Chapter 1

I was mowing my grass in the front yard of my home, a typical Florida panhandle subdivision when I heard a screech from across the cul-de-sac. Looking up with my sweat filled eyes I could see smoke coming from the garage across the street. Ignoring my weary 57 year-old body's fatigue I ran towards the smoke, coming from a car in that garage. I knew that smoke and cars and garages were not safe combinations but other than that had no idea of what was happening.

When I got to the garage I saw a petite woman, 20-ish, attractive with a slight athletic build struggling in the driver's seat. Smoke was issuing forth from the dash in front of her, the key was in the ignition, and she was stuck in her seat. Her dress was caught in her seat belt locking mechanism, jamming it shut. She was in a panic and instead of trying to force the button on the seat belt was yanking on the strap.

The driver's door was open and I had better access to the buckle mechanism so I told her to stop and used my thumb to force the latch. Using all of my leverage it popped and then I managed to force the latch apart. As soon as the belt was free she jumped out of the truck. As she was jumping the airbag deployed catapulting her into my arms with enough force to knock me to the cement floor. As my head banged the cement floor it was lights out.

Everything was blurry and a mass of light as my mind struggled to come to grips with reality. It seemed as if everyone was spinning and the bile in my stomach was rising as my head felt lighter and lighter. Snippets of conversation joined together to make no sense in my head. It was like I was in the middle of a group of women in a department store during a 50% off sale, total bedlam. Closing my eyes tightly I tried to refocus, first on the voices, and then squinting on the faces.

The first thing I noticed clearly was that I had something on my face. I later found out it was an oxygen mask. At the time it seemed like it was keeping me from breathing and I struggled to remove it. As I did I noticed that my hands were as woozy as my head felt and my hands moved but not up to the mask on my face, rather they seemed to wave around in the air.

The next thing that came into focus was a face that I didn't recognize at all. It was a black face with aviator sunglasses. The eyes were intently staring at my face, to the point that they made me extremely self-conscious. At this point I didn't have the wherewithal to determine that it was a paramedic trying to stabilize me for transport to the hospital. The first distinct words I made out were his when he said, "He's coming around. Back up and give us room."

Looking beyond him I could see a crowd of people. There were far more people than those few that I knew from my street. They were all staring at me and I was confused as to why. It seemed important at the time, something that I should remember but I couldn't. I couldn't remember anything, nothing. In fact, saying that there were more people than I could remember from my street was a misstatement because at that moment I recognized no one.

I panicked. Not knowing why I was strapped down, not knowing who these people were, not knowing who I was bothered me. I don't know why it bothered me, but it did. At that moment I think I would have been better off being picked up by aliens and put onboard a spacecraft than I was onboard that gurney surrounded by people I didn't know or, more accurately, remember and not knowing who I was. I freaked. I started struggling violently against the straps as if I was having a seizure of some type. I was shouting through my mask at the top of my lungs, "Leave me alone!! Let me up!! Let me go!!" over and over.

'The paramedic, I later found out his name was Alex, decided to medicate me to prevent me from hurting myself but had to get help to restrain me until the medicine took effect. My struggle ended as I blacked out again.

The next time I awoke I was in the hospital. I opened my eyes and it was dark. I could tell it was during the night, but had no idea what time it was. Again my mind was foggy but this time it may have had to do with the relaxing atmosphere of the hospital because I knew who I was. I also remembered what had happened and had a good idea as to why I was here. It was at this point that I started to put all of what had happened together in my mind. I was still somewhat confused, still had some questions, but at least I had a general picture of all that had happened so far.

As I woke up I also realized three things. One was that I was in some pain. The back of my head was bandaged and I could feel a low level background headache. Beyond that there was something restraining my chest, feet and arms to the bed. Finally I noticed that there was someone in the room but I couldn't turn my head because of the headache and bandage to see who it was. As I thought it might be a nurse so I tried to say, 'Hello.' That was when I realized that my throat was dried out to the point that I couldn't speak. Swallowing several times to moisten my throat, I tried again, "Hello." This time I heard the words and there was some response.

The response was from a petite, blue-eyed young woman who gracefully moved into my view. She wasn't smiling, rather wore a look of genuine concern on her face. She looked at me as if she knew me but I was sure that we had never met. As my gaze traveled up from her eyes to her hair, I realized that this was my neighbor that I had pulled from the car. Her two-toned hair, dark auburn with heavy blonde highlights across both sides of the front was uncommon enough to make me sure of her identity. Her left arm was in a sling, letting me know that she had not come away from the incident unscathed.

I tried to speak again but the dryness had returned to my voice and I found I could say nothing. I felt embarrassed by this lack of being able to communicate and I tried to say 'water, ' mouthing the word several times with only a rough sandpaper-like whisper issuing forth. Understanding the pleading in my eyes she suddenly left the room. At that moment I was sure that she had left for good and felt bad that my scratchy voice had scared her off.

My torment was short-lived as she returned after only a few moments with a Styrofoam cup, containing chipped ice, water and a bent straw. She was nervous about what to do with the cup, as I was laying almost flat, so I made an extraordinary effort and turned my head as far to the side as I could. Seeing this she moved the cup and held the straw so I could take a sip. The water was cold and felt good on my parched throat. For the next few moments all I concentrated on was her fingers, holding the cup and straw, and sipping the fluid that seemed to be so refreshing.

As soon as I released the straw with my lips, she moved the cup away and said the first words since her frantic pleas from the front seat of her car. I could hear the smile in the one word question "Better?" even though I was still staring at her fingers. She put the cup down, reinserted her arm into the sling, moved a folding chair next to the bed and sat down before she spoke again. The next thing she said was "I thought that it would be better if I sat down here so you wouldn't have to keep moving your head."