no socks on just those paper booties. I could feel my ass hanging out the back of that nasty gown. Voices yelled to stop, to catch me but I wasn’t a track star for nothing. I turned the corner and bypassed the nurses’ station heading for the nearest fire doors and stairs with a growing cavalcade behind me. Hit the fire doors and smashed them open, taking the steps down three and four at a time.
Twelve treads down, landing, then another twelve to a floor. I emerged on the lower floor and opened the exit to peer out on the atrium midst a bunch of flowering plants and honest to God trees growing in the lobby. Four elevators faced me, North and South Towers and I still had seven floors more below me.
Heard an alarm in a woman’s voice over the intercom calling for code 7 as the elevator dinged. I pushed the one for South Tower and jumped inside as soon as it opened, regardless of the people in it. Two men, two women, all visitors from their clothes and baskets of food and flowers. They carefully pretended not to look at me as I danced from 1 foot to the other holding my gown, back closed.
“Going down?” I asked and pushed the ‘G’ button. The elevator doors opened on Four and standing in the doorway were two security guards, the Doctor, and two huge orderlies.
“Dantan, just relax,” Kujowski said slowly as he approached. The orderlies motioned for the other people in the car to exit and they bolted out quickly. I tried to dodge past them, and the big orderly grabbed me by the arm and bear hugged me. Kicking, I walked up the wall and pushed off, flipping myself behind him but he dropped backwards, landing on me crushing the air out of my lungs. I wheezed, saw spots, and felt someone stab me in the butt with a needle. Melted.
Went flying upwards onto a flat padded surface, my arms and legs strapped down while fingers pried my eyelids up.
“2 ml of Ativan,” the voice announced. “Vitals?”
“Heart rate is one fifty, BP is 145/80. Respirations twenty-four, temp is 99°,” a nurse announced.
“He’ll sleep for a while. Let’s get him to Imaging, get these tests done before he has another panic attack. Anyone hurt?”
There were all negatives. “Dantan, you’re okay. We’re going to take you for these tests. Someone call the Senator and let him know what’s going on.”
I mumbled about the opening and the men after the President, but my mouth didn’t work right so my words never made it past my lips.
The rest of the day was a blur, voices telling me to stay still, roll over, bend, and was I cold until it all merged into a buzzing that turned black and seamless. I was asleep.