Chapter 14
Making Ends Meet
Seymore and Valentino chose to walk the short distance to the Transition Zone entrance. It was pleasant to move along through the beautiful trees and stately buildings arriving at the long familiar transition site was reassuring. Nothing here had changed, it was all so stable.
They moved through the compound to the far side that abutted the outer reaches of The Rim’s environment and found the place where the David pattern was set up. The mental communication that had been used earlier to learn more about David was the basis for the channel that would allow Seymore’s projection to slip into The Rim and lead directly to the target wanderer. Seymore automatically resumed his regular image whenever he returned to Middle Mind, so for this occasion he separated out the portion of his persona that had the image of the doctor that he had assumed at ES360.
Seymore nodded to the two assistants who were manning the barrier breach and when they revealed the opening Seymore leaned through and the breach was propped open for his return, hopefully with David. He simply had to follow the mental pattern to reach David’s location. He arrived without any problems, took a few steps to anchor himself to the area and he was ready.
He came in about 15 feet down the road from where David was sitting on top of one of the pilings that held the new guard rail in place. David was staring down the bank at the creek with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. He was motionless and appeared to be in a trance. Seymore quietly approached him and from about three feet away he softly spoke, “David, can you hear me?”
David didn’t move or make a sound. Seymore moved to stand right next to where he was sitting and very gently touched his shoulder. David jerked to attention and jumped up and turned to confront Seymore. He had the eyes of a tired, frightened and deeply troubled soul. He was so unwell and shabby that Seymore was shocked. Obviously, he had been here much longer than was recorded at Middle Mind and was undoubtedly a seasoned wanderer. Seymore’s job was going to be more complicated than he or Valentino had anticipated.
David shouted, “Who are you? Where’d you come from?” and gritting his teeth waited for an answer. Seymore gently told him that he was sent to help him. David continued his threatening stance and said, “How come I can talk to you. I can’t talk to anybody else.” Seymore said that was certainly true and that he needed to be in a place where he could talk easily with everyone.
David said, “What kind of mumbo jumbo answer is that? Who are you and what do you want? Tell me now.” Seymore didn’t answer but just observed the array of messages coming off David. He truly was a stubborn, angry man who was totally confused, lonely, frightened and desperate. He was pitiful and needed to be out of his situation as quickly as possible. There was no time for gentle persuasion or mental nudging.
Thinking fast, Seymore took a risk and said, “David, Sarah sent me.” Something in David reconnected and he stared at Seymore revealing that his anger had been pierced. Then he frowned and said, “How do you know Sarah and where is she?” Despite David’s effort to stay menacing, something in him released and Seymore had his full attention.
Seymore answered, “Sarah and I recently spent some time together on a project and now she’s busy with a new one.” He hoped that was enough. But David persisted, “What kind of project?” and Seymore’s concise reply was, “Lighting.”
David looked at him and was very close to pleading as he asked, “Can you take me to her?” and Seymore had to search for the right words to keep from saying no. After a careful pause he told David that he couldn’t get to where Sarah was from here, but that it was possible for him to see Sarah if he left the roadside. David appeared frozen and stunned by this news. Seymore simply stood very still and watched to see what would happen. It was a long wait.
The stubborn part of David went into deep resistance to what he had just heard and refused to believe that all his efforts to find Sarah here were futile. He had reason to be skeptical as the information had been carefully parsed. But he was obsessed with searching for Sarah and this might be the way to finally find her. The desire for success might overcome being right.
Another portion of David craved relief from his situation and after what must have been a bitter inner battle his desperate need for the relief of possibly finding Sarah won and the resistance melted away. David was yet to grasp that moving in favor of relief also meant that other vital choices were very close by and once made he would be released from The Rim. Fortunately for David, Seymore knew exactly what was about to happen.
Seymore spoke in a quiet tone that he hoped would be reassuring and said, “We need to leave this place in order for you to get the help you need and make the arrangements for you and Sarah to work things out. ”He wanted to keep David from realizing that he had begun to fully disengage from his last attachments at The Rim. David was stuck here because he was a master at making and refusing to let go of incorrect assumptions and Seymore didn’t want him to make any more about Sarah or himself. The connections to The Rim needed to fall away without incident. And they did.
Seymore reached out and grasped David in his arms as the last threads of connections to The Rim slid away and they instantly moved up the mental path to the barrier breach, as they slipped through the props were removed .David was free and safe at Middle Mind.
As Seymore and David arrived through the breach, David began to sob and when they were safe behind the barrier Seymore just held David until he fell into a deep and peaceful sleep. His transition had already begun. Seymore released him to the gentle care of the two assistants that had manned the barrier breach.
Seymore was glad to have served to collect David from his wanderings but knew that he would need extra help, so he instructed the assistants on his condition. He told them and Valentino that David had been wandering for a very long time and was nearly spent when he arrived to collect him. “I’m certain that he would have moved to haunting very soon since he didn’t have enough energy left to release himself from The Rim. Rescue was his only hope and fortunately we managed that. He will need constant oversight.
“If he asks for Sarah,” as Seymore knew he would, “Simply say that the arrangements are being made. I’m going to see what I can do to fulfill David’s deep desire to see Sarah, but I don’t yet know how. I would love to see her myself.” That confession slipped out before he realized it. But there it was; the truth about his motives. He looked at Valentino’s accusatory grin and rolled his eyes.
He thanked the assistants and turned to Valentino with a let’s-go gesture and they began the walk back across the transition site toward the beautiful campus. They didn’t talk, but Seymore knew that Valentino was very curious about Sarah. Seymore twiddled the small silver ring in his pocket and volunteered nothing.
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Despite being foggy minded or lost in dreaming a good deal of the time, Sarah had more and more moments of clear headed thinking and they were devoted to finding a way out of her coma. She found it harder and harder to grasp why, when she was really in pretty good shape and the baby was doing fine, she was unable to return and participate in the world so close around her. No amount of wishing, hoping, straining or efforting seemed to make any difference to the parts of her that insisted on being comatose. It was frustrating.
One thing had changed. Her dreams were clearer and she could recall great chunks of them now. So ferreting out dream memories was much more productive, though dreaming that David was dead was disturbing and had set her wondering about all the things she didn’t know about the wreck. There seemed to be a code of silence among those who talked to and around her as they never mentioned anything about how her condition was created.
There were a few intimations of small progress that she noticed when she woke up regardless of the time of day or how long she had been asleep. As she began to wake up there was a powerful urge to push through further and wake up more. Al
so, she was having dreams where she woke up inside the dream and knew she was dreaming and knew she was comatose at the same time. It was a kind of ‘tween space that was not quite as awake as she would like to be but lots more awake than she was used to. Things were shifting, she was sure of that, but she would have preferred faster progress.
She was pondering these small improvements when her brother, Jake, arrived to read out more baby names and convey his opinions on their suitability. Sarah always knew when it was Sunday because of his devotion and felt cared for because he never failed in his efforts to communicate with her. He always started with a rendition of whatever news he had about family, his job, politics and sometimes the latest sports events. Then he would open the book of children’s names and begin his commentary. But today he stopped and leaned on the bed close to Sarah’s head. He had some things he wanted Sarah to know and that he needed to say.
He began, “Sarah, I know you are in there and sometimes I think you are very close by, but I don’t know how to get you out. I’m worried because it’s been a long time since the wreck and you were hurt so bad I was afraid we’d lose you. The doctor says that you are actually nearly healed; even your awful head injuries are closed and your hair is growing back. There’s just one bandage left and I can tell that the deep cut is almost sealed. You are a wonder, everybody here says so.
“And the baby is growing and strong and the pediatrician says you are having a great pregnancy. More than anything I want you to be here when the baby comes. Please, please come back, Sarah. Please”
She heard every word and felt herself choke up. She really, really wanted to wake up. And suddenly, even though her eyes were still closed, she knew for sure that she was waking up. She felt a huge surge of inner energy that was bursting for release. She didn’t move and waited in joyful anticipation for full wakefulness to arrive.
Her brother sat down and opened the baby name book and started to read and comment on the naming options. He was in the S’s and the next name was Seymore. As soon as he said it, Sarah said, “That’s it! That’s the name!”
Jake sat very still, eyes wide staring at her as she turned her head to look at him. She was totally live, awake, aware and smiling. Jake fainted.
There was no button to ring for a nurse on Sarah’s bed that she could reach so Jake was stuck where he fell. But, fortunately it was only a few minutes before one of the nurses came in for a routine check on Sarah and found Jake passed out on the floor. She rang and shouted for help. She tried to get him to sit up but he was limp and heavy. Two young orderlies came running in and quickly found a gurney to take Jake for care.
The nurse had assumed that he had a health crisis and paid no attention to Sarah until Sarah said, “He’s probably OK.I think he’s in shock because I woke up.” Awe struck, the nurse stared at Sarah, flashed a brilliant smile, did a little dance and yelled, “I knew you’d come back!” She ran out to the nurse’s station and got one of the duty doctors to come to check Sarah now that she was awake. He was as happy as the nurse and they began to check Sarah over, asking her to move arms and legs and then gingerly helped her sit up.
Sarah had no idea that moving would be so difficult once she was awake. When the nurse and doctor let go of her after she was sitting up she immediately began to fall back on her pillow. She could barely muster the strength to lift her arm from the elbow and just turning her head was an effort.
One of the other nurses had called her regular doctor and the baby’s physician and they arrived at the same time, expressed their wonder and joy and began to question her. They checked her over again and told her how glad they were that she was back. They smiled and laughed and treated her return like the unexpected arrival of an old friend. Sarah smiled and thanked them and relished every precious moment of being fully present.
Her doctor resumed a more professional attitude and told her that she would need a therapy program and they wanted to make new pictures and on and on. She listened and replied to all their questions, but she was quickly worn out and asked if she could rest for a while. They said that she could but that they preferred she not sleep as that might interrupt the brain’s work in reawakening its normal patterns. They said a nurse would be with her at all times for the next 24 hours.
She was just about to ask about Jake when he walked into the room smiling from ear to ear. He put his arms around her and said that he was so happy and loved her and asked how she felt. She just looked at him and said, “Jake, it’s OK now, honest.” They hugged and held each other for a long time and took great comfort in knowing that Sarah was again the real Sarah. No one yet realized that the Sarah the just woke from a coma was in many ways a much different Sarah.
When things had calmed down Jake asked Sarah, “Do you really want to name your son Seymore? It’s so old fashioned. ”Sarah laughed and replied, “Probably not, but it is a name I have been trying to remember for a long time. When I was in the coma I had lots of dreams and there is one man who was in almost all of them. When I wasn’t dreaming I could never remember his name, just his face and the cottage where he lived. So I was thrilled when you said his name. But who knew that would wake me up! Amazing!”
Sarah was getting tired and turned to the nurse and asked when she would be allowed to go to sleep. They nurse didn’t know but went to check. Jake sat down on the stool close to Sarah’s bedside and took her hand and said, “What can I get for you?” Sarah told him that she now had everything she needed.
As it turned out she was awake for almost six more hours as they moved her to a gurney and wheeled her from one area to another to get X-rays, tests and the opinions of half dozen specialists. Jake went everywhere with her and asked lots of questions. It was a good thing because she wasn’t sharp at all.
Finally they returned to her room and transferred her tired body to a freshly made bed and she instantly fell deep asleep. It was real sleep the kind she knew she would wake up from both rested and happy. She again dreamed of Seymore and his pretty house in the country. It was a dream she never forget.