He was back in Idaho on Interstate 84. At first, he was driving in his car, and then, instantly, he was standing outside on the road in the rain, watching an emergency crew use a large tool to pry open the door of a car that was upside down on the highway. The tool looked like a giant pair of pliers and made an odd humming sound as it finally popped opened the door. The freed door crashed down onto the wet highway, sounding like a thunderclap. There were no people in the car, but suddenly, with the sound of the door hitting the highway, birds flew out—four of them. As they flew from the car, the rain stopped. The birds were gray and tan with a yellow V-shape across their black chests, and they flew in an ever-widening circle around the car. Their tail feathers spread out and looked like stars as they glided. He then was gliding with them, and he looked down and could see the wrecked car below on the highway. One more circle, and then through his new bird eyes, he saw the star-like tail feathers of one of the birds flying in front of him. He followed the others over the highway before veering to the right as the highway fell behind. He somehow knew the direction they were headed. He could feel the direction in his mind. It was toward the southeast. Impossibly fast they flew. He looked down to view the land; mountains, trees, meadows, rivers, roads, and buildings passed beneath. He could feel his wings. How light and powerful they were! The cool air moved inside and across his wings, stroking the air like feathered oars in an ocean of sky. There was a destination; he could feel the destination inside of him. Far across the land of southern Idaho and northern Utah, they flew, then passing over western Colorado. Below was a town—the destination. He followed the other star-tails as down and down they dropped, finally landing on the branch of a tree in the very quiet town. This town was unlike others. It was unlike the noisy highways with their never-ending traffic. This town was an oasis drenched in the sweetness of silence. His song could be heard in this town. The silence allowed that. A desire built up inside of him. He could not resist it. His song must come out—tweeta…tweet…tweet…tweetatweet!
Forty-Eight
A Night at the Home
It was after sunset when Dr. Reese finally decided he’d had enough of work and knew, if he was going to be any use at all to his staff on Sunday, what he needed the most was a good night of sleep in his own bed. Even before crawling into bed, however, he first wanted a nice long shower in his own bathroom. He’d then slip in between the soft sheets and curl up next to Amanda.
“Who’s gonna be in charge tonight?” asked Eddie as he met Dr. Reese in front of the building with one of the golf carts.
“Rebecca,” said Dr. Reese, climbing in behind the wheel of the cart.
Eddie glanced back toward the front door and then at Dr. Reese. “That’s a good idea,” he said, nodding. “Do you want me to hang around here too—just to keep an eye on things?”
The doctor was busy looking at the controls for the cart and hadn’t been paying attention to Eddie. “I’m sorry,” said Dr. Reese after a moment. “What did you ask?”
“I asked if it might be a good idea for me to hang around here tonight. It might make Becky feel safer.”
Dr. Reese had always trusted Eddie’s judgment in matters of security, and if his chief of security felt he ought to be at the facility overnight, the doctor wouldn’t argue with that kind of dedication. Rebecca had been in charge before when Dr. Reese had gone away on vacations, but this would be her first time in charge overnight. Having Eddie around for support seemed like a good idea.
“Well, if you’re offering to stay,” said Dr. Reese, looking at Eddie, “I’d appreciate that. I’m sure Rebecca will feel safer for it.” He then looked down toward the controls once more. “It’s funny, but in all my years here, I’ve never driven one of these things. Now, show me how to operate it—beginning with the switch for the headlights.”
“There aren’t any headlights, Doctor Reese,” replied Eddie, handing the doctor a heavy metallic security flashlight. “The moon’s pretty bright tonight, so you should see the road just fine, but if you need it, this can be your headlight. It also makes a pretty good weapon—in case you need to fight off something.”
“Fight off something?”
“Yeah, like a bear or something. There are a few around here, you know.”
“So I’ve heard,” said the doctor, “but in my seven years here, I’ve never seen one. I guess there’s always a first time.”
Eddie explained the simple controls of the golf cart to Dr. Reese and then watched him drive out of the parking lot and down the darkened highway toward Cottonwood. When the small cart had disappeared into the darkness, Eddie turned and walked up the stairs toward the front doors. His security keys were attached to a belt loop by a silver chain, and he swung them in a little circle, whistling a little tune to himself as he entered the building.
Rebecca had not found time to call home during the day, but now that the evening meal and activities were over, there was a short break before bedtime preparations would begin, and she decided to use the opportunity to talk to her new husband. Sitting at her desk in her small private office across from the cafeteria, with the door closed, she picked up the phone and immediately felt the strangeness of dialing her own number for the first time. After a few rings, the answering machine picked up. She skipped through her own recorded greeting and left a message:
“Hi Matthew, it’s me, your wife,” she began. “That’s going to take some getting used to. Sorry I haven’t called sooner, but it’s been really busy here today. I hope you had a great day and found a productive way of spending our honeymoon without me. I hope you haven’t been out hawking my wedding ring, because I sure am feeling naked without it.”
Rebecca paused and looked down at her empty ring finger, rubbing it lightly. “If I don’t talk to you pretty soon,” she continued, “I’m going to think that yesterday, last night, and this morning were all just another dream…a wonderful dream…but a dream.
“I do have some bad news…Doctor Reese has asked me to stay overnight because we’re still short on staff. He stayed here himself last night, and so I get the duty for tonight. Sorry. You know I’d rather be with you. I should be coming home tomorrow sometime. I’ll try to call you later, if I get the chance. Where are you? I love you….”
She hung up and stared at the phone for a moment, before a knock on her office door brought her back. She looked over and saw Eddie peering in the little window next to the door. He had the same smile on his face that she remembered him having a few years back when he’d won a few hundred dollars in the state lotto.
Rebecca motioned for him to come in.
“What’s going on, Eddie?” she asked, once he’d opened the door and stepped in.
“I hope I’m not botherin’ you,” he said, “but, well, I just thought you’d like to know that I’m going to be stayin’ around here tonight, and I’ll be available for you if you need anything.” He then watched her closely, seemingly waiting for any reaction, positive or negative.
Rebecca tried her best not to show any.
“Oh,” she said, after what she hoped was only a slight pause, “I think everything should be quiet tonight. I sure hope Doctor Reese didn’t make you do that.”
“It was a mutual decision,” said Eddie, without any expression.
Rebecca looked at him closely. He held a rock-solid and unflinching gaze at her. She nodded her head without saying anything. Eddie was standing in such a way that he was completely blocking the doorway of her small office, and Rebecca suddenly felt claustrophobic. It wasn’t that he was a large man, for his body was long and lean, but her office was tiny, and he was completely blocking her view of the open door. She suddenly wanted to be with Matthew—in his arms, lying in her own bed, back into the dream she’d shared with him the night before.
“Well, thanks for that, Eddie. I guess I’d better do my rounds now,” Rebecca said, standing up from her desk but not moving any closer to Eddie.
Eddie continued staring at her for a moment, wit
hout beginning to move at all toward the doorway, then finally said, “Oh sorry, sure…and I’ve got some things to do, too. Maybe I’ll see ya later.” He then quickly turned and left the office, heading down the hallway toward the main entrance.
Rebecca waited a second and then also quickly left her office, heading down the hall toward the residents’ rooms—in the opposite direction from which Eddie had gone.
The main security office was at the far end of the building, away from where the residents lived, ate, and had their recreation and therapy. The small office was filled with multiple video monitors mounted along one wall, with a simple countertop in front of them. On the countertop was a phone, along with another computer monitor and keyboard.
There were over one hundred security cameras placed around the Home, with nearly every square inch of public spaces covered. From this small security office, Eddie could monitor the activities of nearly the entire building, simply by typing in a number for the camera he wanted. Hallways, common areas, exterior areas, the front lawn, parking lot, stairways, and all entrances and exits were monitored by video camera. By policy and by state law, the only places where security cameras could not be mounted were restrooms, residents’ private rooms, and private staff offices. A state examiner had to approve the locations of all cameras prior to their installation; however, there were no inspections after initial installation, and once an examiner had come and gone, one by one, new and undocumented cameras could be added by someone with the access and inclination to do so.
In addition to monitoring the building though cameras, Eddie also had the ability to control the electronic locks on every door in the building, as every one of the hundreds of exterior and interior doors of the Home had electronically controlled locks on them. Most of these doors were on automatic timers, so that they could be set to lock or unlock at a certain time of day, but the automatic programming could be overridden as needed. Thus, with a punch of a few keys on his computer, Eddie could lock or unlock any door in the building, at any time.
Eddie sat in front of the monitor wall, busily typing in numbers to switch between the different cameras. There were mostly empty hallways on his monitors, as the residents were already in their rooms being readied for bed by staff members. His eyes narrowed with intensity as he spotted his target and then switched between cameras, following one particular person along the hallways of the Home. This person wasn’t a security risk at all; this was something else. He’d been keeping his eye on her long before he was chief of security, and long before he’d even gone into the military. For as long as he could remember, he’d had his eyes and mind on Rebecca D’Arcy.
Along with the rest of the night staff, Rebecca busied herself with the task of assisting the last of the residents with their bedtime preparations. She left the main hallway and entered one of the residents’ rooms and was then out of range of the security cameras. The resident was Clair Etheridge but was known by everyone at the Home as “Blue Clair.” To look at her, it was obvious how she’d gotten her nickname. Her gray hair was tinted with the most interesting dusting of blue. This had originally been an accident of a dye job gone awry years ago, but Blue Clair liked it so much, she insisted from that day forward that it always be tinted in that exact shade. The beauty shop at the Home gladly obliged—mixing a special batch of blue colorant they kept in supply just for her. At one time, there had also been another resident at the Home named Clair, and to more easily distinguish between the two of them, using the names Clair and Blue Clair seemed the most straightforward of ways.
Blue Clair sat passively on the edge of her bed as Rebecca, who stood next to her, did all the work in pulling the elderly resident’s sweatshirt over her head.
“Where’s Annie?” asked Blue Clair from underneath the sweatshirt as she held her arms high over her head. Ann Fontaine was one of Blue Clair’s regular night-staff nurses.
“It’s a special night,” replied Rebecca. “Annie’s sleeping tonight.”
Rebecca finally wrestled the sweatshirt fully over Clair’s thinning blue-gray hair, and now the elderly woman sat on her bed, completely naked from the waist up. She had long ago given up wearing bras. Rebecca moved to the closet, put the sweatshirt into a hamper, and started searching for one of Blue Clair’s nightgowns. She found three—a pink, a white, and a powder blue one. The powder blue one was fraying at the edges and looked by far the most worn, while the other two were crisp and barely worn.
“Hmm…what color night gown would you like to wear tonight?” Rebecca asked looking over toward the bed and speaking louder than normal for such a short distance, knowing the elderly resident’s hearing had been gradually failing over the past few years. “Let me guess,” she added, already knowing the answer.
“Funny Becca,” said Blue Clair, clasping her hands together in front of her bare chest and rocking back and forth.
Rebecca laughed lightly. “Why am I so funny?”
“Bluuuuuuuuuuuu…” replied Blue Clair, almost singing the word and smiling as she continued to rock.
Rebecca smiled and took the worn blue nightgown off its hanger and walked over to the bed. “All right…hands up,” said Rebecca.
Blue Clair unclasped her hands and put them over her head, in the manner you might see in an old western movie during a train robbery, except in this case, the victim would be a half-naked elderly woman sitting on her bed. As Rebecca pulled the nightgown over the woman’s arms and head, she couldn’t help but glance down, for a brief and passing moment, at Blue Clair’s wrinkled and sagging breasts and then think of her own present youth—as the ripeness and fullness of summer might look ahead to the coming of fall. She thought back to the night she’d shared with Matthew and wondered what making love would be like with Matthew when her own body displayed the same inevitable passage of time as Blue Clair’s.
“I think we’re going to need to get you another blue nightgown soon,” continued Rebecca as she pulled the nightgown all the way down, and Blue Clair’s smiling wrinkled face popped out of the lace-trimmed neck hole.
“A bluuuuuuu one,” said Blue Clair.
“Of course…a blue one,” replied Rebecca with a smile. “Okay, now time to stand up.” Rebecca helped Blue Clair off the bed to a stand, and then she knelt down and pulled Blue Clair’s sweatpants down to her ankles. “Now, step out for me,” continued Rebecca as Blue Clair simply raised each leg up without taking a step at all while Rebecca pulled each pant leg down and off.
Rebecca continued to assist Blue Clair with her bedtime preparations and necessities—taking out her dentures, gently washing her face and hands, and giving her all her many medications. She finished by getting a fresh glass of water and placing it on the bedside table. She then helped the increasingly frail but eternally happy resident back into bed and tucked her in under the blanket, in much the same gentle way a mother would tuck in a small child.
“You sleep well, tonight. Your water is right here on the table,” Rebecca said, stroking Blue Clair’s brow and kissing her forehead.
“I fweep good, Becca,” said Blue Clair, her denture-free mouth doing the best it could. Then, in her small and soft voice, she added, “Pfank you, Becca. Wuv you.”
Rebecca turned out the light on the bedside table and left the room, carefully closing the door behind her but leaving it open just enough so that a narrow shaft of light could filter in from the hallway, just as Blue Clair liked. As she turned to leave, she remembered, once more, why she loved her job so much.
In his darkened security room, Eddie noticed that Rebecca had returned to the hallway. He followed her on across video monitors as she went down the hallway, passing into the range of one security camera and then another. She stopped and talked to another nurse whom Eddie recognized as Graham Downing. He was holding a chart, looked down at it for a moment, nodded his head, and said something to Rebecca. She turned and headed down another hallway. Eddie switched to the camera in that hallway and watched Rebecca as she entered into anothe
r resident’s room.
Eddie’s heart began to race from anticipation. He glanced over to make sure that the door to his security room was closed. He pushed a few keys on his keyboard, and one of the video monitors in front of him switched to a view from inside the room Rebecca had just entered.
The resident was a younger female than Blue Clair—much younger. Rebecca went through a similar routine with twenty-four-year-old Adrianna as the one she had just gone through with Blue Clair. There was some washing required of her private body parts, and Adrianna was lower functioning than Blue Clair and said nothing as Rebecca quietly, gently, and compassionately attended to the young resident’s personal hygiene needs. To simply look at Adrianna’s body, she appeared to be a normal, attractive, young brunette. Her body was strong, well-formed, and lovely. Psychologically, Adrianna had the mental functioning of a two- or three-year-old and stared blankly as she was attended to.
Rebecca tended to Adrianna’s needs with a gentle touch, full of love and caring. Her compassion was easy to see—unless someone happened to be looking for something else—in which case, it would be invisible to them, hidden by veils of darkness.
Rebecca tucked the expressionless Adrianna into her bed exactly as she had Blue Clair; however, this time hidden eyes were watching, and this time she left the light on rather than turning it off as she had for Blue Clair. Adrianna had recently become terrified of the dark and would cry like the young child she was inside, when left alone in the engulfing darkness. The small light was her solace and comfort.
Rebecca left Adrianna’s room and completed similar bedtime routines with several more patients—all the while being watched by secret and hungry eyes. Sometimes those eyes only caught a glimpse of her as she passed in the hallway going from one room to another, but in a few very select cases, those eyes intruded into the privacy of a resident’s room and hungrily devoured what they saw.
Touching Cottonwood Page 39
