Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 01 - Blood on White Wicker (18 page)

We were led into a very plush office and she got her nurse to bring Mimi a cup of coffee and got her settled.

As we started down the hall, Dr. Anna said, “Right now, Julia is curled up in a ball, sitting in the corner of her room. If anyone comes near her, she screams. We’ve had to sedate her twice, which I don’t like to do. I’m hoping she’ll let you approach her.”

She took a ring of keys out of her skirt pocket and unlocked one of the doors.

Julia was sitting on the floor in the corner of a beautiful room that looked more like a bedroom in an expensive house. I was surprised. I guess I expected it to look like a cell. It had a full sized bed instead of the twin cot I had expected to see. It was decorated with all shades of whites and off whites. But they had used so many different textures it was perfect and reminded me of Julia, the artist.

We stood just inside the door and the doctor said, “Julia, I brought a visitor to see you.”

When she didn’t say anything, Dr. Anna motioned for me to speak. All I said was, “I’ve missed you Julia.”

She raised her head and reached her arms out to me. Dr. Anna gave me a little push on the back and I went over and knelt on the floor. She hugged me so tight, I could hardly breathe. We were both crying and when I looked up the doctor had tears in her eyes.

“I needed you, Vicky, but you didn’t call, or even write. Then for some reason, my dad got really mean and wouldn’t let me call you either. I started having horrible dreams after you left. Well, actually I’ve been having bad dreams for years but they got worse after you left. Now I know I’m just crazy.”

“You’re not crazy,” Dr. Anna said from the doorway.

 
Julia looked at her like she was confused, “But… then why am I here?”

“You’re here to get some help. Vicky came back when she heard you needed some help. She’s going to help me, help you.”

Julia sighed, “I feel so confused. Can Vicky stay here with me tonight?”

“Vicky is staying in one of the bungalows with her grandmother, but she’ll be back first thing in the morning.”

“Ok. Doctor, I don’t want to see my parents, if that’s all right. And I’m sorry I pretended that I didn’t know them.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dr. Anna said, “You don’t have to see anyone you don’t want to see. But right now you need to get some rest. You might be more comfortable on the bed, but it’s up to you. Vicky will be back tomorrow.”

Julia and I hugged and I led her to the bed where she stretched out. I took off her shoes and pulled the covers over her.

As we made our way down the hall, the doctor said, “You’re going to be good for her. I want you to spend as much time as possible with her. Look how much progress she made in just the amount of time you were with her. I think it’s a miracle. And I do believe in miracles.”

I said that I did too and thought about all the miracles that had happened just in the last few weeks. I was lucky to be alive. Anyone could have met me at that bus station, but instead I was met by Dave. He lived on the edge of the law but I found a friend there and made some money.

The biggest miracles of all were meeting my sister and grandmother. If I hadn’t been with Jesse on that particular day and hadn’t happened to see that painting, or if Jesse hadn’t found that unicorn in that shop, I would probably be in some home by now or a teen jail. The more I thought about it the more I became convinced that everything happens for a reason.

When Dr. Anna and I got back to her office, we found my grandmother stretched out on a recliner fast asleep. Of course she’s tired, I thought, she’s had very little rest in the last couple of days.

“Would you like something to drink?” Dr. Anna whispered.

“I’d like some more of that good coffee,” my grandmother said as she stretched and brought her chair back upright.

Dr. Anna laughed and I thought she was pretty. “Why don’t we all have coffee, unless you’d rather have a soda, Judith?”

I told her I also wanted coffee with milk and sugar. She went over to her desk and picked up the phone and placed our order. “Now, Mrs. McCain…” Dr. Anna started.

“Please, just call me Vera.”

“Vera, Judith and I just witnessed a small miracle. Julia recognized Judith, whom she called Vicky, right away. She talked to her and chastised her for not calling. She said she faked not knowing her parents. I believe that, right now, a part of her knows they are not her parents. Before we left, she also left the safety of her corner and got on the bed. It’s a big first step.”

“Could you try hypnosis? It helped me remember a lot.”

“She’s too fragile for that right now. It could send her over the edge and we might lose her for good. I don’t like hypnosis anyway. My belief is that the subconscious lets us remember when we’re ready. You were ready to remember, Judith.”

“When do I get to see her?” my grandmother asked.

“If she continues to make progress, it might be pretty soon. I know how hard this is for you, Vera. Be patient.”

“Believe me doc, I can be patient. I’ve waited thirteen years and I can wait a little longer. Besides, I have enough for right now after this long wait,” she said, squeezing my hand. “What are your plans for the present?”

“I’ve never had a situation like this before but my trusted intuition has come up with this idea. Even if it doesn’t work, I don’t see that it would harm either one of the girls. I want Judith and me to go back in now, before we lose ground. Judith, I want you to gently approach the subject of your dreams, don’t call them nightmares right now.

Chit chat with her for awhile, talking about clothes, the beach, boys, and all the things young girls talk about. Then gradually work in the dream. Tell her just some of your dream maybe just the beginning. If she goes into avoidance then go back to small talk. Anyway, I don’t want to give you a lot to remember, just trust your own instincts.”

“I’m going to go back to the cottage and take a nap,” Mimi said. “Then I’m going to fix us a big supper. You’re invited, Doc. I might have to order something delivered. I don’t know what’s in the kitchen there. Judith and I didn’t take time to look that closely.”

I was surprised when the doctor accepted the invitation and seven o’clock was agreed upon. After my grandmother kissed me on the cheek and left, Dr. Anna and I started down the hall.

I was mentally rehearsing how I was going to approach the subject of my dream when Dr. Anna said, “Don’t rehearse, Judith. Let it come naturally.”

Again, Dr. Anna reached into her skirt pocket and brought out her key and opened the door to Julia’s room.

Julia was sitting on her bed propped up against some pillows against the headboard. She reminded me of someone who was trying to do some complicated math problem in her head. She was staring up at the ceiling with her eyes all squinty. I looked over at Dr. Anna and she had a twinkle in her eyes. She motioned for me to go to Julia. She stayed by the door.

I sat down on the edge of the bed before she noticed me. Then she jumped and said, “Hi Vicky. Is it already tomorrow? Where does the time go? I was just sitting here thinking. I’m glad to be in here. I really am.

“You know, this is the first time in my life that I haven’t had to worry about making an impression on someone with my art work or my dancing or my school work and being afraid to let anyone down? I feel so damned free and don’t even have to worry about saying damned. Isn’t it wonderful, Vicky?”

 
I laughed with delight. She sounded so much like the Julia who had picked me up from the airport only a month ago.

I took her hand and said, “Julia, I have this repeating dream. Do you?” The doctor started clearing her throat and I knew she wanted me to talk some more first, but she told me to go with my intuition and that’s what I was doing. I think it’s because of what they say about the special connection twins have with each other, and I knew this was the right time.

“That’s another thing that makes me so dad blasted mad. Where do my parents get off telling me I can’t talk about my dreams? I’m going to tell you all about them, so there!”

I glanced over at Dr. Anna and she was smiling and just shrugged her shoulders, as if to say, “Go for it!”

“Ok, here goes, the dream. It’s like I’m an observer in the dream. There are two little girls sitting on the floor playing with Barbie dolls. The room is large and there are matching beds, matching chest of drawers and night stands. There’s a rocking chair and in it sits a dark-haired woman watching the two little girls.

“All the furniture is white wicker, but the beds are the cutest things you’ve ever seen. They look like daisies. That is, the beds are round with the centers being the centers of the daisies. And there’s a bright yellow cover over the center. Then there are petals that come out of the center and curve all the way to the floor.

“The room has yellow carpet. There are these two other people in the room. The woman looks just like you and I and the man is real good looking. He’s trying to fasten a necklace around her neck but then there’s this thumping noise. I see what looks like two boards propped up against the open window.

“And then I see that it’s really a ladder because I can see the top of a man’s head as he moves higher. His hair is blond and when he clears the top of the ladder, I see that he is only about 15 or 16. He’s very cute and at first I think it’s a game he’s playing with the two little girls. But then he pulls out a gun and shoots the woman and the man.

“The necklace flies out of the man’s hand and lands on the carpet.”

By now Julia was crying so hard, I had to concentrate to hear her. “The blood messes up the white wicker. It’s everywhere. This is where I usually wake up crying, but for some reason, now that I can talk about it, it doesn’t bother me as much.”

“What do you think it means?” I asked as I looked over at Dr. Anna, and she nodded and gave me a thumbs-up.

“I’m afraid to say. So tell me about your repeating dream.”

I looked over at Dr. Anna and she was holding her thumb and index fingers real close together, which I took to mean that she didn’t want me to tell her much. I said, “It’s similar to yours.”

“I think I need to be alone now, Vicky.”

When I nodded and stood up to go she said, “It’s so nice to say I want to be alone and have everyone be totally all right with that, to not have anyone get mad at me or anything. I’ll see you tomorrow, Vicky.”

CHAPTER 16

When I got back to our cottage, I was exhausted. Mimi was on the phone talking to a caterer. I stretched out on the couch and closed my eyes. I could hear her arguing with someone, and then she hung up.

“Well, we might end up with pizza delivery. There are no caterers who will prepare a meal for less than fifteen people. And I don’t know anything about the restaurants here. The only things in the kitchen here are things for snacks and some wine. At least there’s a coffeemaker, coffee, cream and sugar and some Danish. So what happened with Julia?”

When I started telling her everything that had happened after she left, she suggested we go out on the porch and sit in the wicker swing. When we got settled down and I finished telling her everything, a car pulled up and Tracy got out.

She looked as beautiful as ever in a gray long-sleeved tee shirt and sand-blasted gray jeans and vest and lots of silver jewelry.

“Why don’t you stay for dinner?” Mimi called to her as she was getting out of the car. “Maybe if we can find enough people, I can get that caterer to cater it.”

Tracy was laughing. “Why don’t you just get take-out from here? Their restaurant is gourmet.” Then we were all laughing.

When we all got calmed down, Tracy caught us up. “Looks like Mr. Reynolds is going to jail. In fact, he is in a jail cell right now. He lawyered up almost immediately, and his lawyer wouldn’t let him talk, so he’s in jail awaiting the bail hearing which should be about now,” she said as she looked at her watch.