Chapter 3: Really Meeting Sylvia

Finally, after nearly five minutes of standing, hugging, and being hugged, she thanked me with a chaste kiss on the cheek, had me sit down on the bed again, and said, "Thank you Henry Morgan, I have needed that for a long time. It's been almost eighteen months since it happened, and I had not been able to just break down, and grieve like I should have. Thomas was my rock until then, but it got the better of him. He is just now starting the long climb back to reality and dealing with life again. He was in a daze for so long. I think I was too, but I threw myself into my work, and that helped take the hurt away, a little at a time. I'm so sorry for burdening you with my problems; you have so many of your own. However, I thank you for being there for me."

"Sylvia, it was the very least I could do. I would like to do more, but I don't know you that well yet. Maybe later I can steer you and Thomas to some friends of mine. They help people that have lost loved ones, and they are excellent listeners and good people too."

"Henry, I may just do that, Thomas may need more help than I can give him, but I am getting too close to you and that is not a good thing for a nurse to do. You will soon be gone, and then I will be by myself again."

"Sylvia, it doesn't have to stop like that. I have friends all over this world, most of them I met through the military but we are still friends. We see each other when we can, but we e-mail and talk on the phone almost weekly. I probably have over two hundred e-mails sitting on my computer waiting for me to open them up and let everyone know I am alive and well in Waco, Texas."

"My goodness, you still converse with that many people? Wow. I know James always said that the military was a very close-knit group, mainly within their own branch of the service, but it was really with all military people. One of his best friends was an Army sergeant from New York or somewhere up there, and he had two other friends who were snipers from the Air Force. I think, if I remember right, his Army friend was SSGT Hiram Sherman stationed in Kentucky and the snipers were ... let's see, yes it was Sergeants Cummings and Mancini. They came from Florida but they were stationed there, and I know Boyd Cummings was from Texas too, but Tony was from somewhere in New York State. James had heard Boyd talking to Tony in the mess tent and knew he was from Texas, so he met them, and they talked a lot about home and everything. They became good friends. He always talked about Boyd and Tony and Hiram as though they all grew up together."

"Yes Sylvia, the military does that for a lot of people. You become a family of sorts, usually you are all in a similar environment all with a common goal and some of the friends you make there will be with you the rest of your lives. You cannot see or hear from them for several years and then suddenly see or call each other, and it was like you talked just yesterday. "Sure a lot of things in each of your lives have changed, but the memories that you share come back like it was yesterday. And you can talk with no awkward silences or long pauses, unless you are remembering some of the times together. Now if you are alright, I hate to keep you from doing your job. There must be other patients who need your excellent care."

"Not really. Presently, as you can see from your almost empty room, we are a little slow ... There's young Mrs. Carstairs, who is suffering from a rattlesnake bite. The snake was over twelve feet long and had eighteen buttons on his tail. She's luck to be alive.

However, she's doing much better now. Next we have Mr. Green recuperating from gall bladder surgery. He should be going home tomorrow and then there is this very nice ex-military man, who is trying to steal my heart away, but he is no problem; I can handle him easily."

"Now why would I try to steal your heart, just because you already have a tight grip on mine?"

"Oh you, now that you are not so tied down, maybe later we can take stroll up and back in the moonlit hall."

"It's a date. Wow, I have a date with an angel of mercy."

We both laughed and I could see that Sylvia was a lot less stressed and more comfortable than when I had seen her before. I was so glad that I could help her as much as I did. I know John and Susan Hatcher could help Thomas and Sylvia if anyone could. Susan is a clinical psychologist at the Seay Behavioral Health Center at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, in Plano. The Wrachett's would benefit greatly by talking with her. I am so surprised that Sylvia has not sought help from her own hospital.

Then again, I may see why if old man Hughes happened to find out about it. I suspect he would fire Nurse Wrachett on the spot upon knowing she sought help with a mental problem. I haven't even met the guy, but already I can almost picture him as a modern-day Simon Legree standing over his charges with a whip and a pistol ensuring his workers do his bidding. He has the hospital staff deathly afraid of him. I wonder if he has any connection with my 'accident'.

That might explain why I am in such a small hospital. If I remember correctly there is a very large new hospital just south of town and one over on the west side that has been here a while. This hospital, I had never heard of before.

Candy Striper Cindy came in with my supper a little while later and gave me some apple juice, clear broth, four crackers, and a square of jello. Some supper, but at least it wasn't totally liquid and through my veins. For that I was truly thankful. I found out that this was a small privately owned hospital and was a sanitarium at one time. About the only change that was made was to remove the bars from the windows and change the lock down doors with fire doors. She did say that there were some places in the basement that were still locked up and no one ever went into them. She said that she had heard that it had some of the old shock treatment equipment there and some other stuff the owners were keeping because they couldn't sell it yet as it wasn't old or rare enough to be valuable. I must admit this girl was either a font of information or a great BS artist. Maybe she was just gullible enough to believe most of this BS. Before she took my supper dishes away she did set my fully charged laptop and cell phone on the roll tray table.

I did my homework and found phone numbers for both the Hill and McLennan county sheriff's offices. I also got the number for DPS investigations for this region and the Texas Rangers for this region as well. Such a wonderful thing is the Internet with everything so available. I typed the numbers into my computer, so I would have them and settled back to work my isometric exercises to strengthen my muscles due to their lack of use. Isometrics is a great way to exercise while not moving much of your body, and it will let you keep the tone in your muscles.

Right about 10:30 Nurse Sylvia came in and asked me if I was ready for that walk in the moonlight.

"I would love nothing more than to walk with my angel of mercy. Lead on MacDuff and I shall try to keep up." I rocked my body back and forth to get myself into a sitting position and then swung my legs to the side of the bed and Sylvia just looked at me in awe.

"Mr. Morgan, how in the world did you do that?"

"Well, I've not had a lot to do except lie her in this bed for the past two days feeling sorry for myself and trying my very best to remember anything about my accident that I could. Since I was pretty much tied down to this bed, I started slowly working my muscles isometrically so that I would sooner have my strength and muscle tone back. It's just something we learned in detention school."