by Nancy Adams
Back at Rob's house, Anna and Linda were having a fine evening of their own. Anna made pizza for dinner, which was Linda's favorite food, and they sat down to watch Disney's “Frozen” for what Anna was sure must be about the thirtieth time. It was Linda's current favorite movie, and she could quote every line, sing every song and even mimic many of the actions in the film. She and Anna often acted out scenes as they watched them, which Linda thought was great fun.
When the movie was over, Anna suggested that they watch something else, but Linda insisted on starting it all over again. Anna let out a sigh and hit play on the remote. Linda clapped and bounced up and down on the couch, and Anna got up to go and get them something to drink.
She was only in the kitchen for a few moments, and came back to find Linda sprawled on the couch, apparently asleep. That was unusual, so Anna leaned over her and poked her with a finger, to wake her up. Letting Linda get too much sleep during the day meant not enough sleep for Anna at night, and she had learned her lesson well. When Linda didn't respond to a poke, Anna shook her.
There was still no response, and Anna felt the first stirrings of concern. She shook Linda again, and then panic set in when Linda's head lolled over the edge of the couch. Her eyes were slightly open, not closed as they had first appeared.
Anna shook her, calling her name, but there was still no response, so she leaned close and listened for the sound of Linda's breath. Nothing, there was no sound. Anna immediately felt for a pulse. Again, she found nothing.
She grabbed the phone and dialed 911, frantically telling the operator that Linda wasn't breathing and seemed to have no pulse. She gave her address, then dropped the phone and started CPR.
It was less than four minutes before she heard the sirens of the ambulance, but she was getting no response. The paramedics came to the door, and Anna had to run to let them in. They immediately started their own efforts at resuscitation, but like Anna, they got nothing. They loaded Linda onto a stretcher and, keeping up their efforts at CPR, rushed her out and into the ambulance.
Anna grabbed her phone and climbed into the ambulance with them. She called Rob's number, and it rang four times before he answered.
“Rob!” Anna shouted into the phone. “It's Linda—she just collapsed, she's not breathing and I can't get a pulse. I called an ambulance, we’re taking her to the hospital now!”
“What?” Rob asked, also shouting. Beside him, Katie Lou was watching with her eyes wide as she sat at the table. “I'll meet you there! I'll be there as fast as I can!”
He turned to Katie Lou. “It's Linda. Anna says she collapsed and they can't find a pulse. She's in an ambulance on the way to the hospital right now.”
Katie struggled to her feet, and grabbed her walker. “Let's go,” she said. “Come on, let's go.” She started toward the door, and Rob hurried to follow. He went on ahead, and had the trunk open when she got to the car. This time, he didn't wait, but snatched up the walker and tossed it into the trunk himself. Katie was already moving towards the passenger door, and opened it as soon as he unlocked the car. She fell into the seat and lifted her legs to swing them in as he got behind the wheel.
“Oh, my God,” he said. “This happens, sometimes, with certain types of brain damage. It can cause a sort of short circuit, shut down the heart and respiration all at once. She's been like this so long, we didn't expect it.”
“Just get to the hospital,” Katie Lou said. “Let's just get there, we can find out what's going on when we get there.”
Rob nodded, and threw the car into gear. He raced out the driveway and onto the main road, then drove a bit like a madman all the way back into town and onto the highway that would take them to the hospital by the quickest route.
They didn't talk as he drove. It was almost 15 minutes, even with the way he was driving, before they would get to the hospital. He was less than three minutes away when his phone rang again.
“Yes?”
“Rob?” Anna asked. “Rob, they said she's gone. They said it was too late—they shocked her heart several times, but it wouldn't come back.”
Rob closed his eyes for a split second, then snapped them open again. “You tell them to keep trying! You tell them not to stop.”
“I did,” Anna said, “but, Rob, they said it's too late. They said her brain has been without oxygen too long, that there's no hope now. Oh, Rob, what are we gonna do?”
Rob was silent for a moment, and Katie Lou heard a sob escape him. “I'll be there in a minute,” he said. “I'll be there in just a minute, just wait for me.”
He hit the end call button on the phone, and looked at Katie Lou for a moment before turning his eyes back to the road. He slowed down and drove normally, and they turned into the hospital's parking lot just a moment later. Rob got out and went to the trunk to get out the walker, and brought it around to her. They walked into the hospital's emergency entrance together, and found Anna sitting in the waiting area, just looking at them.
Rob went to his sister, and she stood and let him put his arms around her. The two of them stood there and wept for several moments, while Katie sat on her walker. There was nothing she could say, but she wanted them both to know that she was there for them. She reached out and put a hand on each of their shoulders, and a moment later they each put an arm around her, helping her up and pulling her close.
They stood like that for a few moments, and then Rob broke the embrace. “Where is she?”
Anna pointed toward one of the rooms, with a curtain pulled across its door. Rob left the two of them there, and walked over and through the curtain.
Linda lay on the table, her face ashen. One look was all it took for Rob to know that she was truly gone, and then a nurse stepped into the room.
“Sir?”
“She was my mother,” Rob said. He looked at the nurse, and tears continued to fall down his cheeks. “She was my mother.”
The nurse nodded, and left the room. Rob went to Linda, bent down and kissed her cheek, then turned and walked back out of the room to where his sister waited with Katie Lou.
“Rob,” Anna said, “oh, Rob, I tried. I tried CPR, but nothing—and the paramedics tried, they even shocked her in the ambulance, but they couldn't get her heart going again.” Anna suddenly threw her arms around Rob and wept. Rob held her, and then they were both weeping, the deep, soul-racking sobs of those who know the true meaning of grief.
Katie Lou sat there on her walker, not knowing what to do or say. It hit her that what had started out as a wonderful evening had turned into a tragedy greater than any she could imagine. She waited until they began to get themselves under control, and when Rob looked at her, she said, “Hey, I can call my dad to come get me. You need to take Anna on home.”
Rob looked at her for a moment, and for a second it looked like he was trying to remember who she was. Realization dawned on him, and he shook his head. “No, we'll take you home.”
Katie shook her head. “No,” she said, “right now, you and Anna need each other. I'd only be in the way. Don't worry about me, I can call my dad or Kylie; one of them will come and pick me up here. You go on, take Anna home. You two need each other right now.”
She thought for a moment he was going to argue, but then he gave her a sad smile and reached out to touch her face. “Okay,” he said, “if you're sure. And thank you.” He turned away with his arm around Anna, and Katie Lou got up and moved off to one side. She took out her phone and called home.
It took her a couple of moments to explain what happened, and why she was at the Maxwell hospital. Kylie was at home, and volunteered to come and pick her up. It would take her about 20 minutes or so to get there, but Katie told her that would be fine. She needed a little time by herself, anyway.
She went out to a bench outside the entrance, and sat down on it to wait for her sister. A part of her wondered just what effect this was going to have on her future with Rob, both on a personal level and a professional one. Since she was with him when h
e got the news about his mother's death, it could be that just seeing her would be a sad reminder. She wasn't sure how he would handle it, though she hoped that he would turn to her, let her help them both with their grief.
She saw them leave. They walked right past her, and neither of them even saw her, but that was to be expected under the circumstances. They had just suffered a loss, and were dealing with it together. Other people weren't really important to them at that moment, and Katie understood that. She watched them drive away, but a moment later her phone chirped, and she looked down to see that she had a text message. It was from Rob
Thank you, it said. I'll call you tomorrow, if that's okay.
That's fine, she replied.
Kylie drove up about 10 minutes later, and opened her trunk so Katie could put the walker inside. She stood there beside the car as Katie loaded it, unsure of what to say.
“Katie, I…” She trailed off.
“Yeah, I know. There just isn't anything to say,” Katie Lou said. “I knew I'd heard them mention their mom before, but I had no clue, no idea. In the wreck that crippled Rob, she suffered brain damage and was like a little child. She didn't realize that Rob and Anna were her children, anymore, she'd lost all her memories, everything after she was about six years old. And the weird thing is, just a little while ago he was telling me how his taking care of her was one of the things that had kept him single all these years. I guess it scared some women off. Pretty ironic that she would die tonight, especially since she wasn't even sick.”
They got into the car, and Kylie started it up and pulled out of the parking lot. “Anna had mentioned taking care of Linda,” Kylie said, “and I sort of had the idea that it was a younger sister, you know?”
Katie nodded. “I guess that's pretty much how Anna saw her,” she said. “Rob said Anna was only four when it happened, so Linda was more like a sister to her than anything else. She didn't really remember Linda being her mother, or not clearly, anyway.”
“Can you even imagine that?” Katie Lou asked. “I mean, think about it, what would life be like if Mom only acted like a little girl and didn't even remember that we were her daughters?”
“I can't,” Kylie said. “The whole idea is just, I don't know, too weird for me. I couldn't handle the idea that someone I'd known all my life just suddenly doesn't remember who I am, doesn't even remember growing up and having kids and getting married…No, that's just too much.”
Katie leaned back in the seat, and let out a sigh. “But that's exactly what Rob and Anna have been living with,” she said, “for the last sixteen years. I mean, you can't say they still had their mom, because the woman they knew wasn't there anymore. There was a little girl living inside their mother's body, probably the little girl she used to be when she was only five or six, but they wouldn't have known her back then. That would've been long before they were born.” She covered her eyes with a hand. “This could get so confusing, I bet it could just about drive you nuts.”
“I guess that's possible,” Kylie said. “Does Rob show any signs of going crazy?”
Katie backhanded her sister on the shoulder. “I didn't mean that literally, silly,” she said. “I just meant that it could be rough trying to figure out who it was you were talking to. I mean, it really was their mother, at least in the physical sense, but the person inside—was that the same person who had grown up to be their mother? Or was it someone entirely different, someone who just came into existence when the accident happened? And how on earth could you tell?”
Kylie shrugged her shoulders. “I'm just glad I don't have to worry about it. I think it would be way too much for me. You said it scared off girls he was interested in?”
Katie nodded. “Yeah, he said it did.”
“Well, I hate to admit it,” she said, “but I probably would've been one of them. I'm not sure how I could've dealt with something like that.”
Katie looked at her sister. “I think I could handle it,” she said, “and that's sort of what we talked about, tonight. Rob said that if it was going to scare me off, he wanted to know it now, before we got any closer. I told him it wouldn't scare me off, and I meant it. Maybe I could've even helped Linda, somehow, I don't know.”
Kylie reached over and rubbed her hand. “Well,” she said, “I guess we'll never know. Do you think this is going to cause a problem for you and Rob?”
“Oh, I certainly hope not. I mean, I know he might need some time to cope with all this, but I'll be patient. He said he'd call me tomorrow. Well, actually, he texted that to me.”
Kylie drove in silence for a few moments, but then looked over at Katie Lou again. “Katie, I'm so sorry,” she said.
Katie looked up at her. “Sorry? Sorry for what?”
Kylie rolled her eyes at Katie Lou. “Well, for all this happening tonight—I'm sorry for you having to go through this tonight. This was supposed to be a good night for you, not a sad one with a lot of heartache.”
Katie smiled softly and then turned to look out the window. They were on the highway, and the scenery was flying past. “I just feel for Rob and Anna,” she said. “I hate to think about what they're going through, right now. And poor Anna; from what Rob said, she and Linda were watching TV, and Linda just laid back so Anna thought she was asleep. By the time she realized something was wrong, it was probably too late, already.”
Kylie shook her head. “Mom is always saying that we never know how long we've got,” she said. “Remember, she used to tell us, always be sure that the last words you say to someone before you leave them are good words, because you never know for sure if you'll see them again, or not. How terrible would it be to have someone go so unexpectedly, and then realize that the last thing you said to them was something angry, or harsh?”
Katie didn't say anything, but just kept looking out the window.
4
Both of their parents were waiting for them when they got home, and Katie had to tell the whole story all over again. There was another round of sympathetic phrases, but the whole situation had taken its toll on poor Katie Lou. Between dancing and the emotional trauma she'd gone through with Rob, she was exhausted.
“Guys,” she said, “look, I'm pretty tired. I think I'm just gonna go on to bed, and think about all this in the morning. I don't really know what else to say about it, right now.”
Judy patted her on the back and smiled. “Of course, Honey,” she said. “This is a lot for anyone to handle. You go on to bed, and we can talk in the morning.”
Katie nodded, and pushed her walker to her room down the hall. She could hear her parents and sister still talking about it as she closed the door behind her, but all she could really think about was getting into bed and letting sleep block out the reality of the evening.
Unfortunately, sleep wasn't cooperating. Katie lay there for more than an hour, tossing and turning and waiting for sleep to come, but it didn't. An hour more passed by, and when it finally did come, her sleep was fraught with nightmares. She dreamed of her own wreck, and relived it once again, and then she dreamed that she was in the car with Rob and Anna when they lost their father, but she saw them as the adults they had become, rather than as the children they were when it happened. One after another, she dreamed horrible dreams, until finally she dreamed of her own mother being in such a childlike state as Linda had known for all those years, and of finding her lifeless, without warning.
Katie Lou sat straight up in bed, gasping for breath. There were fresh tears on her cheeks, and she knew she had been crying in her sleep. She must have been making noise, or calling out, because she could hear her mother coming down the hall. Her door opened, and Judy peeked in.
“Katie? Are you okay?”
Katie sighed. “I'm okay, Mom,” she said. “Just had some bad dreams.”
Judy came inside the room and sat down on the edge of Katie's bed, putting her arms around her daughter. “Oh, Sweetheart,” she said, “I know this has to be terribly hard on you. It's been obvious for
a while now that you think very highly of that young man, and to have this happen on your very first date with him, that's got to be stressful.”
Katie leaned her face against her mother's. “I'm not worried about me,” she said. “I'm worried about Rob, and about Anna. Like Rob said, he was almost an adult when it happened, or at least he was a young teenager. He remembers how his mother was before, when she did know who her children were. But Anna, she was only four years old, so to her it was more like her mommy was just gone, and this new person showed up that looked like her. She's had Linda in her life that way for 16 years now, that's a lot.”
“Yes,” Judy said, “but Anna isn't a child any longer. You've got to give her credit for being the adult that she is, today, and allow her to deal with this as an adult. That's the only way she's going to get through it.”
Katie blinked back tears. “Maybe you should be the one opening a counseling practice,” she said with a smile. “That's probably better advice than I could have given someone about the same situation. How did you get so wise?”
Judy giggled. “It's an old secret, one that's been passed down for thousands of years. I'll tell you, but you must not tell anyone else, not until you are very old, like me. Got that?”
Katie nodded, giggling as she did so.
“Okay, here it is,” Judy said. “There are two special professions that come with magical wisdom built into them. One, obviously, is a hairdresser, like me, and the other one is a bartender. It seems like everyone goes to either their hairdresser or their bartender to ask for advice, so when you're being trained for either one of those jobs, they cram some extra wisdom into your head, just to help out in situations like this.”
“Well, I'm certainly glad,” Katie said. “I'm pretty sure I'll be calling on that extra wisdom a lot over the next few days. I'm gonna need all the advice I can get, Mom.”