Chapter 6

Dr. Culver had left Joe with a reassuring grip on his shoulder saying “I think you’ll be fine.”, but she wanted to get to a phone as soon as possible. Now was the time for the Hansons to tell Joe they had found Selena. He needed that weight taken from him.

She called their cell as they woke the morning after seeing Selena.

“Good Morning Mrs. Hanson, how are you this morning?” Dr. Culver said hoping she hadn’t wakened them.

“I saw my daughter for the first time in 9 years yesterday afternoon and I feel fantastic!” She answered jubilantly.

“I think that’s news you need to share with Joe as soon as possible. Tell him just what you know, that she is alive and progressing now that he has provided keys to some of her problems. Stress that you have not been able to see her face to face, but so far so good. Dr. Strong seems quite encouraged. Now, there are a lot of things we need to go over with Joe’s release to your care, so be here early Monday.” Culver said.

“Can we come over and do it in person, ... today?” Betty asked.

“I know you want to share the emotion of it, so yes, please come today. Joe could use the pick me up. Stress to him that he may not be able to physically be with her for a while, maybe a couple weeks, depending on how she progresses.” Dr. Culver warned.

At about the same time Saturday morning Selena was waking up in her new room. Nurse Practitioner Kim Tucker was her wake nurse again and she was greeted by a different smiling Selena today.

“Well, Hello Sunshine! Where does that smile come from?” Kim asked as she came in and opened the skylight. “It’s like a Spring day outside, maybe you can get out for a walk today. Now let’s go over the checklist before we talk. You know the routine, same as your other room;

You slept well? All through the night? Any night sweats? Bowel movement yesterday? Female discharge? Any discomfort?

“A big yes to that one, I got a sore butt where Philly gave me a shot yesterday.” Selena said popping up from bed and turning around to pull up her night dress and show her.

“You DO have a nasty bruise there. Show it to her later ... and no panties again, I see.” Kim said smiling to her.

Selena blushed and said, “They’re in the bed somewhere.”

“It sounds like I have a full day with Philly, but a walk outside sounds great. Do you think you can help me do something with my hair? I hate this rat’s nest I have! Oh, and one more thing, the curtains and carpet match, but I would love to take out the carpet.” She said with a sly grin.

“My, aren’t WE making plans for an escape! Is the first eligible man you see going to get the proposition of a lifetime?” Kim said as she poured a juice and prepared her pill cup.

“No, somewhere out there my husband HAS to be looking for me. When he does we’re going to lock ourselves in a room for 3 days.” Selena said with a wide grin.

“Selena honey, remember things change in 9 years. Keep your hopes up, but don’t set yourself up for a disappointment.” She said handing her the pill cup and juice.

“In my dreams last night I remembered one thing that can’t change. God made us for each other and changed our lives to be with each other. I am very sure of that.” Selena said gulping down her pills.

“I’ll put in a request for a stylist to come up, but on the other thing, don’t get mad, and just understand they won’t give you scissors or a razor. Talk to Philly, maybe she and I can help you there, maybe get you a wax.” Kim said as she laid out towels for her shower.

“No, I don’t wax; I shave and keep it smooth with creams. I’ll talk to Philly. Thanks Kim.” Selena said, sure of herself.

“The table is set for breakfast, so don’t be long. They set up an omelet station for you ladies today.” Kim said as she picked up a bit and left Selena on her own.

Kim Tucker went directly to a phone and called Philly Flowers.

“What did you do to Selena? She is a different woman this morning! I’m talking 180 degree turnaround. Very talkative instead of that foggy nod and head shake routine, asked me for a hair stylist, and even wants the stuff to give her pubic area a shave.” Kim reported.

“She’s been behind that wall and needed just a little of the right prodding to come out, do you believe it? I’ll go over her case in re-caps once she’s discharged, and I think she’ll be out of here in less than a week.” Philly told her.

“I noticed her only pills were vitamins this morning, is that right?” Kim wondered.

“So far, yes. I’m going to get with her right after breakfast and lay some heavy things on her and I’ll see how she handles it. Breaking her code seemed pretty easy once we started calling her by name. I can’t tell you about her specifically, but when I do patient recaps you’ll know who she is.” She said confidently

The Selena Johnson that sat conversing with the other three women in her new “hive” was not even a shadow of the one that left her former the night before. She was confident and talkative and only had a problem when an orderly who was coming to pick up trays came in over her shoulder, causing her to startle and start to scream, before she caught herself, letting out only a whoop and almost falling to the floor. Selena apologized profusely and simply said she was caught off guard. By the time Philly Flowers came to get Selena, she had heard about the episode and figured they might address that with other things related to 911.

With Selena seeming more and more “normal” Philly decided to handle 911 with her “head on”. She had the transcript of what Joe said happened that day and she also had the shot from the hip account in video that showed the planes hitting, the people jumping, the buildings falling and the mad rush out of the area. She began by reading Joe’s account and then stopping to pick up where the 1st jet hit, interspersing the oral account and trying to keep the video real time to the account.

After seeing the first plane hit in the video, Selena began to cry, never seeing it before. She wept openly for the duration of the story, but never lost interest or wanted to turn away. She took it bravely. The hardest part was watching the bodies fall; hearing the eerie whistle they made as they broke through the air before impact. Selena became to understand that they weren’t “attacks” on her and that those who chose to jump chose to die in a quicker, more dignified way than inevitable incineration. Selena wept hard as she began to understand it all. But, she never lost sight of the reality of what she went through.

Philly added as many post scripts as she could about the day, the nation’s reaction, our war on terror, and where we stood at the moment. She ended by describing DFS (Dissociative Fugue State) to her and explained that many people who suffered severe shock that day may have had bouts with it citing the number of people who were “missing” only to show up 24 and 36 hours later.

“Selena some people have this DFS for long periods of time, weeks, months, and sometimes years. When they come out of it, they usually recover with total recall of their life, with only the DFS days missing.” Philly explained as Selena listened intently.

“Is this what I had? Is that why you’re explaining this to me? Was I another personality for any time? Was...” She asked persistently interested in her own diagnosis until Philly stopped her.

“No, it was Joe. Joe was a DFS patient.” Philly said.

“Oh, NO! MY JOE? Oh my GOD!” She said loudly holding her head before looking up wide eyed. “Where can I see him, and let me help him?” She asked.

“Calm down a bit Selena. It seems Joe has awoken from his fugue state and it appears he is back to normal. He is being observed to be sure there are no long term problems, but for all intents and purposes, shortly after he left you with the ambulance that day up until about 2 weeks ago, he measured the passing of one day. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Philly asked, knowing Selena was at a doorway where she might panic.

“No, I totally understand. I remember Doc Stevens, back at PolyTech, gave us an ethics problem dealing with this. Something about a will, already probated, and the man shows up alive a year later.” Selena answered, apparently totally lucid and in control.

There was a silence between the two before Selena sat back and smiled. “Oh my God, my parents are totally friggin’ rich! We didn’t have time to lay out our wills the night we got married, it was a quickie for legal purposes, and left everything to them in case something tragic would happen. We didn’t want the government to get everything, you know, set up scholarships and endowments and all that for each other and any children we may have.”

At the mention of children Selena’s face grew sullen and she sat back. She seemed to want to remember but couldn’t put her finger on.

“Philly, can I still have kids after those female problems I had?” She asked.

“It may be hard, but you should be able to conceive. If there are problems there is always in vitro fertilization. You’re still a young woman; I wouldn’t let that worry me.” Philly told her.

“It’s just Joe had a reversed vasectomy and his chances of getting enough of the good stuff is reduced.” She said and then she smiled wickedly. “If it means we have to spend weeks at a time making love, that’s OK too!”

Philly felt that, at this point right then, if she released Selena to the world, she would have no problems. She seemed THAT normal, that lucid, and not showing any signs the paranoia and fear she exhibited for 9 years.

“Selena, I made another phone call this morning to explain your situation to some special friends of yours, the Wall Street Global Group. They were more than overjoyed to hear that you had survived after all. I was asked to extend warm wishes from the entire group.” She told her.

“Oh my gosh! Nine years! Did they say who was still there?” Selena asked with a worried tone.

“I spoke with Deneigh Myersen-Cole and she said that you would be sad to hear that Charles Ford and Willis Menard had passed away. “The Five” were now...” she said as she fumbled her notes, “John Branniff, J. Trace Fountain, Ross Curran, Chielm Beupour, who had some sort of acronym or nickname she said you would recognize,” She added as Selena smiled, “and a new member in the last year, Ms. Jamaica Browne. Deneigh also added that you should get in touch as soon as you are able.” Philly said finishing and looking to Selena for any reaction.

“Oh, Charlie and Will were such sweet, sweet, smart men. It really hurts to not have been able to say goodbye to them.” Selena said as tears began to run from her eyes before out and out crying. “You don’t understand the bond we had. We all have the gift.” She said through her tears and broken voice.

“The gift?” Philly asked.

“Oh, I know it sounds pretentious and self-serving, but we all have a keen sense of numbers and deduction. My old prof from PolyTech used to say it was “fact-fraction algebra” You put a fact times another fact over some numero-relevant fact or situation and we’re able to come up with an answer or high probability result. My Joseph has it as well, so I might also assume this new Browne person does. Deneigh thinks she has it but apparently never quite put it all together, I guess, if she is still answering the phone.” Selena said as she composed herself and then got reflective.

“Deneigh did add a personal thought that she “was still studying and close to getting her own seat.”, she wanted you to know.” Philly said smiling.