Bright Green Eyes

Bright Green Eyes
By
Raman Jalota

    It was foggy.   I could hear some voices.   Consciousness was slowly returning.   Am I still trapped in my car?   No, I was in some sort of a bed.   There was a grayish canopy over the bed. Mosquito-net? My right temple was throbbing with pain. I tried to lift my head but couldn’t. I looked around the room, all I could see was the gray mosquito-net. Barely visible through that was a high ceiling, a room with dark walls and a dim light. I tried to lift my legs and a shooting pain went through my head. I screamed and almost passed out.

.....

    It was foggy.   I could feel a soft breeze.   Consciousness was slowly returning.    I was still in a bed. A hospital? The grayish canopy over the bed was still there. Why do they have a mosquito-net over my bed? A hazy green object was walking towards me.
    “Good, you are awake. Would you like some hot tea now?”
    “Who ... who are you? What ...”
    “I am Katerina. You walked to our house three days ago. You were badly injured ... in terrible shape. Were you attacked by a wolf or something? Wait, let me get you some tea.”
    My eyes were out of focus. This was a nice woman helping me recover from my accident. The dull throbbing pain started again in my right temple. I raised my hand to my head. There was a bandage on my head. Did I hit my head on the dashboard? I couldn’t remember how I hurt it.   This woman thinks I was attacked by wolves! She must be old and a little batty. I must thank this generous old woman and call a tow truck and get back to .... where the hell was I headed? I shut my eyes and tried to remember.
    The green object was next to the door. It slowly shimmered into a long green dress and a beautiful young girl. I was either getting my eyesight back or the hallucinations were getting more interesting.
    The gray canopy had disappeared. A young girl with bright green eyes and dark hair tied in a pony-tail was putting a tray of tea on a table near my bed. She had a slim body with an unusual face. Dark thin lips and arched eyebrows that almost met over the bridge of her delicate nose gave her a sensuous look that was overpowering. She poured tea from a kettle into a cup with tiny blue flowers on it and added some milk to it.
    “Here, let me help you sit up.”
    She put her hands under my arms and helped me sit up. Her clothes seemed to be thick, perhaps cotton, and her smell was wonderful. She added two spoons of sugar to the tea and gave me the cup. I sipped the tea slowly.
    “You ... you are Katerina?”
    “Yes. Do you know me?”
    “I .. . I couldn’t see clearly. I just saw green and thought you were an old woman helping me.”
    She laughed sweetly, “Don’t worry, the morphine will eventually wear off with time and you will be back to normal.” She hesitated, “Who are you? What happened?”
    I laughed awkwardly, “I want to ask you the same thing. Who are you? What happened?”
    She laughed and gently squeezed my right hand. I was in love.
    “You came bleeding to our door three nights ago. You must have had a terrible accident. Your clothes were torn and dirty. Your right leg was broken ...”
    “Three nights ago! What day is it?”
    “It’s Tuesday, why?”
“Damn, I missed the conference. I was driving to Albuquerque and had just passed Las Vegas on I-25 ... why, what’s the matter?”
    Katerina’s eyes had become dull and confused as I had started to talk.
    “What’s this ... what you said .. I-twenty-five?”
    “You know ... the highway.”
    “I am afraid, I don’t understand you. You must still be delirious.”
    “What do you mean you don’t know .... where am I?”
    “You are in Santa Fe. Perhaps you can tell me who you are and if we can send a word to your folks.”
    “I ... I am Justin Satchet. I was on my way to a conference in Albuquerque ... I was driving from Denver ...”
    “Oh dear! It’s all my fault. I would suggest, you lie down. Perhaps I shouldn’t have talked to you so much. Like my father would say, I must have caused all of this anxiety and confusion.”
    “Can I make a phone call?”
    “Do you know people in Santa Fe?” Her face brightened, “Who do you want to call?”
    “Can you call 303-555-6290.”
    “What’s that? You can only call people you know. What are those numbers?”
    “Well the 303 area code ...”
    I stopped. Her face had a strange puzzled look. She sat in silence sipping her tea. I slowly finished my tea. My eyes were focused but my brain was still in a fog. She helped me lie down and covered me. I lay in bed, torn in two directions. Katerina was loving, compassionate and desirable. All I could think of was holding her in my arms and kissing those dark thin lips till I could taste her soul. On the other hand, I had a strange feeling of confusion. It felt like I was transported to another time and place. This was no twentieth century house with central heating. There was a wooden fireplace in the room that Katerina and the man named Bronson, who appeared to be a servant; kept going. Katerina seemed to have difficulty comprehending my description of what had happened to me.
    I didn’t want to even think about leaving Katerina but I needed better medication and accommodation.   An antique phone lay on a table by the door. Perhaps it was a working phone and I could get someone to help me get out of here.

.....

    Wednesday, I could sit up. Katerina put several cushions on an easy chair and helped me limp to the chair. I saw the splint for the first time, a few pieces of irregular wood covered with a coarse brown cloth and tied around my leg.
    “What a primitive splint, I need to get to a proper hospital.”
    “I don’t understand you, Justin. That splint is what my father made for you.”
    “Your father?”
    “Yes, Dr. Samuel Johnson. He’s my father. He’s very busy, but I can get him if you need him.”
    “No! Let me call my contacts and arrange for proper care ... just help me to the phone.”
    She helped me limp to the table. I looked at the phone. It was ancient. A two piece phone that I had only seen in old movies. No dial pad. I picked up the earpiece and bent towards the mouthpiece.
    “Operator”
    I was completely surprised, “What?”
    “This is the Operator sir. Is this Dr. Johnson?”
    “No, I would like you to give me 303-555-9260.”
    “Give you what?”
    “303-555-9260.”
    “Sir, I can connect you to anyone in Santa Fe, just give me the name.”
    “I would like to call Denver.”
    “You know, we can’t do that. Perhaps you will like to send a telegraph?”
    Katerina helped me back in my chair. She put her hand on my forehead. “You have a fever, perhaps I should bring you some tea.”
    I nodded, still confused.
    She brought a tray with tea cups and poured some tea and milk in a cup. She added two spoons of sugar to it and gave me the cup.
    “I don’t understand anything. I don’t even understand why you add sugar to my tea.”
    “Well. You need to get rid of the bad taste from the medication, and sugar is ... nice ... sweet and nice.”
    She smiled and my heart melted.

.....

    Thursday when she brought me the morning tea, I gathered my courage and pulled her to me. I covered her lips with mine and held her. I felt she was my destiny. Somehow, I had managed to reach my destiny. And my destiny was Katerina. She responded to my kiss and then gently disengaged herself.
    “You shouldn’t have done that. You need to recover your strength. You are much too excited for your own good.”
    “I love you Katerina. You have saved my life. You have brought me back from the brink of oblivion. I can’t live without your sweet smile and tender touch.”
    She poured some tea and milk in a cup. She added two spoons of sugar to it and gave me the cup. I drank the tea in silence, staring at her and sipping in her love.   She sat smiling at me, I hoped she was dreaming the same dream.

.....

    Friday I felt fine. Bronson gave me a cane made out of a branch from a tree. I walked out of the room and towards the front of the house. The house was cold, no central heating. The windows were foggy. I looked out. Damn, snow was everywhere. Must be a foot deep!
    Katerina took my right arm and put it around her shoulder, “Come .. come and walk with me a little, build up your strength. I’ll help you.”
    She walked me around the house. I felt a little awkward with the cane and leaned on her from time to time. Her nearness was wonderful. Her face next to mine and her sweet smell filled my senses.
“I hate to say it, but I need to get back to a proper medical facility. I need to get my car towed and get back to Denver. I love you very much. Soon as I recover, I’ll come back for you.”
    “You can’t go anywhere in this condition and where would you find better care? You’ll freeze to death. What are you talking about ... a car and toes and what ... I don’t understand you?”
    “Katerina, I remember it now. I had driven past Las Vegas when the snow storm that had been following me from the Raton pass got worse. The night was getting darker and the snow was killing all visibility. I must have dozed off or lost control. Next thing I knew, I was stuck in a roadside ditch near a ranch, miles from nowhere. I saw the light in your home and somehow managed to make it. You have been wonderful to me, but I must shake off this confusion and illusion and get back to the real world ... I really need to get out of this fog. I’ll come back for you. I will.”
    “You can’t go back there in this horrible snow. You can’t!”

.....

    I waited. She eventually left me alone. The afternoon sun was bright and beautiful. I took the cane, grabbed a long coat hanging near the door and walked out into the snow.
    The Johnson house must be set far back from the highway. I couldn’t see any sign of the highway or traffic. An old dirt road led away from the home. I’ll keep walking till I get to the highway, then I can hitch a ride or find a phone and call 911.
    I must have walked for hours when the snow storm hit. It got worse and finally the blinding snow stopped me dead in my tracks. I leaned on a boulder and waited. I must have dozed off. I awoke to the sound of a car driving off nearby.
    “Hey wait.” I could see the highway, barely a hundred yards from where I stood. I limped to the road and waited. Lights appeared.   I walked to the middle of the road waving my arms and my cane. The car slowed down. There was a lone man in the car.
    “Can you please help me? I need a ride to the next town, I had an accident ...”
    “Get in. You look terrible.”
    We drove for less than ten minutes.
    “Well, here’s Santa Fe. Where did you want to go.”
    A tall white building - the Santa Fe municipal hospital was across the street.
    “Stop, I’ll check in here.”
    Shivering, delirious and barely alive, I slowly walked in.

.....

    It was foggy.   I could hear some voices.   Consciousness was slowly returning.   Am I still trapped in my car?   No, I was in some sort of a bed.   There was a grayish canopy over the bed. Mosquito-net? My right temple was throbbing with pain. I tried to lift my head but couldn’t. I looked around the room, all I could see was the gray mosquito-net. Barely visible through that was a white ceiling over a white room with a dim light. I tried to lift my legs and a shooting pain went through my head.
    Slowly, I remembered, I was in a Santa Fe hospital. I had made it out of the nightmare! I was alive. I had survived. Yet, an empty feeling, a sense of loss engulfed my initial euphoria. A hazy white object was walking towards me.
    “Good, you are awake. Would you like some hot tea now?”
    “Who ... who are you? What ...”
    My eyes were out of focus. This was a nurse helping me recover from my accident. The dull throbbing pain started again in my right temple. I raised my hand to my head. There was a bandage on my head. Did I hit my head on the dashboard? I couldn’t remember how I hurt it.
    A nurse walked towards me. The gray canopy had disappeared. A young girl with bright green eyes and dark hair tied in a pony-tail was putting a tray on a table near my bed. She had a slim body with an unusual face. Dark thin lips and arched eyebrows that almost met over the bridge of her delicate nose gave her a sensuous look that was overpowering. She picked up a mug with tiny blue flowers on it and added some milk to it.
    “Here, let me help you sit up.”
    She put her hands under my arms and helped me sit up. Memories came flying out of some lost, dark corner of my brain. I had smelled her before. She had helped me before. But where? She added two spoons of sugar to the tea and slowly handed the mug to me.
    “You have slept for two days straight. Do you know how lucky you are?”
    “What day is it?”
    “It’s Sunday. You had your crash almost a week ago. Somehow you kept alive for five days and when the storm subsided you built yourself a splint and found a cane, limped to the highway and then to our hospital.”
    “I kept myself alive, how?”
    “The state patrol found your car three days ago, you had abandoned your car and walked to a deserted barn. You are extra ordinarily resourceful. It’s amazing that you survived with a broken leg and a concussion.   You even managed to dress your wounds and survived without food and water for all this time.”
    “Wait a minute, I didn’t do that. I walked to Dr. Johnson’s house and he ... his daughter nursed me back to life.”
    “You mean Dr. Samuel Johnson.”
    “Yes, doesn’t he own an old house with no central heating ...”
    Her eyes grew wide with disbelief. “There’s no such living person, Justin. There was a Dr. Johnson in the late eighteen-hundreds and early nineteen-hundreds. His home was deserted and run down. Ten years ago, they razed it and built our new municipal hospital. On this very spot!”
    I tried to understand what the nurse was telling me. A house that had existed a hundred years ago and had been demolished ten-years back, had somehow materialized out of thin air!   Not only that, but it was inhabited by people from a hundred years ago and a doctor from another century and his daughter had helped me survive. I shook my head. What a strange dream it had all been. Strange but vivid.
A gray haired doctor walked in. He checked the chart on my bed and listened to my heart.
    “You are doing great. Of course you owe your life to our wonderful nurse.”
    “I ... owe her?”
    “Yes, she was here when you first came in. She has stayed by your side constantly, taking care of you as only a mother or wife can; bringing down your fever, checking on you constantly; basically keeping you alive. She must feel a special bond towards you.”
    The nurse was shaking her head but smiling at me. Those bright green eyes, that face, those lips ... I wanted to kiss those thin lips till our souls fused. The gray canopy that I had thought was a mosquito-net had completely disappeared. My thoughts seemed crystal clear and then suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle clicked together in my mind.
    “You ... you are ... Katerina?”
    “Yes! Do you know me?”
    My heart leaped. Yes! I didn’t have to go back for her. She had come forward for me!

The End    2842 words

Copyright © 2004 Raman Jalota. All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the author.

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