Chapter 4

Jimmy.

I spent the day in the hospital under observation, nurse Carol had called both my father and mother to tell them about the telephone book incident. My father had checked in with me the instant he had come in for his rounds, mother was across town at her hospital, Jenny had been very impressed that both my parents where Doctors.

"We need a computer Jimmy, hell Id settle for a smart phone like an Iphone or Ipad."

"Ipad, Iphone, whats that? is that like an ipod?"

"Oh god what was the state of computers in 05? what the hell are processor speeds at now?"

"I just got a P4 2.5ghz desktop, I got it for christmas."

I could feel Jenny shudder mentally.

"It will do, we just need to get to it."

"Is it really that bad?"

"Naw its okay, Just trying to remember, I think I got a 360 in November, I still had one in my apt in 2011."

"Whats a 360?"

"Oh it hasn't been announced yet? its the next Xbox, its pretty sweet, that and the PS3 are still going strong in 2011."

"Ps3? I just got a ps2..."

"Yeah PS3 is okay, I only use it for the blu-ray player."

"blue ray?"

"Oh right its a high definition dvd player, does 1080p and all that"

"1080p?"

"never mind the point is we are not that bad off, I just need access to the internet."

"Oh okay, well as soon as we get out of here we can check that out, why do you need the internet?"

"So I can contact my friend."

"Umm Jenny how are we going to convince him who you are, aren't you like 10 right now, he wouldn't even know you."

"I would be 11 right now."

"Me too."

"I know Jimmy."

"Right"

"But thats a good point, how are we going to convince him we are who we say we are, or how will we find him ... I think he's at cal-tech in Pasadena right now, I think he was heavily involved in string theory..."

"Oh so we can find him."

"Yes we should, but like I said, we need to get out of here."

Just then the door to my room opened and nurse Carol stepped in, I could feel Jenny's fear at being caught talking out loud.

"HI nurse Carol."

"Hi Jimmy, who where you talking to?"

she looked around the room, her face showing concern.

"No one, I just like to talk out loud to get my thoughts in order."

I could feel Jenny's satisfaction at my cover story.

"Nice Jimmy, quick thinking, we need to watch that"

"Yeah I forget we can just talk mentally now"

something we had better start getting used to.

"Jimmy you okay your kind of staring off into space?"

"Oh sorry just have a lot on my mind, thinking about my AS symptoms."

"Oh"

Carol frowned at that

"Are you worried they are going to come back?"

"No not really, I mean I just never noticed how they effected me until they where gone, you know I would never have been able to hold a real conversation for very long before, looking back I can see how different I really was."

I was really thinking about that now

"Its okay Jimmy, I don't think it will come back, not as long as I am here."

"But what happens when you are gone?"

I could feel her sudden fear and hesitation to respond.

"Jimmy I never met you before, but I know your dad and he had nothing but good things to say about you."

"Thank You Nurse Carol"

"Just call me Carol Jimmy, oh I forgot, your Mom is coming by later today, shes taken some vacation time and shes going to take you home, she said she will be taking care of you."

I sighed.

"She didn't have to do that"

"Jimmy shes your mother of course she does."

"Jimmy you need to let your mom do this, she is kind of shell shocked by your behavior."

"I ... I never really was able to express how much I cared about her before Jenny"

"Yes and now you can, so let her mother you a bit."

"Jimmy you got that far away look again."

"Sorry I was just thinking about how I have treated my mom in the past is all."

"Oh okay Jimmy, I have to go make my rounds, just buzz me if you need me."

"Okay Carol thank you for looking in on me."

She smiled at me and left.

"Its going to take a lot to get use to all these changes Jenny."

"I know Jimmy, don't worry, we will get through this together, we just have to work the problem, split it up into manageable chunks we can tackle everything one thing at a time, like I said, our first priority is ensuring you are healthy, which I think I can say i have a good handle on it."

"Whats next?"

"I need to contact my friend, if I can get ahold of him and convince him who I am, maybe I can get him to help with my Dad, maybe we can save him."