No Inner Limit

by David Kersey

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE – New life

  He opened his eyes. Image of a long white light, directly above, seen through a gauzy blur. He raised a finger. Mumbled.

  “Oh my God.” The aide ran to the control desk and grabbed the phone. “Mrs. Meadors. It’s Penny from the center. Joshua has awakened.”

  “I will be there as soon as I can.” She looked through bleary eyes. Two in the morning. “Jack, Jack?” No use. Jumped in the shower and out the door in ten minutes time.

  Dark hair. A man. Shining a pen light into his eyes. “Can you speak?” The dark haired image asks.

  “I thirst.”

  “Penny, bring some water.” The image turned back to face the immobile patient. “Can you hear me?”

  A doctor? “Where?” Confusion.

  “What? Say it again.”

  Disorientation. “Are you God?”

  “Joshua, you are in a convalescent center. I am a doctor. Can you hear what I’m saying?”

  Slowly a hand raised above the bed. Eyes trying to focus. His own hand? Hand dropped. Atrophy. “Where am I?”

  “You are in a convalescent center. You’ve been asleep for a long, long time.”

  Water. Glass tipped to his lips. Dribble. Towel on his chin. “Where am I?”

  “A convalescent center in Somerset, Kentucky. Do you understand me?”

  “Water.”

  More dribbles.

  Penny, go start making calls on the contact list. We need someone to sit with him.”

  “I called Mrs. Meadors already. She is coming as fast as she can.”

  “She is too far away. Try that Sheriff down in McCreary.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Joshua, try to remain awake. We will have someone here to sit with you in a short while. Can you do that?”

  “I can’t feel.”

  “I know you can’t for now, but you will. It will take some time, but you will be able to feel again.”

  “How long?”

  “If you mean how long before you can feel, it depends on how you respond to therapy. It could take a week or longer, but you will regain your sense of feel. If you mean how long have you been here, it’s been nine months. You’ve been in a coma.” The doctor did not say that he feared there could be a relapse into a comatose state.

  Penny returned. “The Sheriff is on his way, doctor. Twenty minutes tops.”

  “Good. Penny, swab his teeth. His breath is horrible. Make sure he’s clean everywhere before anyone gets here.” The doctor left the room and Penny went to work with the dental cleanser.

  Strong hand shaking his shoulder. There to his left. A man.

  “Autry?”

  Sound of sobbing. “Man, thought we’d lost ya.” Crying man.

  “Is that you, Autry?”

  “It’s me. It’s Autry.” More whimpering. Grown, big man. “This whole country has been prayin’ for ya.”

  Joshua was able to move his hand slightly. “Hold my hand, Autry.”

  Felt the big man’s grip. “Forgot to tell you I love you, Autry.”

  “Aw man.” Sobs.

  Joshua closed his eyes. His hand went limp.

  “Nurse!” Autry screamed.

  Penny raised his eyelid. Pupil reacted to the light. “He’s sleeping. He used up a lot of energy doing what little he just did. Just let him be, he will wake up again.”

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Meadors. Someone will come get you when he wakes up. Just have a seat over there with the Sheriff in the visitor’s area.”

  “To hell with that. I’m a doctor and that’s my son in there. C’mon Autry.” Adele charged by the control desk in a blur with Autry in tow.

  “Well, they got him cleaned up pretty good. I’m glad they got rid of that dad gummed beard. What did he say to you, Autry?”

  “He ain’t so sure about anythin’ just yet. Kinda talkin’, but kinda not too.”

  “Snowing out there. Slowed me down. Just tell me something he said, dammit.”

  “He told me he loved me.”

  “Yeah. You’re right. He ain’t makin’ sense yet.”

  A hand raised. Grabbed the side bar. “Adele, is that you?”

  “Yes, honey, it’s me.” She broke down and wept, hiding her face in her trembling hands.

  “I forgot to tell you that I love you.”

  “No honey. It’s me that forgot to tell you that.” Adele spoke in broken fragments, filled with contrition. “I love you with all my heart.”

  Joshua was able to raise both hands to his cheeks. “My beard? The scars?”

  “There aren’t any scars, honey, and you look positively beautiful.”

  He tried to lift his head. Couldn’t do it. “Show me. Mirror.”

  Adele reached inside her purse and pulled out a compact. She aimed it so that Joshua could see his reflection. He made no reaction, seemingly unable to remember for longer than an instant.

  “Someone shot me, didn’t they?”

  “Yes, darlin’, someone shot you.”

  “Who?”

  “Let’s not talk about that just yet. There will be plenty of time to catch up on things. You just take your time coming back. You’ve been gone a long time.”

  “Nine months?”

  “Yeah, nine months. It’s the middle of March and it’s snowing outside.”

  Joshua made no reply. Adele turned to Autry. “Tell him I’ll be right back in case he asks.” She left in search of the doctor on duty.

  “So what is the game plan? You going to move him?”

  “In the morning we’ll move him to LCH. They will start the scans right away.”

  “Hard to say how much he’s lost. What’s your opinion?”

  “The loss of oxygen was immediate and probably will have long term effects on his coping capability. You’re right, it’s hard to say, but I doubt you’ll ever have him back to where he was before the injury. His brain was starved for too long before they were able to revive him. It wouldn’t hurt to ask for a miracle, though.”

  “I’ll do just that. Thank you, doctor.”

  Adele would wait until six am to call and cancel her classes for the rest of the week. She would have to buy a few things and find a place to stay, but she wasn’t going to leave his side, that was for damn sure. She didn’t think she’d see the day that he would come out of it. She wouldn’t abandon him now. Returning to the room she saw that Joshua had fallen back to sleep. “Autry, is there a Waffle House around here? I’m famished.”

  “Only thing open at this hour would be the Speedway gas station. But the hospital would have somethin’ laid out, like a Danish, maybe. Let’s go over there first. I’m hankerin’ for somethin’ too.”

  Adele checked her watch. 5:45. “When does that McDonalds open? If they open at six, I’d much prefer something like an egg McMuffin?”

  “I’m a thinkin’ the drive thru is open now. Done forgot about that.”

  “Let’s go for it.” Autry drove while Adele texted Patricia Reid that Joshua had woken up. She called the UK switchboard and explained her situation. She was assured someone would be called in to cover her classes.

  “Sheriff Kane! What brings you up this a way?” The McDonalds window girl shouldn’t have been that perky at this hour, but she was.

  “Visitin’ a friend a mine over at the center.”

  “Wouldn’t be Joshua would it?”

  “It would be him. He woke up this mornin’.”

  “Oh, my sakes alive. Harry! Joshua done woke up this mornin’”

  Harry, the morning manager, strolled over to the window. “No stuff? He came out of it?”

  “Yup. Just today.”

  “Hey, Jimmy Dan, put down that broom an’ go change the marquee. Put on there ‘Joshua woke up today’.”

  “Now, in the snow?” Jimmy Dan pleaded.

  “Yeah, now, in the snow. An’ don’t misspell anythin’ this time.” Harry turned back to Autry. “We been waitin’ a long time to hear them words, ain’t we?”

  �
��We sure nuff have. Now git me that food I ordered.”

  “How are things down your way, Autry?” The two sat in the fast food parking lot, gobbling down the five star fare, and chasing it with too strong coffee, and watching Jimmy Dan misspell ‘woke’. A wok was something Orientals used often, but Americans just once a year.

  “Ain’t the same, Adele. Ain’t the same. I shore do miss that guy makin’ me run around hells half acre for ‘im. It’s like a dark cloud come and hung over us, what with all the big shot news people that come down on us. It’s been made out like Whitley City killed Jesus all over again. An’ people is cryin’ for the NIL, but they ain’t about to pay forty bucks for that watered down stuff theys a makin’.” Autry rolled down his window. “For cryin’ out loud, Jimmy Dan. Woke has got an ‘e’ on the end.”

  “Oh, yeah, it shur does.” Jimmy Dan climbed back up the ladder as the cop car pulled out of the lot.

  Autry dropped Adele off at the convalescent center. He needed to get back on the job, but said he’d return that evening.

  Adele was told that Joshua had already been moved over to LCH, which hospital was in the cattycornered block. She walked the distance, rather than move her car. “I’m here visiting Joshua Meadors. I’m his mother.” She explained to the lobby pink lady.

  “Third floor, Mrs. Meadors. Looks like God has answered our prayers. I am so happy for you.”

  Adele was cut off from seeing Joshua on the third floor. The station nurse instructed her that Joshua was being prepped for a brain scan. She would have to wait in the family room, and that there was coffee and donuts available in there. Adele asked if the nurse knew which type of scan was being done. The nurse didn’t know, but suggested it was probably going to be an fMRI. Adele didn’t know why she even asked. It really didn’t matter all that much, but an MRI was just as good as the rest of them. It wasn’t long before the couch in the family waiting room became too attractive. She took advantage of her singular presence and dozed off.

  Her cell phone awakened her at 10 am. It was Patricia Reid calling, not texting. “Hello Patricia.”

  “Hear you have good news, kiddo. I am so glad he’s come out of it. How is he?”

  “Slow on the uptake. Dizzy acting. Kind of out of it, but, he’s awake and has some cognitive ability. I guess he ought to be out of the brain scan by now. I fell asleep in their lounge here.”

  “Well, you know when the major networks get wind of it, they’ll be swarming all over you down there, so brace yourself. Anything I can do?”

  “Just keep praying.”

  “Always. And how are you, by the way?”

  “It’s still there.”

  “I am so sorry to hear that. Mine is gone. At least the doctors think so. Honey, I will be saying prayers for the both of you today and every day.”

  “Thanks, Patricia. And continued good luck to you. I’m glad that you are projected to win in a landslide. We deserve you, kiddo.”

  “Thanks. I will keep calling from time to time. Gotta run. Bye.”

  The door opened to the family room. “Mrs. Meadors?” A nurse held the door ajar and held up a clipboard, waving it. “Right this way, please.” They walked down a corridor and in to a small office. Doctor Amaranian sat behind a wooden desk. “Please have a seat, Dr. Meadors.” She did.

  The doctor took his merry old time reading several pages on a clipboard. “Well, we ran two scans, an MRI and an EEG. I assume with your background you are familiar with both?”

  “I am. What’s the verdict?”

  “The doctor walked around the desk and held the clipboard in front of her. “This one is the magnetic imaging. See this area with the darker shading. That is the Wernicke area of the parietal. Are you familiar with that?”

  “Yes, go on.”

  “It indicates some damage caused by the lack of blood flow and hypoxia during and after the trauma. I would suspect, but am not certain, that he will have difficulty expressing himself, and it could be a permanent condition. He may also struggle with understanding what is being spoken to him.”

  “There’s a great deal of irony here, doctor. That’s the same area that caused him issues as a child and teenager. He completely overcame the difficulty with the fluency of speech. He had suffered head trauma as a very small child.”

  “I was unaware of that. Interesting. Let’s go on to the EEG. These wavy lines on the graph, right here, suggest that there will evidence of dementia. His memory may not fully restore. The verdict is still out as to whether he will regain sapient functioning. As you undoubtedly know, there is always an element of uncertainty in the recovery process.”

  “These tests are preliminary and taken just after he emerged from a vegetative state. Doctor, I have a great deal of training and experience with this kind of debilitation. I would like to have full access to his records and also to his assigned room at all times. I would like to have a guest bed rolled in. Will you allow me that?”

  “I don’t have a problem with that. Your reputation precedes you, so let’s get that ball rolling, shall we? He’s in 311. Be my guest.”

  Adele peered down at the one she loved so dearly. She wasn’t his mother, but not a single person on this planet could love him as a mother more than she. Sleep, my baby, sleep. I’ll be here, she whispered to herself.

  The first of the flowers arrived before noon. The card read, “Get well soon, Joshua. Love, C. and T. Mayes”. The second delivery, a dozen red roses, bore the get well wishes of Cecil and Gloria Habersham. Adele knew from reading the news reports that all four of those people had recovered from avian flu, and each had given testimony to the NIL’s effectiveness. The entire country was thankful that the H7N9 avian flu was now ancient history. And here poor Joshua didn’t have the faintest idea that his invention was, during the onslaught and shortly thereafter, a household word nationally. NIL became the hot item during the summer and fall, then faded away after the pandemic was stemmed and the new owners took over.

  “Knock, knock.” A blonde lady peeked into the room. “May I come in?”

  “You’re half way in now, might as well haul the other part in.” Typical Adele.

  “Hi. I’m Sheryl Smalley. I knew Joshua when I worked at WKSO. Remember? We did the television interview that shook up everything.”

  “Oh, how I do remember that? You used to work there, not anymore?”

  “They canned all of us. Well, Jermaine stayed on. It was a mess. Did you ever meet the little Indian girl that stayed down there with Joshua for a while?”

  “I knew her well. What of it?”

  “She had her dad drive up to our station and handed us one thousand dollars to cover up our booboo. Did you know she did that?”

  “Tell me more. No, I didn’t know that.”

  “Well, see, Joshua had agreed to pay us one thousand dollars out of his own pocket to make up for all the irate viewers that called in. They expected a free product, and we blew it by not mentioning the price on TV. So, then, you know what happened. He got shot. We didn’t know that immediately, so we got a little huffy with the Indian folks down at the barn. That’s when we found out about him getting killed, I mean, almost killed. Anyway, to finish the story, the girl had in her possession something Indian that was valuable, and she found a buyer for whatever it was and made the deal good that we had with Joshua. Didn’t matter much, we all got fired, except Jermaine.”

  The woman’s story pierced Adele like a knife. She remembered, the night of the tragedy, before it happened, that she had come down hard on Joshua. She would ask for forgiveness a thousand times over. She ached in her heart.

  “Well, I’ve got to be going. I’m glad he has woken up. He has, hasn’t he? I don’t see him breathing?”

  “Yes, he is just sleeping right now. Thank you for visiting.”

  “Okay, well, one more thing. I promised to pay him twenty dollars for the NIL he had given both to me and to Jermaine. So here it is….forty dollars. Tell him I said to get well, and that I’m sor
ry. Oh, and Jermaine sends his well wishes too. Byebye. She stuck her head back inside the door. “One more thing. Tell him I like him better without the beard. Bye.”

  “Adele?” Joshua was awake. His voice startled her out of a remorseful daydream.

  “Yes, darling. I’m here.”

  “Do you have some NIL with you?”

  Now THAT was an extremely positive sign.