Chapter 6

Part I

The next two days went by in a bit of a blur.

He'd started the first day with a shower that wasn't too unusual. Neither of the two nurses who'd helped him had tried to do anything with him. He'd been relieved.

Then once he was up and had gotten his breakfast, he'd asked about walking around for a bit. He'd been wrapped up in a robe and given slippers. He'd then gotten up and walked around the floor. He'd said hello to several of the staff he'd met over the last several days. While he was up his two physicians came by and joined him in his walk. Dr. Rogers was again satisfied that his general condition was improving at a rapid rate. He told Dan that he might be able to leave the hospital in another day or two. He'd then gone on to check his other patients.

Dan questioned Dr. Wilkins about his medications and whether they might be affecting his perceptions and responsiveness to Dr. Chen's testing.

He purposefully spun his questions and comments to the Neurologist to make it seem that he was a bit confused at times. And he expressed his concerns regarding psychoactive medications and how they might be exacerbating his condition.

Dr. Wilkins decided his patient had some possibly valid concerns. He ordered the removal of the IV tubes and changed Don's medications over to just four pills. One was a prescription version of a popular over-the-counter painkiller. Second was an anti-inflammatory prescription medication. Third was a blood pressure agent. The fourth was an anti-coagulant.

Apparently, there were still concerns regarding his head injuries and possible cerebral blood vessel and artery ruptures. And then there were the concerns about blood clots. He wasn't to do anything too active for awhile. He was only to slowly and gradually return to a normal life. No great exertions, he was warned.

Well, what the hell was it that Wendy had done with him?

Ah! It was more the case that Wendy had exerted herself while he'd just sat there in the shower.

Janice came in the first morning with three people he hadn't yet met. She first led in an older black lady. Dan had to estimate she was in her 60s.

Jan smiled. "Don, are you up for several visitors?"

Dan thought that he'd be up for just about any visit by Jan. He kept that thought to himself. "Yeah, sure Jan. Who's this lady?" He smiled in welcome.

"Don, this is my granmama Ella. She's my father's mother."

Ella Thomas smiled as she stood by Dan's bedside. "I've heard you don't remember much, Don. Is that true?"

Dan had learned that Jan's last name was Thomas. So, he figured he knew this woman's names. "Yeah, Mrs. Thomas. My memories are all gone but for some stuff like movies and just everyday things that I should know. Anything to do with my family is gone. I guess we must have known one another pretty good?" He glanced at Jan.

Ella Thomas picked up Dan's free hand and held it. "Don, you've been Jan's big little brother for the last two years. We've all been so thankful that you weren't killed. You've been so helpful to your sisters. I'll never forget that fight you got into with those awful boys who were bothering Jan. I'd like to be able to claim you as one of mine. But I've been glad to say that my granddaughter's stepbrother is a real man." She continued smiling at Dan.

He looked to Jan. "What fight was that? I'm not sure I've been told about it."

Jan frowned for a moment. "They were two idiots who thought they could do whatever they wanted to me. You caught 'em tryin' to force me into the old, wooded part of the park." She then smiled.

"It wasn't pretty. There was two of them. But you jumped both of 'em and really got 'em off me.

Then, they got over their surprise and started to really hurt you. That's when I got over my fright and joined the fight. Oh! I fought dirty. I kicked one between the legs from behind. He kinda screamed and fell back away from you.

Then you turned on the other asshole - sorry, Granmama - and busted his nose and cracked some of his ribs. By then the one was getting up to come after me. You pulled him around and took him down with one low punch.

I kinda think you were mad by then. Oh! And you were hurt more than me! Almost as much as those two assholes, too!" She smiled in apology to her grandmother, Dan noticed.

Mrs. Thomas just smiled. "Don, you're my favorite grandson who really isn't my grandson. We've got to get you home and get you eatin' some good home-cookin'."

Jan burst out in laughter at that. Mrs. Thomas looked at her granddaughter and then noticed that Don's face had a big grin as he looked between grandmother and granddaughter.

Jan got her laughter under control. "Granmama, we've been bringing Don two home or restaurant meals a day. That's along with the three meals he gets from the hospital. And some of the nurses have been feeding him cookies and other stuff. He's gonna be fat by the time he gets home." Jan was grinning at Dan by the time she finished.

"Oh, well... We'll just have to see about that. Don's always loved my chicken 'n dumplins' and never could get enough of my barbecued ribs. He used to fight Leroy over the last of the ribs. And Leroy always let him have them since that fight where he took on them two awful boys. My grandson ain't no fool. He knows Don's a mean fighter." She smiled at Dan as she finished.

Dan thought about that for a moment. "Leroy? I've heard about a Leroy Thomas from one of Jan's friends. Is he Jan's cousin? Is this the same guy? He looked between Jan and Mrs. Thomas. Mrs. Thomas just smiled and nodded. Jan looked like she might be embarrassed and maybe even was blushing.

Oh ho! This guy they teased me about is actually Jan's cousin. I'll have to figure out some sort of revenge for that little embarrassing episode that Jan and her friends pulled on me.

Mrs. Thomas spoke up. "Don, would like to meet Leroy and his little sister Tasha? They're out in the hall waiting for us to bring them in."

"Yeah, sure! I need to meet people. I'm hopin' that somebody's goin' to show up and I'll remember 'em." Dan smiled. He really didn't expect that to happen. But, if there was any part of the old Don still around, then he'd learn about it with any realization of recognition. Well, so he kinda halfway expected.

Jan had stepped out to the door and spoke to her cousins. She came back in and was followed by pretty young black girl of about 12 or 13. She was darker in complexion than Jan and didn't look anything so exotic as Jan. She was just a pretty young girl with African-American ancestry. Dan smiled, looking at her.

He next looked to the guy walking through the door and he let his smile change into a look of appraisal. This must be Leroy. He'd been told he was something like 250 lbs and six feet, five in height. He could believe it. This guy was huge for someone still in high school.

Tasha Thomas came over to stand by Jan and looked in Don's eyes. She smiled at him. "Don, do you remember me?"

"Hi Tasha. No, I'm afraid not. So far I've got a zero batting average after a growing number of at-bats." He smiled to be sure she understood he was really joking about his problem.

And man-oh-man what a problem this is! I've got a parade of people coming in here. They all know Don. And I'm mostly clueless! If I'm not already the product of some sort of craziness, then I'm goin' to end up goin' crazy from tryin' to figure out who all of these folks are.

Tasha had looked up to her older cousin. Jan had simply shrugged her shoulders. "I told you Tasha. Don doesn't remember anyone. He remembers some things that we all shared. Remember that movie line I told you about? That's one of the things he remembers. We think that's because he saw the movie so many times. It was one of his favorites."

Tasha had nodded to Jan when mention had been made of the old Klingon proverb. She glanced over to older brother. "Don, this is my brother Leroy. He plays football with you." She again smiled at Dan.

Leroy Thomas had been silently standing beside his grandmother. He now reached over and took Don's right hand from Ella Thomas. He shook Don's hand. "How are you doin' Don? Todd told some of us you wouldn't be able to play this season. Is that so?" Leroy looked worried about that.

Mrs. Thomas looked up at her huge grandson. "Leroy, what sort of question is that to ask someone still in his hospital bed!?"

Dan chuckled. "Mrs. Thomas - that's just the kinda thing a guy's goin' to ask first. Leroy ain't botherin' me! He just got down to the nitty-gritty of what's botherin' a whole bunch of people." He continued smiling at her for a moment or two.

He turned to Leroy. "Yeah. I'm a wreck. The arm was broken and some ribs are cracked and bruised. Worse, I'll be on medications for a while yet. And my neurologist says no contact sports for awhile. I really don't think I'll be doin' anything more vigorous than shootin' hoops or tossin' Frisbees once I get this cast off my arm." He shrugged his shoulders as best as he could and grinned to lessen the impact of the news.

Tasha spoke up. "We've tossed Frisbees in the past, Don. I'll be happy to do that with you."

Dan smiled. "So, Tasha. Are you some kind of disco-queen?" He thought that was a funny little quip.

Four heads snapped about in response to that 'funny little quip'! They whipped about for three or four seconds before coming back to focus on him. Jan and Tasha practically had their mouths hanging open.

What have I done now?

Jan reached out and placed her hand along my cheek. She was practically beaming! "You remembered something! That's what you always called Tasha when you two tossed disks. You said she was your little disco-queen. We even had old Donna Summer songs playing sometimes when you two'd get into that disk-throwing thing. Tasha would dance and throw and you'd try to dance." Jan was grinning at the last part.

Tasha was beaming. No practically about that! "DON! You remember that! You remember what you called me! You haven't forgotten me!" She was beaming!

"Uh, well, maybe so. I'm not sure. I just said that. I mean, it was just off the top of my head - you know..."

HOLY SHIT! Maybe I am dredging up some of Don's memories. Maybe I am a crazy construct made up out of parts of Don's real memories. What the hell am I supposed to think about this kind of shit?

Anyhow, things quieted down after awhile and Jan got her grandmother and cousins ready to leave. Dan asked Leroy to stay for a moment.

He agreed and waited until the ladies were out the door. "So Don, what is it you want to ask me?"

"Two things, Leroy."

He grinned back at Dan. "Go ahead - ask away."

Dan grinned back. "First isn't a question. It's a message. To the coaches. I told Todd about what my physicians have said. I'm not sure he got it. Please tell them I won't be able to play. At least, not this season. My skull was cracked open and with that, I've been told to keep away from contact sports. You understand what I'm saying?"

Leroy just smiled. "Yeah Don. My dad serves with the Sheriff's Department. He saw you that day. He told us you were lucky to be alive."

"Your father is a cop?"

"Yeah. I gotta follow that ol' straight and narrow path, you know."

"Oh, yeah! I bet! What does he do?"

"He's in charge of the traffic division. He joined the pursuit of that crazy who hit you."

"Really!"

"Yeah. He was there when that nutcase pulled his gun and started shooting. Papa didn't get a chance to pull his own gun. But he was a witness to the whole thing. He even got it on his cruiser's video camera. He said it was about as crazy a thing he'd ever seen!"

"Damn! That does sound crazy! What did he tell you and Tasha?"

"Just what I told you. That he'd seen you. That he'd seen the hit-and-run driver shoot at other officers. And, that the guy was killed."

Dan sat there for a few seconds and reviewed this. This didn't really sound too much like a fractured dream reconstruction or anything else. It sounded like reality.

Another question!

"Leroy! What is it about you and me that's so similar? Todd was giving me hell about that the other day!"

Leroy smiled. "Oh, it ain't nothin' much, Don. You're just bigger than me, that's all."

Now Dan knew there had to be something strange goin' on. "Uh, Leroy - unless I'm terribly mistaken, you're about 90 to 100 lbs heavier than me. And you don't exactly look fat, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah Don, that's about right." He smiled at Dan.

"Is it really true? What Todd said? In the showers? I can't really believe that!"

Leroy grinned. "Yeah, it's true. Don, you've not only got a good passing arm, but you've got yourself a third leg..."

Dan groaned, again. "But, no... I don't feel that way! I mean, was I attracting girls or something?"

"Hey Don - no! Last year you were just a lowly Freshman. Nobody was paying any attention to you until you started showin' off in Spring Practice. That's when some stories got around about your girlfriend praisin' your abilities and some of us noticed that she might have found something to be singin' about."

"No..."

"Yeah, Don. She was tellin' girls that you were some sort of machine. And those girls were tellin' their boyfriends. And some of those guys are on the team. Hey! Sometimes things are true. I saw it myself. You're hung, Don! Girls are gonna beat a path to you. You've just gotta get used to it!"

"Oh Shit!"

"Yeah, man. Just don't let my little sister beat a path to you."

"WHAT!?" No way, not at all! She's just a little girl! What, she's twelve?"

Leroy just shook his head. "No, Don. She's fourteen. And she skipped a grade back in elementary school. She'll probably be in some of your classes."

Dan was stunned. Now he reviewed his interactions with the girl and realized that she might have been flirting with him.

"Leroy. There ain't no way I'm gonna have anything to do with a girl so little! She still looks like a kid! I'd never do something like that! Besides, she's Jan's cousin. That sorta makes her my cousin. I couldn't do anything like that with your sister!"

"Hey Don. That's sounds like the guy I've known for years. You always took Tasha's flirtin' really well. She's only been one girl among the five or ten of 'em who've been after you. I always knew you'd never do anything with her. But, watch out. She might just try something with you. She's really got the hots for you, man."

"Leroy, thanks for the heads-up. I never would have guessed it. I'm really mostly clueless. Hey! Be sure and tell the guys on the team that I'm going to be a partial invalid or something for several months. If they spread that around then I won't have to deal with so many girls. I can't stand to think about having to fight off girls. I can barely walk to the bathroom!"

Leroy smiled at that. "How much of that do you think anyone'll believe?"

"Well, if you tell your sister and make sure that Jan hears you say it to her, and also make sure your grandmother hears the same thing..."

"Whoa, Don! Granmama is an old-fashioned lady! She hears anything like that about you and I ain't willin' to predict what might happen!"

"Leroy. Just think about keepin' your sister away from me. I think I saw what you mentioned - in her eyes. I'm not ready for anything like that. And especially not with a cousin of my step-sister. And most especially not with the little sister of you! Do you hear me, Leroy?"

Leroy smiled. "Yeah, Don. I understand. You're scared shitless, ain't you?"

Dan let a hard smile form on Don's face. "Damn straight, Leroy. I don't know who I am, where I am, or what I'm supposed to be doin'. Scared shitless doesn't cover it!"

Leroy grinned at that. Dan let his hard grin spread out into a regular grin on Don's face.

"You'll do OK, Don. You sound a lot like yourself. Don't worry too much about it. Pretty soon we'll have you fightin' with me over granmama's ribs. He laughed at that.

Dan let Don's grin go and laughed.

They said their goodbyes and Dan settled down to contemplate once again the nature of this society that he'd found himself situated in.

Part II

Lunch arrived in its two portions practically simultaneously, on that first of his last two days in the hospital. Shirley Waters barely got into his room before the nice lady from the food service showed up with her covered tray.

Shirley had brought him country-fried pork-chops and a mess of other Southern dishes. Shirley quickly checked things on his chart and really didn't have much else to do. His IVs had been removed, so she made sure that the remaining monitoring equipment was working correctly. Once she was finished they spoke for a couple of minutes before Shirley headed out to check on the rest of the ward.

And the hospital food service knew of his hunger, by that point. They'd doubled up some of his portions. And that day's main dish had also been country-fried pork chops.

Dan was pleasantly surprised by the hospital's meal. Their pork-chops were better! They were more tender and juicier. He had to suppose someone on that staff really knew how to prepare pork-chops!

He'd eaten both lunches and settled down to viewing more of the strange programming that passed for cable-TV in this reality.

The nice woman from the food service had come in to clean up his meal tray and he'd told her that the pork-chops from the hospital's kitchen had been great! He pointed to his meal that had come from outside and noted that the pork-chops delivered with it had been drier and less tender.