Patricia Rockwell - Essie Cobb 04 - Ghosted (15 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

“I figure I basically am a ghost.  I think we all are.”

––
John Astin

Essie’s eyes opened slowly to strange sounds and sights.  Nothing new there.  But as her vision began to focus she realized that what she was seeing and hearing were the ambient noises and activities in a hospital emergency room.

“Oh, my!” said a woman wearing a uniform and an ID card pinned to her chest.  “There you are!  We were worried about you.  Can you tell us who you are, sweetie?”  The woman was talking while attaching various tubes
to Essie’s body.

“Essie,” moaned Essie.  “Essie Cobb.”

“Good,” replied the nurse with a robust smile, probably for Essie’s benefit.  “That’s good.  Do you know what happened, Essie?”

Essie knew exactly what happened; she’d seen her dead husband in the flesh, but she wasn’t certain that it would be wise to tell this nurse that piece of information. 

“I don’t know,” she replied with a weak smile.  “I guess I fainted.”

“You certainly did!” said Nurse
Adams, from what Essie could read on her tag.  “Were you lucky there were so many people around!”  By now, other hospital workers were scurrying around Essie’s table, moving tubes and blankets and other paraphernalia into place. 

A man’s face popped into Essie’s view.

“Essie,” he said, close to her face.  “You really took a tumble.  We’re going to run some tests, okay?  Just want to be sure nothing’s broken.  Now, look up here for me.”  He directed Essie’s attention to his small, hand-held flashlight and had her focus on it as he moved it from location to location.  “Looking good!” he pronounced. 

“Hi, Miss Essie,” said
a young woman to Essie’s side.  She grabbed Essie’s arm.  “I’m just going to take some blood for some tests.  Okay?”  Essie wondered what she would say if Essie refused to give her the blood sample, but seeing as how Essie was never bothered by donating blood, she acquiesced.

She felt like
a pin cushion as the team of doctors and nurses prodded and poked her.  The main doctor, or at least the one she believed to be the main one, continued to quiz her.

“Just what were you doing when you fell, Essie?” he asked, now looking in her ears with his tiny flashlight.  “Do you remember anything about what happened?”

“We were at Tippleton House,” Essie said. 

“Oh, that one!”
said the doctor, stopping the ear exam and looking directly at her.  “Isn’t it supposed to be haunted?”  He chuckled.

“Yes,” stuttered Essie.  She was certainly not going to tell anyone what
—or rather who—she saw or they would lock her up for sure.  “We were on a field trip.  I was in the patio.”

“Did you trip over something?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she said.  “I was enjoying all the flowers and the plants.”

“That doesn’t seem very dangerous,” noted the doctor, feeling along Essie’s neck and listening to her chest with his stethoscope.

“No, doctor,” she replied.  “Nothing dangerous.  I’m just clumsy, I guess.”

“Maybe,” he said, continuing to listen.  “Maybe not.  Who’s your regular physician, Essie?”

“Dr. Graves is my cardiologist,” she said, “and I have a gerontologist too…”

“Jenny,” he said to the nurse by his side, “contact Graves and get
Miss Cobb’s records sent over here.”

“Yes, Doctor,” said Jenny, the nurse, heading out of the examining room.

“Okay, Essie,” the doctor said, sitting beside her on the table.  “I don’t see or hear anything particularly significant at the moment, but I’d like to keep you overnight while we run some tests.  At age 90, it could be anything—”

“Don’t I know it,” replied Essie with a shrug.  The doctor laughed and patted her hand.

“Actually,” he said.  “All your vitals are remarkably good for someone your age, particularly after a scary event like this.  But, that’s just it.  This scary event.  I don’t think you’re quite certain what happened.  And, obviously, we aren’t.  So until we have a better handle on things, I think we’d like to keep an eye on you for a while.”

“If you say so, Doctor,” said Essie.  She had only been in the hospital
a few times before and she hadn’t liked it at all.  She hated being tied down with tubes and devices and she loved her freedom.  Hospitals meant anything but freedom.

“Good,” said the doctor, “and hopefully we’ll figure out what’s going on, and get you up and out of here
a.s.a.p.”

Essie did
n’t like all the doctor talk.  They used more shorthand than John had used when he was in the Army—and Essie didn’t think anyone used more jargon than the Army did.   She smiled at the doctor and he patted her hand and quickly headed out of the hanging cloth curtain that surrounded her bed.

“Someone’s here to see you!” said one of the nurses coming back in between the curtains, this time followed by Sue Barber.

“Essie!” cried Sue, coming over to the table and grabbing Essie’s hand.  Essie gave her a weak smile.

“Sorry I spoiled the field trip, Miss
Barber,” said Essie politely.

“Oh, Essie,” said Sue, “that’s the least of our worries.  I’m just really sorry I made you come.  I should have realized when I found you sleeping in your room that you weren’t up to going on the field trip.  I blame myself.”  Sue Barber’s face looked ashen and lined with wrinkles that Essie knew
came from worry, not age.

“It’s not your fault, Miss Barber,” she said.  “I felt fine.  I wanted to go on the field trip and I was really enjoying
Tippleton House.  The patio was the best place—so many beautiful flowers and plants.  I just don’t know what came over me.”

“I called your daughters and let them know what happened and that you were
brought here,” said Sue. 

“Oh, no!” cried Essie. 

“Essie,” said Sue plaintively.  “Your daughters will want to know that you’re in the hospital.  You can’t keep it from them.”

“Yes, I could,” she said.  “I have an answering machine.”  She gave Sue a funny smile and Sue
shook her head. 

At that opportune moment, both daughters pe
eked in through the curtain.

“Mom?” said Claudia, as Essie
sat up on the examining table.

“Mom, what happened?” asked Pru, right behind her sister.

“Oh, Claudia, Pru,” said Sue, “I’m so glad you’re here.  I think I’ll be going now that you’re here.”

“Thank you, Sue,” said Claudia, “for staying with her.”

“We appreciate it,” added Pru.  Both daughters removed their fall jackets and placed them and their purses on a counter by the back wall.  Then they neared their mother, one on each side.

“What happened, Mom?” asked Claudia, holding Essie’s hand warmly.

“They said you were on a field trip and collapsed,” added Pru, holding her other hand.

“I’m just a silly old lady, girls,” said Essie, trying to smile.  Both sisters looked at each other and back at their mother.

“Stop with this ‘silly old lady’ business, Mom,” said Claudia firmly.  “I don’t know what garbage you’ve been feeding these doctors, but you’re not going to pull the wool over my eyes—or Pru’s!”  She stared intently at Essie.  Pru stared also.

“What happened, Mom?” asked Pru.  “Whatever it is, we’ll understand.  Don’t be afraid to talk to us, please.  We love you and want to help you.”

Essie could feel her daughters’ fingers massaging her knuckles.  It felt good.  She knew she had to level with her two caring daughters, but revealing to them that she believed she might be losing her mind was just mortifying.  Eventually, she decided to tell them step by step exactly what she had experienced in the last few days and let them make their own decisions.

“You won’t like it,” said Essie, with a warning look
to each of them.

“We can take it, Mom,” said Claudia, eyeing Pru.  Pru nodded at Essie.

“All right,” replied Essie.  “I don’t really know when it all started, maybe a few days ago.  I’m not sure.  Different things.  First of all, time.  I seem to lose track of time.”

“We all do that once in a while,” interjected Claudia.

“Let her tell it, Claudia,” cautioned Pru, placing her free hand on her sister’s and turning her attention back to Essie.

“Yes, I know,” said Essie, “but I went to
dinner on Sunday and discovered it was Monday.  I had lost a whole day!”

“Hmm,” said Pru, glancing at her sister.  They smiled at Essie.

“And it’s happened at other times.  I fall asleep for a nap and discover hours have passed,” said Essie, shaking her head.  “That’s not all!  I get dizzy.  Things spin.  Sometimes I see things that can’t be there.  Mostly, the squirrel.”

“What squirrel?” asked Claudia.  Pru put her hand on her sister’s again and Claudia returned her attention to Essie.

“The one that crawls up the tree outside my window,” said Essie.  “He keeps popping up in my bedroom.  Like in the mirror on my dresser, or in my bathtub.”

The sisters looked at each other
worriedly.

“But the worst,” said Essie, looking directly from one sister’s face to the other, “is this.  I’ve been seeing your father.”

“What do you mean, seeing Father?” asked Claudia.  Pru held up her hand and Claudia quieted.

“At first, in my clipboard puzzles,” Essie said.  “Then he showed up on my television game show.  He said ‘remember when’ and he even called me and left a message on the new answering machine, Claudia!”

“What?” cried Claudia.  “The answering machine?  What are you talking about, Mom?”

“Claudia,” shouted Pru, “let her finish!”

“Then today on the field trip,” said Essie, looking around.  She really didn’t want anyone to know about this, even her daughters, but she realized that she had to tell them.  “He showed up in the patio.”

“What?” screamed Claudia.  Pru gently pushed her sister to the side and grabbed Essie’s shoulders.

“It’s okay, Mom,” she said.  “Just tell me about seeing Dad today.  Tell me everything about what happened.”

“I got lost,” said Essie.  “I had gone to find a bathroom because they never let us do that on those field trips.  It’s the main reason I hate to go on those things!  Anyway, I finally found one and when I finished
, I couldn’t find Opal and Marjorie and Fay—or any of the others—anywhere.   I wandered around and finally ended up in this beautiful patio.  Oh, girls, you would have loved it.  It was covered in stained glass windows from bottom to top and there were flowers and plants everywhere.  You could even hear birds; I don’t know if there were any birds inside, but it seemed as if there might have been.  Anyway, I was sitting on this metal bench just enjoying the view and I heard someone behind me say my name and I thought it was Edward Troy…”

“Who?” asked Claudia.

“Edward Troy,” replied  Essie.  “He’s a new resident and we’ve had a few…um…cross words, so when I heard him calling my name, I thought it was strange, because I thought he’d rather avoid me, but when I turned around, it wasn’t Edward Troy who was standing there, it was your father.  He looked just like he did when we were first dating.  His hair was cut short for the military and he had on that bomber jacket he always wore.  I remember how dashing he was.  When I saw him standing there in that patio, looking so young—I just felt so horrified.  I guess I must have fainted.  I would never want your father to see me like this.”

“But, Mom,” said Pru gently, touching Essie’s hand, “Dad saw you every day
—”

“Not when he was young and I was old,” said Essie sadly, looking down.

Pru put her arms around her mother and Claudia joined her in hugging their mother.  There was nothing else to say.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

“The Supernatural is the Natural, just not yet understood.”

––Elbert Hubbard

Later that evening, Essie was still in the emergency room cubicle.  She was extremely uncomfortable lying on the examining table.  Even the sparse little blankets that her daughters had demanded from the nurses provided little relief.  One good thing, however, was her symptoms had subsided quite a bit.  The dizziness to which she had almost become accustomed was greatly diminished.  She wasn’t seeing anything—rodents, dead husbands, nothing.  And time, unfortunately, was not whizzing by without her noticing.  Indeed, it seemed to be crawling by at a true snail’s pace.

“What time is it now?” she asked her daughters, both of whom were yawning. 

“A little after six, Mom,” said Pru, looking at her watch. 

“I’m hungry,” said Essie.  “I always eat long before this.  Do either of you girls have any candy bars?”

“I don’t know, Mom,” said Claudia.  “We’d be glad to get you a candy bar, but I don’t think the doctor wants you to eat or drink anything until they figure out what’s wrong.”

“I don’t see how a candy bar could hurt,” pouted Essie.

“She’s sounding like her old self,” noted Pru.

The curtains parted suddenly and the doctor who had originally examined Essie appeared followed by several nurses.

“Some very strange things on your blood tests, Miss Essie,” said the doctor, looking down at her chart.  “Might explain why you fainted.  In fact, I’m surprised you didn’t have other symptoms.”  He glanced at her in a somewhat accusatory manner.

“
Symptoms, Doctor?” Essie asked.

“Any hallucinations?”

“Um…maybe,” squeaked Essie. 

“Are you taking any new medications?” asked the
doctor, looking at another page of the chart.

“Dr. Graves started her on a vitamin supplement,” s
aid Pru, “less than a week ago.  We got it over the counter.  I believe it was called Alpha-Vita.”

“Hmm,” replied the doctor.  “How much has she had?”

“She takes a tablespoon in liquid morning and night,” answered Pru. 

Essie was certainly glad that her daughters kept track of the particulars of such things because she paid no attention whatsoever to her medications, their names, and how much she took.  After all, she had her aides to do that for her.

“Can you bring it in?” asked the doctor.

“You mean the entire container?  Here to the hospital?” asked Claudia. “Do you think it’s a bad batch or something?”

“I don’t know,” replied the doctor, “but I think it might be fairly easy to find out.”

“Of course we can bring it in,” replied Pru. 

“Pru, you stay here with Mom and I’ll go pick that powder stuff up and bring it right back,” said Claudia, already putting on her jacket as she spoke.  As Claudia exited, the doctor told one of the nurses to send the vitamin powder to the lab as soon as Claudia returned with it. 

“And, Nurse,” he said, “stat!”  The nurse headed out of the curtained area.

“Doctor,” said Pru, “do you think this vitamin powder could be causing my mother’s problems?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, “but as it’s the only new medication that’s been added to her schedule
, and as it seems to fit the time period when her symptoms began, it makes sense to check it out.  If it’s not that, we’ll try something else.  Her blood work does indicate some unusual findings.  We’re going to run some further tests.”  He smiled at Pru and took Essie’s hand in his.

“Now, don’t worry, Essie,” he said warmly.  “We’re going to figure out why you passed out on the field trip.  One way
or another.”  He squeezed her hands and then headed out of the cubicle followed by the other hospital workers.

“There, Mom,” said Pru.  “Maybe all these strange things that have been happening to you are caused by that vitamin powder you’ve been taking!”

“Why would vitamins make me hallucinate?” Essie asked.  “Or lose track of time?  Or see giant squirrels?  Or your father?”  Tears were welling up in Essie’s eyes.

“I don’t know, Mom,” said Pru, hugging Essie, “but wouldn’t it be better to know it was all the fault of some medicine tha
n have it be something—”

“Inside my head?” asked Essie.

“Yes,” said Pru.  “Inside your head.”  She shook her head sadly and smiled at her mother.

“I don’t know, dear,” said Essie.  “It was actually rather wonderful seeing your father again.”  Pru embraced her mother and the two women sobbed gently.

Shortly afterwards, Claudia returned. “I left the vitamin powder with the head nurse and she said she’d take it right to the lab.”

“Good,” replied Pru.  “The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better.”

“Since I’m better,” said Essie, “can’t they let me go home?  I really want to get back to my apartment.”

“Mom!” said Claudia, still removing her jacket.  “You’ve had a life-threatening experience.  You have to let the physicians do their thing and figure out what happened so it doesn’t happen again.”

“I just won’t take any more of that vitamin mix,” said Essie simply.

“You can’t decide that yourself, Mom,” said Pru, rubbing Essie’s shoulder.  “Dr. Graves said you need the vitamins.  If this doctor orders you to stop taking it, then we’ll have to let Dr. Graves know so he can decide if he wants to prescribe something new.”

“Oh, pills! Pills! Pills!” cried Essie.  “I take too many pills!  Too much medicine!  I’d be much better off if I didn’t take anything!”

A ringing sound caused Claudia to go back to her jacket on the counter and extract her cell phone.

“Ned,” she said into the phone.  Essie always wondered how Claudia always knew who was calling her, but it must be that caller ID thing that Ned had told her about when he installed her answering machine.  “Yes, we’re in the hospital.  With Grandma!  We don’t know exactly what happened to her.  She evidently passed out while she was on that field trip.”  Claudia chuckled and turned to Essie.  “Ned says he knows how you hate field trips, Mom.  He wants to know if this is just your way of getting out of going?”

“You tell him, Claudia, that I went on that trip and I was enjoying myself a lot.  I have no idea why I collapsed,” ordered Essie.

Claudia returned to talking on her phone to her oldest son. “The doctor thinks it might be that vitamin supplement Dr. Graves started her on recently,” she said.  “He made me go back to her apartment and pick it up.  I guess he’s going to test it in their lab.  Yes, isn’t that strange?  I can’t imagine vitamins causing someone to faint.”

Claudia smiled at Essie. 

“What?” said Claudia into the phone.  “Just a minute.”  She handed the cell phone to Essie.  “Ned wants to talk to you, Mom.” 

“Oh, my!” cried Essie.  “I don’t know how to use these
gadgets.”

“Just put it to your ear and talk,” said Claudia.  “Ned will be able to hear you.”

“Hello, Ned,” said Essie loudly.  “How are you?”

“Hi, Grandma,” Essie heard her grandson say.  “I hear you’ve been having some unpleasant symptoms since you started this vitamin powder.”

“Yes,” replied Essie, “it’s silly.  Nothing for you to worry about, Ned.”

“I don’t know, Grandma,” said Ned slowly.  “Maybe I do need to worry about it. 
What sort of symptoms have you been having?”

“Oh, I told you,” said Essie, stammering.  She didn’t want to reveal to her grandson the strange symptoms that she felt might indicate she was slipping into senility.  “I just passed out at the field trip.”

“Is that all, Gram?” pressed Ned.  “Nothing else?  Nothing strange?  Like strange visions?  Or feeling light-headed?  Dizzy?”

“Maybe,” said Essie.  She always knew that Ned was insightful, but this was uncanny.  “Maybe a little strange, like you say.”

“And this started when you started taking the vitamin powder?” asked Ned.

“I don’t remember,” replied Essie, and truly she didn’t remember.

“Wasn’t that the day that we all came over to help you clean out your closets?” asked Ned.

“I don’t know,” muttered Essie.

“I think it was,” said Ned.  “I remember Aunt Pru telling your aide about it and when and how to give it.  I was there to install your answering machine.  Remember?”

“Yes, Ned,” said Essie.  “Of course, I remember the answering machine.  It’s
…wonderful!”

“Grandma,” said Ned, “I’m so glad that you’re in the hospital and that they’re taking good care of you.  You stay right where you are and let them figure out what’s best to do for you.  I have an idea or two of my own that I’d like to check out.  Can you give the phone back to Mom?”

“Of course, dear,” said Essie.  She handed the cell phone to Claudia.  “He wants to talk to you.”

“Okay,” said Claudia into the phone and then she clicked it and put it back into her jacket.  She shrugged.

“What was that about?” asked Pru.

“I don’t know,” replied Claudia.  “Ned says he has an idea.  I’m not sure what he’s up to.”

The curtains parted and the doctor returned, chart in hand, followed by the same entourage.

“Miss Essie!” he exclaimed, looking from Essie down to the chart.  “I believe we have solved your mystery.  And possibly created another one.”

The sisters looked at each other.

“
Given your symptoms, I had the lab do a rush analyze of that vitamin powder of yours,” said the doctor, “and it’s full of hallucinogens.”

“What?”
said both daughters at once.  Essie merely stared at the doctor.

“Not enough to kill anyone,” continued the doctor, “unless they drank the entire container in one sitting, but certainly enough to make anyone consuming a tablespoon or more quite intoxicated
.”

“You mean this vitamin company manufactures this stuff and
it’s full of illegal drugs?” asked Claudia.

“Oh, no!” said the doctor.  “We actually use this
particular supplement in the hospital.  We tested some of our own supply against the container from your apartment, Essie, and your supply is definitely tainted with drugs and the hospital’s supply is drug-free.  That means, Essie, that someone put illegal drugs in your medicine.  Can you think who would do this?”

“No!” cried Essie.  “No one at Happy Haven would do such a thing!”  She imagined that the doctor suspected her aides.  She knew that Lorena and DeeDee would never hurt her like that. 

“Jenny, can you bring in the Inspector?” said the doctor to one of the nurses.  She quickly exited and immediately returned with a large, droopy looking man in a wrinkled overcoat.

“Essie, Inspector Shoop, from the Reardon Police Department,” he said introducing the two.  “I really have nothing to add, Inspector.  I can confirm for you that Miss
Cobb’s supply of vitamin supplement that we tested in our lab is contaminated with a fairly strong hallucinogenic drug.  Whoever mixed it in didn’t do a very thorough job.  That means, Essie, sometimes when you took your supplement, you probably got little to none of the drug, but other times, you may have been dosed with quite a large amount.  Luckily, you never took enough to do you any real physical harm—just a lot of psychological trauma.  But, the main thing is that we’ve found what we firmly believe has been causing all of your strange symptoms and now that you’ve stopped ingesting it, you should be feeling much better.  Even so, you will probably have some questions.  Essie, the Inspector is here to help you.  He’s going to track down the person who did this to you. And when the Inspector is done, Essie, we’ll be moving you to a private room, at least overnight.”  With that, the doctor and his attendees departed.

“Miss Cobb,” said the large policeman, “sorry to hear about your troubles.  Do you have any idea how this drug got into your vitamin supplement?”

“No, Inspector,” said Claudia, barging between Essie and the policeman.  “She doesn’t.  And do we really need to interrogate my mother now?  She’s just experienced a horrible ordeal!”

Pru joined her sister, barricading her mother from the questioning of the Inspector.

“Girls!” cried Essie from behind them.  “I can answer the questions.” Just then, Ned came quickly through the curtains.

“Excuse me,
Sir,” he said politely to the policeman.  “I believe I can answer your questions.  You won’t need to bother my grandmother.  Please let her rest.  If you’ll come out in the hallway, I’ll tell you everything I know.”  He motioned for the Inspector to follow him, which he did.