I leaned over the table, arms folded. “What’s up, buddy?”
He looked at me warily, then his ten-year-old fingers flew over the iPad with the agility of an adult who’d been typing his whole life.
Mom says this program is almost done
“That’s true. My semester is almost over.”
Jason’s single mother qualified for this program between the speech center and the university. It allowed for free therapy by students, like me, who were still in training.
She said U won’t be my therapist anymore.
His own arms crossed, bracing himself for my answer.
“Yeah, it’s possible they’ll assign someone else to you,” I said. “Someone more qualified.”
He shook his head and typed vigorously.
I don’t want anyone else
I smiled gently. “Me neither, buddy. But I’m your starter-pack. You’re doing so well, they want to level you up.”
He shook his head slowly as he typed: Not doing well
“Yeah, you are, Jase. I promise. But tell you what, why don’t we talk to your mom about meeting up once or twice a week anyway.”
His eyes lit up. “Rrrrrrrreally?”
“Sure, man,” I said, my throat thick.
Jason was an only child. No friends. His disfluency was so severe, no one had the patience to talk to him. Except the assholes, naturally. It killed me to imagine this sweet, smart kid wandering the playground at school alone at every recess, just hoping to get through the day without being made to feel like shit. Never mind making a friend.
“Yeah,” I said again. “We can keep working together or we can just hang out. You like basketball, right?”
He nodded.
“We’ll shoot some hoops. If that’s okay with your mom.”
“If what’s okay with me?”
Linda Taylor approached with two coffees and handed one to me.
Jason started to type, but I reached over and stilled his hand.
“Tell her,” I said gently. “Remember what we talked about last week?”
Jason reluctantly let go of his iPad because he trusted me. It had taken months to earn that trust, and I’d be goddamned if I let anything happen to it.
Jason made a deep inhale.
“Just let it flow on the breath,” I said in a low voice. “Don’t force it.”
“Jim waaaaaaaaants to h-h-haaaaang out w-w-with mmmmmmeee.”
“My God,” Linda said. “That sounded so good, baby!”
I beamed. “Great job, man.”
Jason shrugged off the praise. He’d made huge strides, but it wasn’t enough for him. He seized the iPad and typed: Says we can play basketball sometimes
“If they reassign him to a new therapist,” I said to Linda. “Or even if they don’t.”
“You’d do that?” Linda’s eyes filled as she sat beside her son.
“No brainer,” I said, shooting a grin at Jason. “He’s a great kid.”
“Thank you,” Linda said. “I know he is, but it’s nice to hear from someone else. For both of us.”
Then her eyes widened. “Wait… Tomorrow’s the day, right?”
I nodded, my heartbeat taking off at the mention. “Yeah, it is.” I looked to Jason. “We might have to cancel this week’s appointment, buddy.”
Jason rolled his eyes with a smirk and tapped his iPad: Because of your GIRLFRIEND???
“Look at that,” I said turning the iPad to Linda. “I didn’t teach him to be a smart-ass. Did you teach him to be a smart-ass?”
Linda gave her son a look, but Jase looked supremely proud of himself. He loved when I swore around him. It made him feel grown up.
“You’ll let us know how it goes?” she said.
Perfectly. It has to go perfectly.
“I will,” I said.
I finished the session with Jason, working with him on breathing and relaxation. Like mine, Jason’s stutter was psychological, a result of his father’s abuse. Linda escaped the marriage two years ago, but Jason’s trauma remained. He struggled with elongation of vowel sounds and blocking of consonants. He had a long road ahead of him, but I knew he’d find his breakthrough. I couldn’t give it to him, I could only tell him it was there.
In the parking lot, I gave him a hug and ruffled his hair. “Send me all your good mojo, okay. I’m nervous.”
Slash, scared shitless.
“I h-h-hope she’ll beeeeeee o-o-okay,” he said.
“Thanks, Jase. I hope so too.”
Linda gave me a wave and they drove off. I hurried to my truck and cranked up the heat, then drove to Blue Ridge Sanitarium.
“Hey, Jim,” Melanie said from the front desk.
She’d replaced Jules awhile back when Mr. Webb was found wandering toward the security checkpoint. Jules had been on an illicit smoke break.
“Hey, Mel.”
I signed in on the Visitor’s Log clipboard. If I were to flip through the pages, my name would appear on every single one. For the last five hundred and forty-seven days.
Eighteen months.
Thea had been back in her prison for eighteen months. Tomorrow morning, Dr. Milton and Dr. Chen were going to try again to break her free.
They’d found the issue with Hazarin—an enzyme that caused blood clots, which led to stroke. The new drug—Laparin—had been tested for months and deemed safe, but there was no round of test subjects ahead of Thea this time. She’d be in the first group to trial it.
Because I had power of attorney over her healthcare decisions, it was up to me whether she took the new drug or not.
“Yes,” I’d told Dr. Chen immediately, wondering how it was possible to feel incredible elation and heart-stopping fear at the exact same time. “Yes, give it to her. It’s what she’d want.”
Rounds of tests commenced. Thea’s MRI and PET scans all came back clear. Dr. Milton flew in from Sydney and was ready to perform his procedure again, bonding the new drug and the stem cells. Erect a new bridge between Thea and her memories.
I was terrified but Thea was ready.
She’s suffered enough.
Alonzo stood outside the door to the rec room, chatting with Anna and Rita.
“Hey,” I said addressing the people I loved most, which I supposed made them my family.
“How you holding up?” Alonzo said. “One more day to get through. Lord, I’m too old for this kind of stress.”
Rita gave me a hug. “It’s going to work, and it’s going to last,” she said. “I can feel it.”
I didn’t let myself hope the way she did, out loud. If I let my hope out into the world, it might get beat up and come back mangled and bleeding. I kept it to myself, safe.
Anna pursed her lips. “Let’s remain professional, please,” she said, then smoothed her uniform that didn’t need smoothing. “Though, honestly, I’m quite excited myself.”
“Yeah, you look it,” Alonzo said, giving me a wink. “Bursting with excitement.”
“Oh, hush.” Anna turned to me. “When are Ms. Delia and her husband expected to arrive?”
“In a few days,” I said. “I wanted time alone with Thea after the procedure, no matter what happens.”