Chapter 11

Mum and Dad arrived a few minutes later without Janey in tow. “She’s got school tomorrow so we let her sleep,” explained Mum when she saw I was looking for a third visitor. “She’s sensible enough to be left on her own for a couple of hours and we left a note explaining where we are and how to get in touch if she needs us.”

“How on earth did you get out of the bathroom, leaving it locked from the inside?” asked Dad. “I heard the shower still running and I had to remove the door lock to get in and turn it off?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I had a headache come on while I was showering and I blacked out again. I found myself in bed with Josie Mourinho.”

“We know,” said Dad. “The Mourinhos phoned us. They were pretty upset because you were in bed, naked, with their daughter. And since they’re devout Catholics, abstinence before marriage is a big thing for them. They said they couldn’t wake you so I told them to call an ambulance, and they said they’d also be calling the police. They couldn’t work out how you got through a locked door into their house.”

On finding out that I was alive and well and not handcuffed to a bed, my parents left to go home and back to bed, saying one of them would be back the next morning, probably with Richard Masson.

Dr Kelleher phoned Professor Palatinsky and luckily he was still at work so they were able to discuss my latest EEG readings as they were happening. Finally Dr Kelleher brought things to a halt. “Maurice, it’s three o’clock in the morning here,” she said with a yawn. “I’ll send you a copy of the readings by e-mail tomorrow. Good night.”

Dr Kelleher removed the electrodes from my head. “Whatever was happening has quietened down now so he’s not going to learn any more tonight. Professor Palatinsky is getting far too excited for my liking. I’ll stop by and check up on you again tomorrow but it won’t be early.” She yawned again.

“Thanks,” I replied. “Do you have any idea what’s happening to me? How can I apparently sleepwalk long distances to places I’ve never been before, passing through locked doors on the way?”

“I’m a scientist,” she said. “I have no clue and I’ve never seen you do anything unusual while in this hospital. I’ll leave the speculation to others.”

Mum turned up with Richard Masson late the next morning, bringing me some clothes to wear instead of the hospital gown.

“I’ve got some good news,” said Mr Masson. “I had a talk with the Mourinhos. Although they’re upset at what happened, they agreed that publicising their daughter was in bed with a naked boy is not in her best interests. Accordingly they’ve withdrawn their complaint to the police. I tried to reassure them that what happened was unintentional and you intended no harm but they weren’t interested. I suggest you don’t try to court Miss Mourinho unless you have marriage firmly in mind.”

I nodded. Another girl to cross off my wish list. Although, to be fair, she hadn’t actually been on it in the first place.

“There was something else strange,” Richard Masson continued. “When Josie Mourinho woke up in bed next to you, she was fully clothed. She remembered going upstairs to her room, but nothing after that until she woke up.

I hadn’t seen what Josie Mourinho had been wearing. Could whatever was happening to me also cause girls to sleepwalk as well if they weren’t already in bed? If so, did they also suffer headaches?

“You’d be racking up quite a legal bill for us if I didn’t work for Richard’s practice,” said Mum after Richard Masson left.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

“I know it’s not your fault. I hope the doctors can shed some light on it.”

That made me feel worse since I was an active contributor to what had happened. But I couldn’t see the point in telling the whole story because nobody would believe me and Dad would be really upset that I’d lied about what had actually happened on the moors.