March
2007
Ghosts
Neurology calls to ask nicely if I could see one of their patients for an evaluation. Since the person asking is my fave nurse, I agree to see him immediately and after I’m warned that he’s a bit of a drinker, the conversation is over .
Patient comes in, ticked off that he has to do one more test instead of being left alone, but since he needs the paper from me, he’s just showing, not saying his discomfort. I look at his ID card, notice that he’s from my hometown and that his family name is identical with that of my hopeless crush from high school . I ask if he has a son named Mircea. He tells me yes. I tell him I know his son well from way back. The ice is broken in no time.
The dad shows mild cognitive deterioration due to the booze, which I asses. His papers get written while I chat with him about past times, and he sums up the best way he can the ten years in his son’s life since I’ve last met him. He’s married and has two daughters . He left the country to work while his wife’s still here with the kids. He might have cheated on her with someone I know. He cut his long hair.
Dad says he wants to visit me this summer with his son, when he’ll be back in Ro. I remain gracefully neutral to the offer, knowing oh-so-well that his pride and joy is water under the bridge now and I know all I need to know about the time since I saw him.
I send dad on his way and go to bathe in the spring sun reflecting on the hospital walls.