The Beginning Of Rain In December (8 page)

“That’s fine,” Rain said, settling unto the bed.

“Please state your full name,” Dr. D’Ares began.

“Rain Rule.”

He paused. “No middle name?” He asked as he and Dr. Downs’s pens flew across paper.

“No.”

“And where were you born?” He asked.

“I was told Ethiopia. But I always thought I was born in Boston, Massachusetts.”

“Thirty.”
“Date of birth?”

“Unknown. Child protective service gave me the birthdate of January 1, 1982.”

“Are you up to date on all your immunizations?”
“Yes.”

“Have you ever been hospitalized?”
“Once at five, almost six.”

“What was the hospitalization for?”

“I was found with blood covering my body.”

“What occurred?”
“I was shot.”

A pause.

“Where?”

“In my abdomen.”

“How long before you were shot to when you were hospitalized?”

“48 hours.”

“Where did this occur?”

“Our Lady of Mercy, downtown Boston, 1987.”

“Do you remember the diagnosis?”

“No diagnosis. There was only a small scar.”

“Did you have x-rays?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember any diagnosis?”

“Not that I remember.”

“And you have no hospitalizations since then?”

“No.”

“Any medical conditions? High blood pressure? Diabetes? Mental condition?”

“No. None.”

“Do you have a family doctor?”

“No.”

“When was the last time you were ill with a cold, fever, flu?”

“I don’t ever remember being sick.”

“How often do you have menstruations?”

“Every thirty days.”

“How long?”

“Three days.”

“Any PMS? Cramps?”

“No.”

“When was the last time you have seen a doctor?”

“Health clinic at 16 for my last vaccinations for school.”

“Any side effects?”

“No.”

“Are you taking any medicine, prescribed or over the counter, this includes vitamins?”

“No.”

“Do you exercise?”

“Yes.”

“How often and what?”
“Jog from three to five miles almost daily.”

“Any dental problems?”

“No.”

He paused. “The last time you have seen a doctor was at the age of sixteen and you have not been sick since…”

“I don’t ever remember being sick with a cold or flu.”
Nodding, he looked over the notes he had taken while asking her questions.

“Have you ever felt faint? Light headed?” He asked.

“No.”

“Any sense of something unusual?”

She paused; he and Dr. Downs looked at her. “Yes, every five or six years I get a feeling that something is going to happen. I can’t explain it well.”

“When was the last time you got this feeling?”

“When Enlai found me.”

“And before then?”

“When I moved from Chicago to Seattle.”

“And before then?”

“When I was raped.”

“How old were you when you were raped?”

“Eighteen.”

“Was that your only rape?”

“No. Another at six.”

They both paused, Rain steeled her eyes upon the wall behind the two doctors.

“Any sexually transmitted diseases?”

“No.”

“How many sexual partners have you had?”
“Does that include those that raped me?”

“Yes.”

“Three.”

“Any psychiatric counseling regarding the rapes?”

“No.”

“Do you ever have coldness to your extremities? Numbness?”

“No.”

“Headaches? Nausea?”

“Yes.”
“Migraines?”

“I don’t know. Not really, I don’t know. I had one at eighteen, after my rape. I had one yesterday and today.”

“In what context did they occur?”

“I was reading Song’s mind.”

Their pens both stopped. “Excuse me?” Dr. D’Ares said, one eyebrow cocked.

“I wanted to know what they were talking about, I had, and something had occurred earlier where I was in Enlai’s mind, very briefly. I think he shut me out. When I was in my bedroom, I wanted to see if I could do it again. I thought of Song in my mind, and just drifted to where he was.”

“And where was he?”

“In a vaulted room in Lebna’s house with Lebna and Enlai.”

“And what was occurring?”

“Lebna wanted to free me, while Song and Enlai did not. Song was angry, upset with me, of the power that I may or may not have. I left him and my head hurt very horribly, I was nauseated, threw up and passed out.”

“Was this the only time it occurred?”
“That I threw up and passed out yes.”

“And not since then?”

“No. I tried to do it again, but I couldn’t read anyone. Every time I tried I got a horrible headache and stopped.”

“Okay, Rain,” Dr. D’Ares said. “I want to take your vitals now.”

“Okay.”

Dr. D’Ares stood, opening a couple of drawers in the room, taking out a stethoscope, a tongue depresser, a vision light and a blood pressure cuff.

“Blood pressure, 99 over 79,” he said to Dr. Downs when he finished taking her blood pressure. “Eyes clear, extracolular clear, reactive to light, full, wide. Ear canals clear, no abnormalities…lungs clear to auscultation. Digestive sounds in all four abdominal quadrants, normal. Pulses bilateral feet equal and symmetric. Heart rate 70. Oxygen on room air 100%. Heart regular rate, no rubs, clicks or murmurs.” He stopped, placing his instruments on the bed. “Please stand. I want you to touch your index finger of each hand to your nose rapidly and alternate as fast as you can.”

Rain did as he commanded.

“Good, now, follow my finger with just your eyes, upper right, bottom right, upper left, bottom left,” he commanded. “Perfect. Now shrug both shoulders and then shrug your left shoulder and then your right shoulder.”

She followed his commands.

“Good, I want you to walk toe to heel from the left wall to the right wall,” he said. “Now, bend over, touch your toes as far as possible with straight arms. Good, perfect. Neuro intact. Very good.”

Dr. Downs stood up collecting hers and Dr. D’Ares clipboards. “Very good, Ms. Rule, we shall take you for your MRI for a full body scan. Have you ever had one before?”

“No, but I know what it entails.”

“Alright,” she said they went through another door in the room that led down a long, well lit hallway with various other doors lining each side. From there they entered a small lobby area and to a door that stated radiology. Inside they were met with a small, Indian man, who smiled.

“Hello, Ms. Rule, I am Howard, I will be in charge of the MRI. First do you have any metal in your body? In your hair? Mouth? Rings? Piercings?”

“No,” she said. “Just the key on my wrist.”

“You can place the key, here,” he said, giving her a small tray. “It’ll stay in the room with you, you will be the only one in the room, we will watch and run diagnostics through that room, and there is a window to watch you. You will be able to talk to me through the MRI but we ask that unless it is an emergency that you not. Please be quite still. You can keep your eyes open or close. The most important thing is to be still.”

“How long will it take?”

“Maybe three hours. Are you claustrophobic?” He asked as he began escorting her to the small platform of the MRI. “These are for you to wear,” he said, handing her earplugs. “It can get quite noisy. Once again, please stay as still as possible.”

“Okay,” she said, lying down upon the platform while placing the ear plugs in her ears.

He smiled. “It’ll be over sooner than you know it, just think of a sunny spot in the tropics somewhere, okay?”

She smiled back, “Certainly.”

“The doctors will be in the room for me. Sometimes you may hear my voice, sometimes you may hear their voice over the speaker inside the MRI, okay? You ready?”

“I’m ready.”

He nodded and pressed a button on the large machine and the table began to move into the cave of the MRI, a slight nervousness began in the pit of her stomach. “It’ll be over soon,” he reassured, smiling, and she heard his feet walk away when she was firmly encased in the MRI machine.

The door closed, all was silent, quiet until moments later she began to hear a loud humming, various clicks and then an even louder hum and they clicks grew in frequency. Howards’ voice came over the speakers inside the machine. “Alright, we are beginning here, Ms. Rule. Please try to relax but the most important thing is to be very still.”

The machine was horribly loud and Rain was glad for the ear plugs. She forced herself to imagine tropical beaches, European vacations and Belle’s little children that she already missed horribly. It worked for a time until a voice interrupted her daydreaming.

“Ms. Rule this is Dr. Downs. Remember when you said that you were getting headaches when you attempted reading others? I want you to try that again, now. I want you to try to see exactly where I am, what I am looking at, what I am doing. Go as far as possible but stop if you feel nauseated or ill. You may begin now.”

Rain imagined Dr. Downs, first her voice, how she looked, the way her hands flew over the ink pen as she had taken notes during Rain’s history. She felt her headache began and forced it away, forced herself to not think about the headache but Dr. Downs, the sound of her voice, her white coat. An image begin to form within her mind, it was hazy, fuzzy as if looking through a sheer curtain, but still there. Dr. Downs’s was in the radiology room, she was standing up, looking at four computer screens, Dr. D’ares was on her right side, Howard on her left side, sitting in a black office chair, typing over a keyboard.

“Do you see that?” Dr. Downs was saying excitedly, lifting a pen to point to an image on the computer screen. “Look her frontal cortex is lighting up, so is her hypothalamus,” she said.

“Impossible,” Dr. D’Ares was saying, leaning closer to the screens. “Look at the signal intensity, it is on fire,” he said astounded. “I’ve never seen this,” he began.

“Her neurons are firing quicker than I’ve ever seen,” Dr. Downs said, pointing to another slide on the computer screen. “Here, there are white matter changes but it is not consistent with a stroke, small vessel ischemic disease, an auto immune disorder. I don’t know what it is,” she said, studying the image in wonder. “There is no bleed, no old infarcts, but this whole area,” she said, circling the area on the computer screen with her pen. “Has substantial matter changes.”

“What is it?” Dr. D’Ares asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Okay, get ten more slides, Howard,” Dr. Downs said and Howard continued clicking on the key board, making notations on the screen.

Rain saw Dr. Downs touch a button on the key pad and her voice came on inside the MRI machine. “Very good, Ms. Rule. If you are feeling unduly nauseated you may stop, if not please continue for a moment more.”

The nausea was back, Rain had to stop, she closed her eyes, biting back the nausea.
“Alright,” Dr. Downs said. “I understand. Just sit tight, it won’t be much longer.”

Rain kept her eyes closed, concentrating on anything other than her nausea and her pounding headache. She concentrated on her island paradise, willing the time away.

Three long hours later, the large humming of the machine stopped. Howards’ voice came on. “All done, Ms. Rule, just give us one moment to get you out of there.”

She sighed with relief, the nausea had resided and so had the headache. True to his word and a moment later the table of the MRI machine was moving, allowing Rain to breathe in air other than the machine. Both Howard and Dr. D’Ares were standing over her.

“Very good, Ms. Rule, we are finished here,” Dr. D’Ares said while Howard assisted her up.

She thanked him and pulled out the ear plugs but placed them in her hospital gown and collected her key chain, placing it back on her wrist.

“Please, follow me, Dr. Downs is wrapping some things up with your MRI,” he said, escorting her efficiently out of the room. She followed him down another hall passing a couple of doctors and was placed in a sterile room where a nurse waited, smiling, blond, matronly appearing.