Touching Cottonwood

by Randall Simpson

  Dr. Spears: He was very alert, and we talked about when he might be going home. He was also pleased that his mother and sister had come to see him twice in one day. We talked about the fact that he was the “miracle” patient.

  Mr. Silverstein: Could you please describe what you mean by “miracle” patient?

  Dr. Spears: Well, as outlined in the Emergency Unit surgeon’s report as well as the Emergency Unit supervisor’s report, Mr. Montoya, at one point during surgery, had been declared dead, but apparently a few minutes later, displayed vital signs.

  Mr. Silverstein: So, from your observation and conversation with him, Mr. Montoya seemed to realize his status as the “miracle” patient?

  Dr. Spears: I would say so, yes.

  Mr. Silverstein: And how long would you say you spoke with Mr. Montoya that evening?

  Dr. Spears: A little over ten minutes or so.

  Mr. Silverstein: And you left his room at approximately what time?

  Dr. Spears: The log showed that I signed in at 10:29 and left at 10:42 p.m., and that’s what I recall as well.

  Mr. Silverstein: And when you left him, what would you say was his general condition?

  Dr. Spears: He was stable and appeared to be in good spirits.

  Mr. Silverstein: And why do you say he was in “good spirits?”

  Dr. Spears: He was more talkative than the other times I visited him.

  Mr. Silverstein: Now earlier, you mentioned a patient log that told the time of your visits to Mr. Montoya. Did you also make notations in this log as to the general condition of the patient?

  Dr. Spears: I did.

  Mr. Silverstein: (approaches the witness stand) And do you recognize this as the log report you made regarding your visit to Mr. Montoya on the night in question?

  Dr. Spears: Yes, it is.

  Mr. Silverstein: And what does that report say?

  Dr. Spears: Exactly what I told you before, my arrival and departure times, and that the patient, Mr. Montoya, seemed in good spirits. I noted he was very talkative, and he was making steady improvements in his health.

  Mr. Silverstein: Your Honor, I would now like to enter into the record People’s Exhibit F, which is a copy of Dr. Spears’ medical notes from that evening.

  And so, Dr. Spears, how was it that you came to hear about Mr. Montoya’s death?

  Ms. Yates: Objection, Your Honor. This line of questioning is irrelevant.

  Judge Nelson: Overruled. We don’t know that yet. You may proceed, Mr. Silverstein.

  Mr. Silverstein: Thank you, Your Honor. Dr. Spears, how did you hear about Dominic Montoya’s death?

  Dr. Spears: Nurse Dora Watson called me at my office the morning of May 30th and told me.

  Mr. Silverstein: And what was your reaction?

  Dr. Spears: I was quite shocked, of course.

  Mr. Silverstein: And why were you shocked?

  Ms. Yates: Objection, Your Honor! This has no relevancy at all.

  Judge Nelson: Overruled. Proceed.

  Mr. Silverstein: Why were you shocked by Dominic Montoya’s death?

  Dr. Spears: Because he had been so stable the night before. It was my professional opinion that he was no longer in as much danger.

  Mr. Silverstein: Did Ms. Watson relate to you the circumstances of Mr. Montoya’s death?

  Dr. Spears: She did.

  Mr. Silverstein: And what was your reaction to that?

  Dr. Spears: I was, of course, very concerned about the visitation of another unauthorized patient to my patient’s room.

  Mr. Silverstein: Which unauthorized patient was that?

  Dr. Spears: Mr. Duncan.

  Mr. Silverstein: Why were you concerned?

  Dr. Spears: It was my professional opinion that his visitation could have caused my patient’s condition to worsen.

  Mr. Silverstein: Is that still your opinion?

  Dr. Spears: It is.

  Mr. Silverstein: And what did you do, related to Mr. Montoya’s death, after you heard of the overall circumstances of the evening?

  Dr. Spears: Well, I phoned the director of patient services for the medical center and told her of the situation. She said she had already heard of the incident from the security office, and she was going to speak to the hospital’s legal advisor but thought that some form of investigation would be ensuing.

  Mr. Silverstein: So Dr. Spears, just to clarify your position, is it your professional opinion that Mr. Montoya’s condition was stable at the time you left him, and that’s why his death later that evening was a surprise to you?

  Dr. Spears: That’s correct.

  Mr. Silverstein: Thank you, Dr. Spears. I have no further questions, Your Honor.

  Judge Nelson: Your witness, Ms. Yates.

  Ms. Yates: Thank you, Your Honor. Dr. Spears, I want to go back to something you said earlier during your testimony to Mr. Silverstein. In talking about the internal injuries to his body, you mentioned his lungs and then you said “possibly his heart.” Do you recall saying that?

  Dr. Spears: I do.

  Ms. Yates: Could you elaborate on that?

  Dr. Spears: Well, we knew that his lungs had some damage from the puncture wounds, but the damage to his heart was inconclusive.

  Ms. Yates: What do you mean by “inconclusive?”

  Dr. Spears: Well, as noted in the surgeon’s report, he had noted some damage to the heart as he was working on the lungs, but before he could do any work on the heart, the patient had taken a turn for the worse on the operating table and was eventually declared dead. When the surgeon went back a few minutes later, after the patient displayed vital signs, he couldn’t find the damage he thought he’d seen before.

  Ms. Yates: So that’s why the term “inconclusive” is used as related to his heart damage?

  Dr. Spears: Exactly.

  Ms. Yates: So you’re stating before the court, that Mr. Montoya might have had some damage to his heart that had gone untreated in surgery, is that correct?

  Dr. Spears: Yes.

  Ms. Yates: And is it also possible that the possible damage to Mr. Montoya’s heart, which had gone untreated, was related to his later demise?

  Mr. Silverstein: Objection, Your Honor. This obviously calls for speculation.

  Judge Nelson: Sustained. Ms. Yates, please keep to factual information that witnesses can have certain knowledge of.

  Ms. Yates: Thank you, Your Honor. Dr. Spears, were tests given or planned to follow up on the possible heart damage to Mr. Montoya?

  Dr. Spears: I had scheduled for him to have a test to occur later the next day, the day after he died.

  Ms. Yates: So, this inconclusive and possible damage to his heart was a real enough possibility that you felt the need to have a test done on Mr. Montoya?

  Dr. Spears: Yes.

  Ms. Yates: Thank you, Dr. Spears. I have no further questions, Your Honor.

  Judge Nelson: Mr. Silverstein, would you like a redirect of the witness?

  Mr. Silverstein: No, Your Honor.

  Judge Nelson: At this time, I would like to once more caution members of the jury not to discuss the details of this trial amongst themselves or with anyone else. If you’ve been taking notes, they must stay in the court overnight. You may leave your notebooks on your seats, and the bailiff will collect them. Court will be in recess until 8 a.m. tomorrow morning.

  Agent Westmore slid the report into the bottom of the stack in his briefcase and glanced over into his rear-view mirror. He could see flashing red lights moving up from behind him on the highway. A few moments later, an ambulance passed by his car on the far left shoulder of the road, followed shortly thereafter by two more. A minute after that, a large tow truck passed by. Though it was still raining, it had let up a little. He looked at his watch. He should have been seventy miles further to the east by now. Then he remembered the family and their final vacation together, ending here on a rainy Idaho highway.

  They wouldn’t be hurrying anymore. A few minutes one way or another and it
could have been him. Everything in its time, and this wasn’t his.

  An hour and twenty minutes after he first slowed down for the accident, traffic slowly began moving again. The agent started his car and eventually passed the spot on the highway where the accident had occurred. The red flashing lights from the Idaho State Patrol reflected in the raindrops on his window, but he didn’t look. Part of him wanted to, but he resisted. He’d seen plenty of carnage on the roadways during his years in law enforcement, and his personal commitment was never to gawk and feed his curiosity from another’s tragedy. He continued south and eastward along the interstate, down through southern Idaho and toward his ultimate destination—the state that was almost named Idaho.

  Forty-Three

  The Worldwide Web

  It was no accident of history that the Internet was created. Communication is fundamental to what defines the human species. The fact that humans would use all their ingenuity and imagination to create a tool to communicate instantly from one point on the planet to another was inevitable. As amazing as it seems, in essence, the Internet is no different than the song of the meadowlark—perhaps more complex or perhaps not, but essentially the same. Through the Internet and through the meadowlarks’ song, meanings are communicated from one mind to another in an effort to inform, entertain, entice, or simply socialize.

  The Internet is an outward physical manifestation of inner truths, inner connections, and inner realities of the human condition. For one to learn about all the dimensions of the human heart and soul, one has only to take a sampling of all that is offered and communicated on the Internet. All the knowledge, hopes, fears, desires, dreams, fantasies, perversions, darkness, and light become manifest and revealed there. If you would know the true nature of a person, watch what they say and do on the Internet when they believe they are protected by anonymity. The soul of an individual is revealed when no one is watching.

  He went by the user name of Deadzonemechanic. The Cottonwood Dead Zone was suddenly one of the hottest topics on the Internet, and Deadzonemechanic was the host of the most active discussion forum on the issue. He claimed to be one of the few people actually living in the Dead Zone, and more than that, he claimed to have actually inspected several of the vehicles affected by the anomaly. He preferred to remain anonymous, and in listening to his accounts of the events in Cottonwood, Colorado, all but the most skeptical were convinced that Deadzonemechanic was the real deal.

  A typical Internet chat with Deadzonemechanic went something like this:

  Cityboy77: So Deadzone, what’s your theory as to what’s caused this?

  Asianknight: Go read his old posts Cityboy…we’re way past that now.

  Deadzonemechanic: That’s o.k. Asian, I don’t mind. Basically, Cityboy, it’s the government.

  Cityboy77: lol! Why is it always the government that causes these things? Next, I suppose you’ll tell me that Elvis was seen in Cottonwood recently.

  Asianknight: Cityboy, UR an IDIOT!

  SexySally: Anybody wanna chat with a sexy lady? Swf28.

  Cityboy77: Why don’t you shut the hell up Asian and let him answer. I’m serious—why is it always the ‘government’ or maybe ‘aliens’ when weird shit happens?

  Deadzonemechanic: I don’t think it’s always the government or aliens. I’ve seen some strange things in the wilderness area near Cottonwood that were not caused by the government or aliens.

  Asianknight: Like what??

  Deadzonemechanic: I prefer not to talk about that right now, maybe later.

  SexySally: Who wants to chat with a sexy lady? I’m soooooo lonely!

  Cityboy77: So why is it the government this time?

  Deadzonemechanic: I know the military has been working on electromagnetic-pulse weapons. There’s a testing range not all that far from here near the Utah border. One of their tests could have gone off its mark and caused the Dead Zone.

  Cityboy77: And you have personally seen the cars and trucks affected by this?

  Deadzonemechanic: Yep. I’ve looked at more than a dozen, and the electromagnetic pulse is the only explanation. Rumor is now that the government has been towing the vehicles out of the Dead Zone. I think they are trying to hide the evidence. I bet the owners of those cars never see them again.

  Asianknight: Could they really tow all the cars out of the area? What if someone wants theirs back?

  Deadzonemechanic: I figure they’ll come up with some excuse to take them all. I’ve heard the ones they’ve been taking so far are from the people stranded on the highway. I’m waiting for them to come into town and take all of them next.

  Cityboy77: I still think there’s got to be some other explanation besides “the government did it.” I hear that all the time, and it makes me sick.

  Asianknight: So go be sick somewhere, Cityboy. We won’t miss you.

  Cityboy77: Go die somewhere, Asian. We won’t miss you. Loser.

  Deadzonemechanic: I don’t like the way either of you are talking. This chat is about the Dead Zone, not personal attacks. Follow the rules or get the hell out.

  Asianknight: So let’s get back to what we were talking about before Cityboy barged in.

  Deadzonemechanic: About the missing person?

  Cityboy77: I’m going now, but Deadzone, find a theory that doesn’t involve the government, and then maybe I’ll believe it.

  Deadzonemechanic: Bye, City…

  SexySally: Later, City…

  Asianknight: So what about this blind guy you said was missing. How’s he part of this?

  Deadzonemechanic: I think he may have seen something that got him in trouble.

  Asianknight: How so? I thought he was blind.

  Deadzonemechanic: I’ve heard that blind people can pick up electromagnetic signals that people with eyesight don’t. Maybe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and picked one of the pulses up that caused the cars and trucks to go out. I haven’t figured it all out yet, but I don’t think it was just an accident that he disappeared the same day that this whole thing started.

  Asianknight: Sounds like you might be on to something. It doesn’t sound like a coincidence to me either….

  And so, this kind of Internet chatter went on for hours. Since Vince Pasternack wasn’t selling any gasoline or diesel fuel, and he certainly wasn’t fixing any cars, in his copious spare time, he was chatting with people from all over the world about the Cottonwood Dead Zone. For the first time in his life, he had an audience of people who actually wanted to hear what he had to say and were interested in his conspiracy theories. As wrong as Vince might have been in his theory on the cause of the anomaly, it seemed to be about the best explanation anyone had come up with, so far.

  Forty-Four

  A Hen Session

  The ladies of Cottonwood gathered at Irma’s Quilt & Sew for an afternoon of quilting and gossip, and though there never was a lack of subject material to choose from during any of their gatherings, none of them could remember a time when there were so many delicious seeds scattered about, all at the same time, from which to pick and peck. On this day, the topics were not the usual hard seeds to be quickly pecked and swallowed, but tender tidbits that could be chewed on, pecked at, then chewed and pecked some more, until every last detail had been thoroughly tasted, dissected, and ultimately consumed. The usual group had gathered at the store—Irma Brownstein, Lois Michelson, Bethany Crawford, Penny Hazelton, Amanda Reese, and Diane D’Arcy.

  “Nude, I tell you,” said Amanda. “The man was standing right there in the river, bare-butt-naked!”

  “So where are the pictures?” asked Bethany with a straight face, followed by a round of chuckles from the other ladies. Though she was the smallest lady of the group, Bethany could always be counted on for her quick-witted comebacks, as she packed a lively spirit in her diminutive frame.

  “But did you at least get a good look?” asked Irma, followed by a perfectly spaced pause before adding, “I mean, at his face?”

  Again more laug
hs.

  “At the time, I didn’t, but later on I did,” said Amanda.

  “You went back for more, eh?” chirped Bethany, followed by still more laughs.

  “I actually happened to have crossed his path later in the day…at Ernie’s…and yes, he was fully clothed by that time,” said Amanda, tossing out a surprising and delicious twist to the story that was quickly consumed and quieted the hens for a moment.

  Diane D’Arcy had been listening and laughing along with the rest of the ladies until finally, she asked the next obvious question, “Well, who was he?”

  Amanda looked at her. “You probably know him. He moved away before we arrived here…his name is Matthew Duncan.”

  Diane stared and nodded slowly. She could feel her body tense up. “Yes…of course, I do. He and Rebecca grew up together,” she finally said. She could have easily added, and now he’s my son-in-law, but, of course, those words couldn’t possibly now pass across her lips in front of the hungry hens.

  “Well, I’ve got to tell you,” said Amanda, “as shocked as I was at the whole thing, he does have a cute butt.”

  Diane was silent as the other ladies giggled once more.

  “Shocked at which whole thing?” asked Bethany, followed by more hen giggles, after which she quickly added, “So what’s the problem here? I’m not sure there’s a problem here. A cute naked man in our river—is that a problem? Raise your hand if you think that’s a problem.”

  No hands went up.

  “Why don't you tell us more about meeting him in Ernie’s?” asked Penny Hazelton.

  All eyes, including Diane’s, focused on Amanda. The hens quieted, beaks at the ready, preparing for the main course, with one of them already feeling a bout of indigestion setting in.

  “Well,” began Amanda, “that’s where the interesting part comes in…but let me start at the beginning….”

  In her delightful and eloquent way, Amanda went on to relate every juicy detail of her encounter with Matthew Duncan—the bike ride with Chelsea along the river, the solitary cane resting against the park bench, dinner at Ernie’s Diner, Matthew’s ridiculous excuse for having the cane, and the fact that Old Blind Carl was now missing. By the end of her story, after some initial laughter, a shocked silence fell upon the hens. She had nearly every lady in the room convinced that Matthew Duncan had done some horrible and unspeakable thing to Old Blind Carl—nearly every lady that is, except one.