December 25th, 2022
Maria carefully gathered a spoonful of pudding onto her spoon and lifted it to her lips in the darkened cafeteria. The only light provided was from the Christmas tree in the corner that blinkered off and on and filled the room with a myriad colors.
It was late and her family had left hours ago. There had been no sign of Charlie and she had not been surprised. Her mother and her uncle Rodrigo had driven in and brought a few family members to see her and keep her company. A few of them had even brought gifts.
Her favorite, easily, had turned out to be a horrifying little statuette crafted by her little niece Lindy. It was sitting on the other side of her tray as she ate another spoonful of chocolate pudding glaring at her with poorly spaced red eyes. It looked like a malformed egg that had been painted black and red with little stubby black arms of different links.
Lindy had called it a ‘Monster Friend’ to keep her company. Thank goodness that her mother was not corrupting that child. There was some hope for the future.
Someone cleared their throat behind her and she looked back to see Mia sheepishly making her way through the empty cafeteria.
She offered an impish smile and said, “I don’t think we are supposed to raid the pudding supplies?”
Maria waved a spoon at her and gave her a dark look, “You open to bribes?”
Mia quirked her lips in thought and moved to sit down next to her, “What are you offering?”
Maria lifted up something from the small bag on the side of her wheelchair revealing another cup of pudding, “The good shit.”
The young woman giggled and snatched the cup from her with a grin, “You cut a hard deal Rossi.”
When she had removed the thin plastic covering Maria reached out with the little cup toward her and said, “Happy Holidays.”
Mia gave her a warm smile and tapped her cup against hers as she said, “Happy Holidays.”
After a few more spoonfuls Mia asked, “How much longer you in for?”
Maria shrugged and adjusted her cast with a grumble, “I think Connie said it would be a couple more weeks, maybe?”
Mia nodded and gave her a lopsided smile as she said, “Well, at the very least we can open up the black market for chocolate pudding before you get out of this joint. I’ll be reaping the benefits long after you are on the outside.”
Maria offered her a tight grin throughout her entire tirade and shook her head, “How about you?”
The girl raised an eyebrow and Maria offered, “How long are you in for?”
Mia shrugged uncomfortably and sighed, “I do not think I am in for much longer.”
Maria gave her a concerned look and Mia finally responded, “I am not exactly in a rush to get back home and deal with my parents. I told them that I started HRT right before I ended up here. It was a little tense.”
Maria gave her a pained look and a gentle pat on the shoulder, “Look, if you ever need a place to stay or anything let me know. My sister went through a lot of shit from my family when she started transitioning and,” remembering her sin of omission that started all this she sighed and then continued, “I’ll help you however I can.”
Mia beamed her smile. Maria gave her a half-hug and turned back to her pudding asking, “Is it too painful to ask how you ended up in here?”
Mia groaned and gave her an embarrassed sidelong look, “It’s too dumb.”
Maria giggled and raised an eyebrow, “Oh, now I have to know.”
The young woman sighed and scraped up the last of her pudding to buy time. Finally, she said, “You know those videos people do where they grind rails on skateboards?”
Maria started giggling.
Mia gave her a mock offended look, “Stop laughing!”
The young girl sighed and shrugged, “Anyway, yeah. I was trying to film footage for a montage for my channel in the CBD. Last thing I remember was losing my footing on the board.”
Maria stifled any future giggles, grinned and nodded, “Well, I’m glad you seem mostly recovered.”
The two of them continued talking for some time in the dark of the old cafeteria bathed in the blinking lights of the facility's Christmas tree.
December 29th, 2022
She awoke to the sound of thunder sitting up groggily in her bed. She glanced at the window and saw a flash of light against the blackened night beyond.
A storm? In Phoenix? In December?
She shook her head and looked toward her door, which was open to the dark white plaster hallway beyond. The world outside rumbled again. Somewhere distant out in the hallways she heard a man let out a roar of frustration.
She wheeled her legs out of the bed and set them on the warm stone floor. Without even standing it was clear that her legs were still too weak. Her eyes settled on her cushioned black wheelchair set beside the small nightstand to the right of her bed. She was glad they had finally taken off her cast the day before.
She hooked her foot around one of the arms of the chair and before long she was carefully shifting herself into it.
She wheeled herself to the doorway and peered into the hall. It was long with the same white plaster and gray stone floor in her room. It curved away to the left and right with mirrored doors similar to hers every thirty feet or so.
Her door was the only one open. Outside the rain intensified. She wheeled herself into the dark hall to the left. The sounds of other patients were more identifiable. Occasionally someone would shout. She passed a door where she could faintly hear someone talking to themselves, unable to make out the details.
Stolen novel; please report.
She finally arrived at a pair of double doors on the left, one of which was propped open. Beyond the door was an open patio with several tables. Sheets of rain fell past the awning over it. Just beyond she could make out a six foot tall wall made of red and orange uneven stones stretching to the left and right disappearing into the mist of the falling rain.
There was a single woman sitting on the patio. She had long black hair, light beige skin, and was tall with a physique seemingly cut from cord wood. Her clothing identified her as a patient. She was staring off into the rain with a smoking cigarette between two fingers.
Maria started to clear her throat but the woman cut her off with a languid southern drawl, “I just couldn’t miss the chance to enjoy the rain you know? I would go out into it if I could.”
Maria felt the cool air washing into the building past her and said, “I did it every chance I could when I was a kid.”
The woman turned to look at her. She had a broad motherly smile and dark but kind eyes. She could not be older than her mid thirties but Maria got the immediate impression she was older and more wise than her looks implied.
“I’m Maria.”
The woman bobbed her head and never stopped smiling, “I know. Can’t keep many secrets ‘round here. Plus, Connie gossips like a house on fire.”
The woman watched her roll the wheelchair out beside her and said, “I’m Nora,” extending a lean muscular arm out to her.
Maria shook her hand, surprisingly soft, and said, “Nice to meet you.”
Nora blew smoke out of the side of her mouth as she studied her with a knowing smile.
Maria stuck her hand into the cool rain and gave her a wry look, “What?”
The woman chuckled and shook her head, “I am just remembering when I first got here.”
“If you don’t mind me asking how long ago was that?”
Nora looked her over for several long moments before she sighed and nodded.
“Sometimes it seems like forever,” after considering the question for a few moments she said, “about six months, I think.”
Maria pulled back her wet hand, “Where are you from?”
Nora waited a moment blowing smoke out into the falling rain as she said, “Originally, I’m from Daphne Alabama, just outside of Mobile.”
Maria inhaled deeply and studied the stone wall intently, “I worked near Mobile once. It was just a one week hop but I can’t say I remember it fondly.”
Nora’s laugh was rich and deep. She shook her head and gave Maria a scathing look, “You are lucky I’m not one of them die hard ‘roll tide’ do or die Alabamans kiddo. In this case you ain’t wrong. I got the fuck out of Daphne when I was sixteen. What do you do?”
Maria rolled her shoulders and breathed out, “I’m an archaeologist.”
Nora studied her with a raised eyebrow and a half smile, “Like Indiana Jones?”
She wouldn’t lie. Those movies didn't hurt her decision. She dreamed as a kid of being a traveling adventurer. If it wasn’t Indy and his globetrotting adventures it was Lara Croft. Finding out as an adult that both of them were essentially glorified thieves still had not dampened the romance of the profession that fictional heroes had brought to it over the years.With a smirk she answered, “Exactly like that. It’s not a full day if I don’t loot a tomb and punch a Nazi.”
The older woman turned back to the rain and said, “Thatta girl. What’s the wildest thing you’ve ever found?”
Her mind drifted back to those sweltering days in the jungle digging square holes into the sides of what any other person would have ignored as a hill and finding the steps and floor of a Mayan plazuela. She smiled at the memory and said, “I found some old Mayan buildings in Belize when I was there.”
Maria studied her for several long moments and said softly, “How’d you end up here?”
Nora’s smile slipped and she stamped out her cigarette on the metal railing. Her smile returned but it was forced, “Maybe I will tell you another time.”
Maria gave a slow nod and looked out into the sheets of rain once more and said, “Nice to meet you. I should probably get back. I just wanted to feel the rain. They are taking me to Banner for some tests tomorrow. Then I’m back on the physical therapy train.”
Nora gave an affirming grunt and Maria turned her wheelchair about and made for the door.
The woman called out to her in a jovial tone, “Have a good sleep kid. If you wanna shoot the shit or play cards sometime I’m in room 111. And, Maria?”
She turned back to the older woman who had a concerned look on her face, “Don’t let this place run you down.”
–
When Maria woke the next morning it was Connie hustling into her room with a smile and her ubiquitous tablet. There was a general hubbub about getting her to Banner Medical Center for her tests. Her mother had come. She promised herself that she was going to finally have a word with her about Layla, and herself.
About Charlie.
She lost her nerve again under the deluge of her mother's constant chattering about family issues. Gossip about neighbors. Gossip about church. Her cousin Rodrigo had come, he kept quiet except to ask her quickly how she was holding up.
Rodrigo was a lot like her dad with the exception that he didn’t have her dad’s incredible ability to shut up her Mom and put his foot down. He had brought her niece Lindy as well. She was very young and hovered around the doorway tapping away at a small iPad.
It only took an hour for them to finally get things in order and transport her toward her mother’s van and the fussing and gossip continued the whole way. At the entrance they paused as a tall slender Doctor moved out to meet them. It was Doctor Anton. He was in late forties to early fifties with a receding hairline of white hair, a pinched face accustomed to smiles and thin bronze rimmed glasses.
“Mrs. Iglesias I hoped to meet with you before you all head over for Maria’s tests,” he extended a hand to her mother.
Doctor Anton was ok. They had a few sessions where they discussed the cause of the accident. The journal where she had written down her plans was his idea. The two of them chattered away with her mother occasionally fawning over him and being overly appreciative of all he was doing for her daughter.
Maria just rolled her eyes and glanced over to see Lindy looking up at her wide-eyed with her IPad clutched to her chest. She raised an eyebrow at her and Lindy said, “Are you ok Aunt Maria?”
She smiled down at the little girl and whispered, “I’m fine Lindy. How are you?”
The girl thrust a piece of construction paper at her with a roughly drawn crayon drawing of a group of multi-colored figures. She noted that one of them was sitting in a chair. It was clear who that was. She said, “Who are all these people?”
Lindy hopped up on the arm of the chair and pointed with a chocolate stained finger, “That’s my dad, that’s nana, that’s me, and that’s you!”
Maria beamed a smile at her and said, “Oh, I’m so silly. It was so clear the whole time.”
Lindy leaned closer and whispered, “Aunt Maria, can I get a tattoo like yours?”
Maria chuckled softly and said, “Which one?”
Lindy pointed a shaky finger at her neck and Maria could not help but laugh out loud. She had a large tattoo of a bright red rose entwined with vines on the left side of her neck. Maria gave her a little pat on the head and said, “Ask your dad.” Lindy ran off toward her dad Rodrigo
Maria sighed and smiled up at Connie, “My family.”
The nurse beamed and squeezed her shoulder, “Mine is pretty similar.”
Somewhere behind them an alarm blared. No one in the lobby seemed to take note. Their conversation continued as if they were oblivious to it. Several nurses rushed past her and into the halls. A voice came over the intercom but the words were too garbled to make out.
She felt Connie’s hand tighten on her shoulder and it shocked her out of the thought. She blinked up at the young nurse and the sound of the alarms was gone. There was just the dimpled smile of the nurse and her bright eyes. She said, “You ok?”
Maria blinked and shook her head, “I thought I heard something.” She looked over her shoulder but the hall was tranquil and quiet.
