Читать книгу Wake-Up Call - Joaquin De Torres - Страница 13

Doogie sat at the table, looking around the room with his mouth hanging open. Several times he looked at the large rectangular, two-way mirror on the wall, and I swore he could see us. Behind the mirror, Ivana and I watched nervously from the other side. A control panel that worked the room’s hidden cameras and microphones sat in front of her. I sat off to the side with a pen and pad ready to take notes.

Sitting across Doogie was Zelda, with a small stack of generic 8x10 flashcards with photographs of various animals, buildings, nature scenes, etc. imprinted on them. We used these pictures for several types of recognition and recollection exercises for our patients. It was standard procedure to see how far a patient advanced or regressed in a variety of memory therapies. Zelda also had a separate stack of blank cards that she requested with images and markings she drew herself with a large black marker.

“Do you think he looks nervous?” I asked.

“No,” Ivana answered looking at me. “You look nervous.”

“Yeah, well, this is huge.” I looked at her large-windowed smartphone. “Did you call your colleagues already?”

“A few of them, yes, from the other state institutions. They said they’d let me know by the end of the day. How about you?”

“I made a few calls to some clinics and they said they’d check.” I looked at her as she turned her head back to Doogie. I seemed to be unable to conceal my physical attraction to her. I flipped through notes and documents in front of me while allowing myself to admire her. I tried to be inconspicuous as I gazed at her face, following the contour of her profile. Her forehead, nose, lips, and chin were all sharp, as if sculpted with clay and blade. I surveyed the plunge of her long neck, scented alluringly with her Laura Biagiotti fragrance. My eyes wanted to venture about, especially around the curvature of her supple breasts, but I thought I’d only make her uncomfortable, or I’d make a stupid move or statement. I slowly turned back to look at Doogie, but in the corner of my eye I thought I glimpsed a slight smile curl at the corner of her lips.

Zelda pulled back her long hair; thick and shiny like a curtain of black silk, and let it fall down her back. This was our prearranged signal that she was going to begin. Ivana pressed a button to activate the hidden cameras and the microphones. Zelda smiled warmly, while Doogie looked at her doe-eyed and confused.

“How are you, Doogie?”

“G-G-G-G-OO-OO-OO-DDDD!” he yelped out with a smile.

“We’re going to play a game. I’m going to show you some pictures, and you can tell me what they are, okay?” He nodded his head excitedly.

“G-G-G-GA-GA-GA-GAMMMMMEEE!”

“Okay, ready? Here’s the first one.” She flipped the card showing a lion. Doogie’s eyes lit up in recognition.

“T-T-T-I-G-G-G-G-RRRR!” Zelda smiled.

“Close! It’s a lion, but you were very close! How about this one?” She flipped a card showing a dolphin. Again, his eyes lit up.

“F-F-F-FI-SHHHHHHH!”

“Close again, Doogie! It’s a dolphin, but it lives with fish! Very good! How about this one?” She showed a gorilla.

“M-M-M-MON-MON-MON-KEEEEEEE!”

“Very good! And this?”

“D-D-D-D-O-GGGG!”

“Right! You’re doing great!”

We saw Doogie’s joy and excitement as he prepared for each picture with wild anticipation. I found myself cheering for him with each one he got right, clenching my fist, and whispering “YES!” as if I was watching my favorite tennis player hit winners. Then I noticed that Ivana was looking at me. Our eyes met, and our lips both curled into admiring smiles. I was tempted to lean forward and kiss her. I don’t know why, but I didn’t feel she’d resist. She, too, was glancing at my lips.

“B-B-B-BIRRR-DDD!” Our heads snapped back to the glass quickly, assuming our professional poses.

“Great, Doogie!” Zelda encouraged with a large smile. Doogie bounced in his chair like a child, lolling his head in all directions happily. “I have some other pictures about nature I’d like to show you, okay? How about this one?”

“F-F-F-FRR-O-WWWRRRRR!”

“Great! And this one?”

“T-T-T-TREEEEEE!”

“And this one?”

“M-M-M-O-O-OWW-T-T-T-TINNNNN!”

“And this one?”

Doogie hesitated. His smile dropped suddenly and his eyes widened. Zelda canted the photo towards the mirror so we could see it. She quickly glanced at us. The photo showed the Moon.

“It’s the Moon,” Doogie said in his perfect voice.

“Here we go,” I whispered as my shoulders and neck tensed up. We both leaned a little closer to the glass and speakers. Zelda dropped her smile and went into exam mode, masking all previous emotion.

“Doogie, what is the distance between the Earth and the Moon?”

“The moon is 221,463 miles from Earth at its perigee; 251,968 miles at its apogee.”

I swallowed hard, remembering how the same clear voice spoke that late afternoon in the park. Zelda showed a photo of the Sun.

“The Sun,” stated Doogie. “It is 92,955,887.6 miles away.”

“And at its farthest point from Earth?”

“Aphelion distance is 94.4 million miles from Earth.”

“And at its nearest point?”

“Perihelion distance is 91.3 million miles from Earth.”

“My God!” Ivana exhaled. Zelda held up a photo that looked like a snapshot of stars in the night sky.

“What’s this, Doogie?”

“Alpha Centauri.”

“How far is it from Earth?”

“It’s 4.4 light years away from Earth.”

“What’s a light year?”

“A light year is 5.88 trillion miles.”

“How long is a parsec?” Zelda’s questions came faster as Doogie answered with increasing firmness. I checked to see if he was in a trance, or a transcendental state of recall, but he wasn’t. He was Doogie, snapping out the answers as if he’d worked with them all his life.

“A parsec is 3.26 light years.”

Zelda took in a deep breath and looked at the stack of cards that she herself had made. She reached for them, then stopped. She decided to wait, and went on with questions off the top of her head.

“Doogie, can you tell me what the 10 brightest stars in the sky are as seen from Earth? Say them in order, if you can.”

“There’s no way he can know this,” I spat. “In order?!”

“Sirius, Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Arcturus, Vega, Capella, Rigel, Procyon, Achernar and Betelgeuse. The closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri V645, 4.2 light years away.”

“JESUS CHRIST!” I looked at Ivana whose mouth hung open. Zelda only stared at Doogie in stunned silence. I didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or scream. She pulled out one of the blank cards, and began scribbling words on it while Doogie began looking around the room in oblivious curiosity again. She flashed the card to us, then held it in front of herself so Doogie could only see the blank side.

“Okay, Doogie.” His head snapped back to her instantly.

“I will read you some names and you tell me what they mean to you. Ready? Meissa, Bellatrix, Saiph, Alni-”

“Alnitak!” he completed and continued. “Mintaka, Alnilam, Betelgeuse, Algiebba and Rigel. They are the stars in the Orion constellation. The closest is Bellatrix, 243 light years away; the farthest is Alnilam, 1,360 light years away.”

Zelda stared dumbstruck at Doogie again. In the silence, I could feel her discomfort and her awe. I wondered what she must have been feeling, and what conclusions she was making in response to Doogie’s performance. Not once had she corrected him about the questions of space. She glanced at us, then back to him. She pulled out one of the cards she had made. “What’s this, Doogie?” She showed us the card.

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“What in God’s name is that!?” I asked out loud. Doogie looked at the card then up to Zelda.

“It’s part of a calculation of Maxwell’s Induced Spacetime Curvature,” he answered. “Would you like me to complete the equation?”

Zelda shook her head, swallowing deeply. She showed another card to us.

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“And what is this, Doogie?” she asked timidly, her voice lowered measurably. She looked away briefly, and bit her lip as if she could tell by the immediate look in his eyes that he knew. Doogie didn’t disappoint.

“That is one of Einstein’s field equations on the interaction of gravitation and how matter and energy curves spacetime.”

“And what are these?”

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“These are the London Theories for Superconductivity. It concerns the minimization of the electromagnetic free energy-”

“I know what they are, Doogie, thank you!” Zelda said abruptly and irritated. She brought up both hands and rubbed her eyes in frustration, blowing out a long breath in exasperation. Doogie looked at her curiously. It was then that I thought he’d go back into his stutter. He did not.

“Doogie, can you tell me how you know the answers to all my questions?”

“They’re inside me.”

“Who, or what put them inside of you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you afraid because you know these answers?”

“No. I’m happy to know.”

“If someone else asked you these questions, or other questions, could you answer them?”

“Yes.” Zelda nodded and forced a smile. She pushed her chair away from the desk, and stood up.

“We’re going to take a break now, but can you answer one more question?” He nodded. She took another blank card and quickly wrote on it. She didn’t show it to us as she placed it flat on the table in front of him, but we saw a string of numbers.

Zelda stood back and folded her arms across her chest.

“What do you see, Doogie?”

“Those are the coordinates for the Great Pyramid of Giza,” he replied without hesitation. “North by East.” She took the original stack of photos and flipped through them. She pulled out the photo of the pyramids of Giza.

“Tell me, Doogie, in one word, what do you see when you look at this picture?” She furrowed her eyebrows as Doogie looked up and smiled.

“FRIENDS!” Zelda looked at us and nodded. I could tell by her expression, both satisfied and bewildered, that she was done. Ivana and I went around the corner to the room. Zelda had opened the door for us and we came in.

“H-H-H-H-HAAA-VVVVVVV!” Doogie bellowed in excitement at seeing me. I couldn’t help but smile like a proud parent. Ivana was also smiling as she approached, flicking her eyes at Zelda, as well.

“Doogie, we’re going to take a break now. We will take you back to one of Ellen’s rooms so you can rest. Okay?”

“O-O-O-O-OKAAAAYYYYY!” He got up from his chair as Zelda gathered the cards in silence. Ellen suddenly appeared at the door, and greeted us all. She offered her hand to Doogie and together they left the room, but not before Zelda eyed the little man intently as he walked by. She was stunned, and I couldn’t help feel that in this freakish case, the teacher had become the student.

“So, did he pass?” I asked.

“We’ve got to talk,” Zelda snapped.

“My office,” Ivana confirmed. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Ivana poured the Šlivovica quickly into our shot glasses, and we slammed them down even quicker than before. The sweet burn somehow barely registered as it singed down our throats.

“We’ve got to find out if there are others walking around out there,” I said. “Other than Patricia, do you have any others who are candidates?” Ivana nodded her head.

“I’ve got a whole ward of Catatonia and Lethargica patients on the third floor, but they’ve not moved at all. After Patricia’s first recovery day, I put papers and pencils next to all their beds, 10 of them. I’ve checked every day, but nothing.” Suddenly, her cell phone rang.

“Orinda State, Dr. Livancic speaking.” I saw her face suddenly plunge into concentration. She quickly sat at her desk and pulled out a pad of paper. Yes, Dr. Sturnage, hello! How are you? I’m fine, thank you. Yes? You do? My God! How many?” She glanced at me. “Yes! Okay, Doctor! Would you mind if my team came down to view them and test them? Yes. I’ll let you know when, but I’m doing a field study on this phenomena. Yes. We have two ourselves.” She nodded frequently, scribbling on the notepad. I looked at Zelda, but she was on the other side of the office talking on her cell phone.

“I understand, and yes, we should not contact the media. In fact, once I find out if there are other similar cases, I plan to call a conference with all their primary care therapists to discuss my theory. Yes. Very good, sir. Okay, I’ll keep in touch. Thank you so much! You, too. Bye.” She put down her phone and turned to me.

“That was Dr. Dale Sturnage at Atascadero State in San Luis Obispo. He was my mentor. He has three recoveries!”

“We’ve got to keep a list,” I suggested. Ivana agreed.

“I’ll create a database. Sturnage said he’ll send me the records tomorrow.” She turned towards the Šlivovica bottle and refilled our glasses. She moved very slowly, a look of disappointment shadowing her face.

“What’s wrong, Ivana? What’s bothering you?”

“I’m wondering why the rest of my patients haven’t woken up. They were homeless, they were found on the street.”

“Maybe they just weren’t implanted at the time,” I offered. She nodded and gave me her best smile.

“That must be it. We really don’t know what this implanting entails. How are they being contacted, and where?”

“We’ll have those answers this week.” We turned our heads to find Zelda smiling, and taking her seat at the desk.

“I was just on the phone with Dr. Terlaje! Just Googled his profile, and go his contact info!”

“Great job, Z!”

“Z? Hmmm, I like that! Thanks, Jav! He remembered me after two years.”

“Well, who could forget someone as gorgeous as you?” I suddenly got a sharp look from Ivana although Z took a moment to smile approvingly at me.

“So, he’s coming?” Ivana asked.

“He’s clearing his schedule, but said he could be here by Friday. He’ll let me know his itinerary.”

“Did you tell him about our patients?”

“Yes, and he was excited that there could be actual proof of his theory. He honestly didn’t think it would happen in his lifetime. I also asked the same question you ask Jav about how these people could be contacted and implanted physically.”

“What’d he say?” I asked.

“He said he had a theory, but he mentioned that we could probably get the answer through therapeutic hypnotism of the subjects. I immediately thought of Doogie.” I nodded my head.

“I agree. Patricia hasn’t spoken a word yet.” Ivana nodded also. Zelda then raised her glass and we joined her. We looked to each other not knowing what to say or what to think.

“Well, we know what we saw,” I said finally. I looked at Ivana. “We have three more possibilities with Dr. Sturnage.” I turned to Zelda. “And we have the man whose theory we’re going to stake our reputations on coming in four days.” I inhaled. “Are we in this to the end, no matter what?”

“No matter what!” confirmed Zelda with a smile. We looked at Ivana. She took a moment, but then nodded confidently.

“No matter what.” We toasted and slammed down the shots. Suddenly, Ivana’s cell phone chimed. It was a text. She read it and looked at us.

“It’s from Sturnage. He said three other state hospitals checked in with him.” She swallowed. “He said there are at least 30 more!”

“I’ll begin work on that database,” I said.

“I’m going to call my dean and ask him for an extended leave of absence!” exclaimed Zelda as she reached for her cell again. “He owes me, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“You can stay at my place,” offered Ivana.

“That would be great! Thank you!”

There was a knock at the door.

“Come in!” Ivana called out as she quickly put the tray of alcohol and glasses beneath her desk. A young female intern stuck her head in. “Hello, Marcy! Come on in!” There seemed to be more than one person outside the door; in fact, there were excited conversations of at least 10 people. Marcy looked like she was holding back tears as she smiled.

“Marcy? What’s wrong?” Ivana asked as she stood up. Then tears burst from the young woman’s eyes, but she laughed at the same time. She swung open the door and standing there, amongst a group of tearfully excited interns and doctors, was Patricia Miren.