Chapter 5

Shirley Waters had brought him another lunch from the steakhouse. He supposed that the hospital food service would be bringing along another meal, also.

He thanked Shirley for bringing in the extra, real meal. She momentarily smiled at him as she put down his steak lunch.

Dan lay there in his hospital bed while looking at Shirley. He was considering several questions that he might ask of her. And, he thought - which ones might be better directed to Dr. Chen?

Shirley had not failed to notice the groan. "Don - what's wrong? You groaned."

"Uhh, Shirley. Uuhhh, my sisters were teasing me about something. It's kinda personal. When you walked in I wasn't ready to talk to anyone after what had happened during their visit."

"Oh yeah. I spoke to them for a minute out in the visitors' lounge. They introduced your friends."

She then quirked an eyebrow as she looked at him. "What was it that they teased you about, Don?"

Dan decided. He had always been good at quick decisions.

"Shirley, they were teasing me because of what my ex-girlfriend had told Susie."

Shirley's expression went from curiosity to concern. "What did she tell Susie about you?"

Dan had been raised a bit conservatively. He still had to overcome that early conditioning on occasion. It was long past in his personal history. Still, it could be difficult when things were as poorly defined as the situation in which he presently found himself. He managed to do so on this occasion.

"Apparently, I'm kinda large."

"Yeah, you're about six feet. That's kinda tall for a young guy like you. But, you were fit before you got hurt. You aren't fat or anything like that."

"Uh, that's not what I meant, Shirley."

Shirley had been busying herself with arranging some things on his cart. She looked up from her work to see his expression.

"Oh. OH! Well, yeah. It's kinda hard for your nurses not to notice that kind of thing."

She smiled. "Yes. You are large. Don't worry about it."

"Shirley! My sisters were teasing me about it! Jan's best friend Janet was teasing me about it! Even her boyfriend Todd was going along with the jokes and comments! The whole football team saw me this Spring! What am I - some kind of freak?"

"No Don. Not a freak. Just large. Nothing unusual. Nothing frightening. Just larger than normal. That's all.

"Really? I'm not going to have problems?"

"I don't know that, Don. But from what I've seen - you're normal. Only larger than normal. Don't worry about it."

"Uh, Shirley - you said 'nurses'. What did you mean by that?"

"Several of us bathed you while you were in your coma. It was kinda obvious that you'd be large if excited. Does this have to do with Wendy?"

"You know about what Wendy did?"

"Yeah, she told me about how she helped you out."

"Uh, why'd she do that, Shirley?"

"Why?"

"Yeah - why'd she do that?"

"Oh, I guess she felt you needed a little extra care."

"Really? I mean - is that sort of thing normal?"

"Well, it's getting that way. Things have really opened up over the last few years."

"They have?"

"Yeah. You don't remember anything about how things have changed over the last several years, do you?"

"No. I guess not."

We were interrupted by the arrival of the woman with the hospital food service. She came in and noticed the Styrofoam package with the lunch that Shirley had brought in. She smiled. "I guess you're really hungry. You've eaten everything we've brought you and you're getting extra meals brought in."

Shirley nodded. "Yeah, his doctor OKed that. He's been very hungry."

The food service woman just smiled more and nodded at Don. "Go ahead and eat it all up, honey. Soon you'll be headin' home and your momma can feed you all you want."

"Thanks. I really do want to get out of this bed."

Shirley smiled. "Pretty soon, Don."

The woman from the food service waved as she went out to continue with her rounds.

Shirley pulled around his cart and had both of his meals ready for him. "I've got to move on and check my other patients, Don. I'll be back to talk to you later."

"OK, Shirley. Thanks for talking to me about things."

"Sure, Don. You know there are likely other holes in what you remember besides your failure to recognize your family. Talk to Debbie about it when she comes in later. She's worked with kids who've had problems with the way society is changing. She'll be able to help you figure this out."

"Thanks, Shirley. That's good advice."

"It's not much, Don. It's just what you need to do. That's all.

Now, I've got to get going. Chow down!

See yah, Don!"

"Bye - and thanks, Shirley!"

As he started with his lunch Dan reached over to the remote and turned on the TV. Again, there was the CNN-like news channel. He watched as he chewed his steak - still amazed when the young woman presenting the weather appeared on camera wearing nothing but a garter belt, stockings, and high heels. This is simply amazing!

He surfed up to a different news channel and watched yet another young woman (fully nude, this time) prance about in front of a continental weather map. She almost seemed to be using each of her nipples as a pointer, as she spun from left to right and commented on the developing patterns of lows and fronts moving across North America. Still weirder and weirder!

That's when he noticed that the display of her breasts actually did have some sort of tracking CG effect. They were actually using her nipples as pointers. He could clearly see the enhanced or highlighted tracing of her nipples across the blue-screened map. There was even a trailing sparkle effect as she moved back and forth across the background CG projection. Her nipples were leaving trails across the map whenever she backed up across the map! They were panning and zooming the overall map in and out so that her nipples were always pointing to the areas of interest. It was incredible to see. Wow! I never would have imagined something this strange.

He slowly made his way through his two lunches and observed several different news, information, or entertainment channels. He took in both nourishment and information.

In the past he'd had to process intelligence as a field operator. He'd been better at it than some others. Senior officers had started asking him to review their intelligence feeds. It had been a bit unusual for a field officer such as he'd been to find himself being co-opted into part-time intel work. Well, backup or alternative intel analysis. But, he'd been good at it. Along with being good at just about all of his other duties.

Now, he felt himself shifting back into that mindset. Things were very different. And he needed to try and understand the differences between the world he remembered and this world where he found himself.

How did I get here?

What happened to Don?

Is there any part of Don still here? Well, that is - if I really believe that I'm who I think I am.

Time for me to ask some questions of Debbie Chen, I think.

He lay there and wondered about these things while imagery of scantily clad and nude on-air hosts appeared on the TV screen.

He'd been fairly pre-occupied when the nice woman from the food service had come back by and dealt with the remains of his two meals. Still, she'd spoken to him and he's said something to her. What they'd exchanged he couldn't recall moments after she'd left his room.

He'd continued surfing up and down the cable channels available in the hospital while he'd thought about these issues.

On one of the entertainment channels he viewed an absolutely amazing infomercial. It was for some sort of intricately configured vibrator! The damned thing seemed to have three different parts! And while the models shown enjoying its manifest benefits weren't being broadcast experiencing any actual insertions, there were plenty of shots showing them in the throes of orgasms. Either those several young ladies were very good actresses or else that wild-looking plastic apparatus was a technological marvel of self-gratification.

How in the world had this ever developed?

He'd laid there propped up on his pillows and kept on wondering about these things. It was altogether so different from his own memories of the world in which he'd lived.

Well, that's what I'd like to believe.

He was forcing himself back into his analytic frame of mind when opportunity walked through his door.

Dr. Debbie Chen had arrived for their afternoon session of testing.

"Hi, Don! How are you feeling today?"

"Full. I ate another two lunches."

"Oh, good! You should be nice and mellow 'n relaxed for our testing session."

"Yeah, I guess so."

She looked at him for a moment before putting down her testing materials on the cart beside his bed.

Dan watched as she pulled a chair and arranged herself.

"Dr. Chen. Debbie. Can we hold off on the testing for awhile? I've got some questions that I'd like to ask you. They're about some of things we've discussed."

Debbie Chen's expression had changed a bit when he'd used her first name. She seemed to realize that something must be up. Something important.

"OK, Don. Go ahead. I'll answer any questions as best as I can."

"Right. This is really a strange topic for me to discuss.

Remember how I mentioned that your dress was distracting me?"

"Yeah, Don." She glanced down at her clothing and looked back up to him. "I've kept things really tame since you commented on it, Don. Is there still a problem?"

"Uh, not with you. It's more to do with my memories of things. I don't recall any of what appears to have occurred. It's like the old "Sexual Revolution of the '60s and '70s has been reborn. And vastly extended and expanded. I've been looking at the TV and there are newscasters, hosts, and infomercial models doing things that I can't hardly believe. It's just as if I've been pulled up out of one world and thrown into a parallel universe. One where society's rules are both subtly and very blatantly different."

There, I said it.

And indeed, he had said it. One of the fundamental conundrums of his existence was now open to discussion with his Psychologist. And, presumably - with his Neurologist and the other Physicians providing his care during his hospital stay.

"Oh. That's awfully profound, Don. Are things really that strange to you?"

"Yeah, Debbie. I'm not making this up. All of this stuff with wearing extremely suggestive clothing or no clothing at all is way beyond anything I can recall. I don't recall anything about nudity being a common feature of the news media!"

"Hhhmmmm. This has really been developing for the last five or more years. Before that it was only suggestive. Society had really opened up again once the vaccines for AIDS and other STDs had been introduced. Still, the older forms of morality had been maintained - mostly.