With Bob stable in the hospital Toni had an obligation to return to work, for in reality she was the CEO of a major oil refining company and that job carried with it a great deal of responsibility, so Toni returned and took care of business as usual. As she had been absent for some time there was much paper work that needed her attention. She set up a meeting of all her vice chairmen and other top corporate leaders in her company and told them what had been happening in her life. She then got back to the task at hand, that being getting the big wheels turning once again at her corporate office. Her updated presentation of world problems dealing with oil were addressed. Her co-workers made their reports and ideas were exchanged as to how best to try to stabilize the current market. The exchanges were vital and the timing was perfect, for although Toni was absent, she was not without her ideas as they kept running through her head in relation to the solvency of her company. As it worked out, the major aspects of the oil market were addressed and assignments were handed out so that by the day’s end, all workers at the highest level of the operation were satisfied and set out to initiate whatever changes and directives were needed. Toni, although very nervous at her first meeting in a while, didn’t show any weakness, but got right to the point and not only satisfied all of her staff, but felt quite proud of herself in what she had done that day. With a deep sigh of relief, she leaned back in her overstuffed executive chair, let her head fall back against the soft material, closed her eyes and put her body in a slumber-like position. Her thoughts at that point drifted to Memorial hospital and Bob. Although she visited him nightly, she had a feeling this day that something was about to happen. Although her instinct was strong she couldn’t exactly put her finger on what she felt. She sat for awhile, then stirred and returned to work. There were papers to sigh, letters to write, and phone calls to make. One of the calls was addressed to Dr. Mitchell. Although he was not available at the time of the call, Toni asked to speak to someone else close to the case dealing with Bob. After a short while, the assistant doctor in charge picked up the phone. “Dr. Paul Murray here. To whom am I speaking, please.”
“Dr. Murray this is Toni Riccio, the fiancée of Bob Steinman. I believe he is directly under your care in the intensive care unit and I have been communicating with Dr. Mitchell since he was brought into Memorial. I was just calling for an update on Bob’s condition, and I realize discussing such matters over the phone is not in Bob’s best interest, I just needed to know something,” uttered Toni.
“You are correct, Toni. Bob is still heavily sedated and only opens his eyes briefly from time to time, but I can tell you about one strange utterance he made only this morning. He opened his eyes and yelled out the name Mapita. Does that mean anything to you?” Questioned Dr. Murray.
Toni dropped her jaw in hearing the name. Did he actually say Mapita?”
“That’s what it sounded like, Toni. I know because the name was so strange having never heard it before, is she a friend?”
Toni was aghast at the news and was too shook up to continue her conversation with Dr. Murray so she thanked him for the update, apologized and excused herself before hanging up. Placing her hands over her face in disbelief she began to cry, and couldn’t rationalize what was going on. The only reasoning was that Bob was having a nightmare about his captivity and still carried around some emotional problems with his torture. It was the only explanation of him blurting out Mapita’s name. Another thought struck her mind and it was what if there was something else going on and that evildoer Mapita was once again trying to work her black magic on Bob, and perhaps on Tessie and Toni too?
Toni sat down because she felt a weakening in her knees and thought it best to be in a seated position should her body give out and she fall flat on her face. Do I call Tessie she thought and tell her what the doctor just said, or just dismiss it as a bad dream resurfacing again? I just don’t know what to do, and it’s not like me not to be in control. I must call, for Tessie might have an idea on what this means. It was 6:00 pm California time when the phone rang at Tessie’s home. “Hello, is that you Tessie?” Toni questioned as soon as she heard Tessie’s voice on the other end. “Is that you Tessie?” she uttered again.
“Toni, what’s going on? Yes, it’s me. Why are you so excited? Is Bob okay? Did something happen at Memorial that is bad news?” she inquired, nervously.
“You won’t believe this Tessie; because I’m having difficulty believing it, but just now I called the hospital to inquire on Bob’s condition. I spoke with Dr. Murray, who is second in charge, and when he told me what Bob cried out in his sleep almost knocked me for a loop. Tessie Bob yelled out Mapita!” she moaned in a frightened voice. “What could this possibly mean Tessie? Please tell me what you think.”
It took Tessie a moment to recover from Toni’s news, because she too was taken aback by the name Mapita, and felt a sharp pain in her chest at the mention of her name. “Was the doctor sure he heard the name Mapita?” asked Tessie
“That’s exactly what I asked him Tessie, but he said he was sure of the name because there was no mistaking a strange name like Mapita, and he jotted it down quickly in case it was of some importance.”
“It had to be a nightmare; a bad memory of the past” reassured Tessie.
“That’s exactly what I said. You took the words right out of my mouth. His captivity must have affected him more than we thought; that’s why I had to call and get your thoughts” cried Toni.
“I’m in too great of a shock to think clearly about this right now Toni. Let me think about this after having a glass of wine to calm down, and I will get back to you,” promised Tessie.
“Thank you my friend. Please give it some serious consideration and let me know any thoughts, good or bad, that you have,” concluded Toni
The conversation ended and at that time Toni felt the urge to get over to Memorial so that she could be with Bob. What if he should awaken and no one is there to assist him? This was not a good time for him to be without a friend.
Toni arrived at Memorial without incident and headed straight for Bob’s room. The head nurse recognized her right away and had her register before going into Bob’s room. Everything seemed as it had been; there were still tubes coming and going everywhere around his body and the brace was still firmly in place around his neck. It was most important to keep the neck stable while the body was on the mend, especially in the case of a spinal injury.
Toni snuggled close to Bob’s bed then gently placed her hand on his while squeezing gently to see whether or not there was movement; there was none. She gazed into Bob’s eyes to see if he was focusing, although this was difficult to detect because they appeared to be focused but she didn’t really know? She moved her hand across his eyes as in a wave to see if there was any awareness, but Bob just stared straight ahead. Toni’s hope was that he would speak out a word or two; all she wanted was to hear him say the name Mapita again, but he didn’t. Dr. Mitchell walked in and greeted Toni, and she said, “Dr. Mitchell. I’m so happy you’re here. I spoke with Dr. Murray about Bob’s condition, and he declined to tell me much about the case so I decided to come to the hospital to see how he was doing for myself but when I saw Bob and all the stuff connected to him that told me he was the same,” said Toni.
“Bob has been resting comfortably and that’s a positive sign, Toni. If he had been in any trauma the monitors would have indicated such, and since there has been no such activity we assume that he is at rest, and we’ll know more as time goes on.” reassured Dr. Mitchell.
“I assume Dr. Murray told you about Bob’s verbal outburst of the name Mapita,” Toni recounted.
“No, I hadn’t heard,” responded Dr. Mitchell, “however, things like this are not rare and we don’t know what causes these outbursts because we can’t interpret the brain activity. It’s a mystery to us as it must be to you.“
“The only difference, doctor is the
name Mapita has been very significant to Bob. It’s a long story, but just to let you know, that name is not associated with anything nice to any of us. It represents evil and a bad experience, so in that case, could there possibly be any ill effects from that name surfacing? ”
“To be frank with you Toni, it’s impossible for anyone to know. We would have to be at the monitor at the exact time the event occurred in order to measure brain activity, and even then we couldn’t know what the elevation meant, so all I can say is that we must wait until Bob regains his mental thoughts after he comes out of his coma,” stressed Dr. Mitchell.
Toni decided to remain at Bob’s bedside holding his hand and reading a story to him hoping that the constant bombardment of words might be interpreted by his brain waves so as to trigger a positive response, and might shed some light on the need to mention the name again. After several hours of reading, resting and reading some more, Toni just sat there holding Bob’s hand hoping something might happen, but Bob just rested peacefully as if he knew he was well protected from evil people and events. At some point in time Toni released her hold on Bob and knew it was time to leave, for she had another full day to put in at the oil refinery.
Chapter Twelve