THE MYSTERY

 

I’ve been writing so much recently that I have wondered where the heck it’s coming from. And why can’t I stop it. While I was working on one article, another was waiting in the background. With the last one I felt like it was over and I could get on with other things. I was getting into bed, well past midnight, when I realized my mind is clear, nothing whirling around in there. It felt so good! And then….

…Then I remembered him. Him. I never met him, didn’t see him, don’t know who he was, don’t know why he came to see me or why he didn’t come back, but I will never forget him.

Almost involuntarily I grabbed the iPad, propped it up on the bedcovers and started tapping.

I was in the hospital, had just had surgery. I had three babies at home being cared for by my husband and brother. I was worried sick about them. The babies, I mean. The nurse came in and gave me a sleeping pill, and watched while I swallowed it.

There was a bed between my bed and the door, a semi-private room. The woman in that bed had a lot of pain and was awake much of the night. She was awake when he came. She said the nurse brought him. He waited at the door near her bed while the nurse came over to my bed and tried to wake me. The pill I had taken was working so I wasn’t having any. I slept on. The nurse left our room and he walked away with her.

When I asked my roommate what he looked like she couldn’t give much of a description except he had sort of red hair, sort of. I thought it was my husband as his hair was really red, nothing ‘sort of’ about it. And he had left my babies in the middle of the night, for what reason? I was prepared to do some top-notch yelling when I talked to him. When the doctor came he was concerned because I was so upset.

No, it wasn’t my husband. He was at home with my brother and the babies. Ah, so it must have been my brother-in-law. He had strawberry blond hair which is sort of red so I assumed it was him. I knew he was working till 1:00 A.M. at that time but couldn’t understand why he would make a 2-hour drive in the middle of the night without my sister. I asked what time all this activity took place and my roommate said about 1:00 A.M. Stranger and stranger.

The nurse involved was off the next day but I talked to my brother-in-law. He said he had worked the night before till 2:00 A.M.. Had then gone straight home and fallen into bed. And what kind of flowers did I like?

It became a mystery that I wanted to solve. I tried reasoning it out – first, hospitals are very strict about visiting hours. They don’t allow people to walk in and announce they want to visit with a patient in the wee hours of the morning. Nor do nurses try to wake you in the middle of the night, especially when they have given you a sleeping pill just two hours earlier. I concluded the other patient had had a dream. Still, the intrigue was fascinating. What kind of person could walk into a hospital at that hour and ask to see a patient, then wait while they tried to wake the patient? The mystery took my mind away from worrying about my babies. Slightly.

Next day the nurse was back on duty so I got her attention ASAP. Yes, she remembered him. His hair was sort of reddish. Anything else? Not really, and she was in a hurry. No answer to why she brought him back to my room, or why she tried to wake me. Both unorthodox happenings in a hospital.

Next time I spoke with my brother he had an idea to make me feel better so he made a joke. Unfortunately it was about not feeding the children. I was so upset the doctor sent me home as the hospital was too stressful. I had to stay in bed and rest, just oversee the daily routines.

So I never found out who he was, what he wanted or why he came to visit in the middle of the night. Hadn’t thought about him for years but he’s still a mystery that one day I am going to solve.