After the Storm (Chapter-2)

Carissa made a quick breakfast and grabbed a quick shower before she paid another visit to Paul Daniels. She checked his vital signs and they were good. She was believing now that he was going to be okay. She worked on cleaning the wounds and applying a fresh coat of antibiotics before wrapping a new layer of gauze around him. She grabbed a book and sat in a chair in the room with her patient. She kept running it over in her mind, “Who is Paul Daniels?” She couldn’t get to work with the bridge out so she would have plenty of time to ponder who her guest was.

She had barely read through two chapters of the book she really wasn’t interested in, when she heard the crackle of her CB in her office, right off the kitchen.

She made a dash for the radio and responded, “Sassy Lassie here, go ahead.” The answer was a bit garbled so she asked that it be repeated.

It came back in a much clearer tone, “This is sheriff Thomas, the only Paul Daniels matching that description, died in an auto accident recently. I don’t know what you have there but be careful.”

Now Carissa had some new things to think about. Is her patient using false identification and more importantly, why. She stopped for a cup of coffee before returning to the care room of her guest. There wasn’t much change in his condition, but at least he had clean bandages. She wanted to get some fluids down him but until he wakes that wasn’t possible, since she didn’t have any IV equipment. She needed to be patient, not a natural trait for her.

She sat, read and waited, with no sounds in the room but the rhythmic breathing of her guest. She cast an occasional glance in his direction but detected no movement aside from his chest’s expansion and contraction as she waited to see if there was any movement of his limbs. She had so many questions now, she couldn’t wait to get some answers. She noticed bruising on his head and worried about concussions or even a brain bleed, but she hadn’t seen any indication of that yet.

She sat, ate, read and lost track of time waiting for things to change. Her impatient nature was being taxed and she sat, waiting for something to happen. She finally began to hear some new sounds. There were occasional moans now escaping the lips of her guest. That was a good sign, it meant he was becoming aware now and most likely about to wake. By becoming aware he would be able to feel the pain that was obviously contained within his body. The sounds were followed by some movement of arms and legs and those movements were always followed by more moans.

Her guest was stirring and she was hopeful that he would gain consciousness soon. She watched carefully and waited as patiently as she could. She kept records of his vital signs, so they would be available for medical professionals if her guest was transferred to another’s care soon. Her diligence finally paid off and she was looking at him when she saw his eyes flutter. She knew now that it was going to happen, he was going to wake, she just had to be ready when it happened.

She wasn’t sure what she expected when he did wake. Would he be combative, appreciative, happy or rude. She wasn’t sure what she would say either but most preplanned responses never work as well as the plan in your head. Her ears perked up when she heard him say, “Where......where am I?”

She thought, “That is easy enough to answer.” She responded, “You are in my home, I found you in the middle of the road on my way home. I got you loaded in my SUV and by some miracle got you out and into the house.”

Paul asked, “Who undressed me?”

Carissa replied, “I have to confess that I did, your clothes were muddy, bloody and soaked. How did you get in the middle of the road to begin with?”

Paul answered, “To be honest, I can’t remember. I don’t remember much of anything.”

Carissa replied, “That doesn’t surprise me, you have had some pretty heavy trauma to your head and the rest of your body.”

Paul said, “My arms and shoulders hurt and I do have a headache.”

Carissa responded, “Your arms and shoulders may hurt from me pulling on you to get you loaded and unloaded in my SUV. You had some stab wounds too. Any idea how they got there?”

Paul replied, “I have no memory of any of that. I seem to remember things that happened as a child but not much else.”

Carissa asked, “Do you know who you are?”

Paul shrugged his shoulder but that proved to be painful and he just replied, “I am sorry, I really don’t have a clue who I am.”

Carissa said, “Your license says you are Paul Daniels, from Cedar Rapids, but our sheriff checked and the only Paul Daniels from Cedar Rapids he could find, died in an auto accident recently.”

Paul responded, “I have no memory of any name and that one doesn’t have any meaning to me.”

Carissa replied, “You have had enough head trauma to explain any memory loss, but indications are that it should heal itself over time. I am going to call you Paul for a lack of any other names to use.”

Paul replied, “That works for me and if I have any great lumps of memory coming back, I will let you know about those as well.”

Carissa had a lot to figure out. Paul kept complaining about his shoulders and so she tried putting them back in place but not without some pain and screams. She felt the shoulders slip back into the joints and knew things should get better for Paul. Carissa had some over the counter pain medications that she gave Paul, but she couldn’t do much else.

Paul asked for help to go to the bathroom, but Carissa was worried he wouldn’t have enough strength to stand.

She said, “I have a handicapped portable potty I can scoot over by the bed that you could slide onto, I will help you move to it and then give you some privacy.” After she helped Paul, she left the room and waited.

After a few minutes had passed, she heard Paul say, “Okay.” She came back in and Paul was safely back in bed.

She said, “You seemed to have managed well enough.”

Paul replied, “I did better than I thought I would.”

Carissa replied, “I need to get some food and liquid down you, that will do as much to build your strength as anything else.”

Carissa brought Paul a glass of orange juice and said, “Let’s get some beneficial liquids down you. I am working on some chicken soup, a hearty version with things in it you can chew.”

Paul replied, “That sounds pretty good, I am not as hungry as I think I should be.”

Carissa replied, “Your body had been pretty dormant for a while. It was just trying to maintain.”

Carissa was trying to be pleasant but cautious. She still had some concerns about the phony identification Paul had. She wasn’t quick to trust people, a trait her father had taught her from many years as a cop.

Carissa had relationships in the past that hadn’t done anything to change her trust issues either. She didn’t have trouble trusting other women, but the men in her life had all let her down. She had been engaged for two years until she discovered her fiancé had found a new companion to keep company with on the nights she worked. So she devoted herself to work and volunteering in the community.

Carissa was confident that Paul would survive and thrive. He was gaining strength and she knew enough to be cautious, especially since she had questions about his identification and what information the sheriff had given to her. When she went back in to clean up the port-a-potty, Paul was already back to sleep. It wasn’t much of a surprise, the pain medication would make him drowsy and the sleep would be helpful, although he needed to start working on rebuilding his muscles soon. She thought he had some pretty good muscles, but she was keeping her thoughts to herself.

Carissa hadn’t been in a relationship in a long while and she didn’t go in for casual couplings. She was human but she also had a good head on her shoulders. There was no need to get involved with someone she knew so little about. How could she know anything about someone who didn’t know about themselves. If Paul discovered in his memories a sordid past, would he divulge that anyway. She had a “wait and see” attitude.

Carissa had a natural curiosity and she would be working on finding out just who her guest really was and why someone would want to beat him, stab him, and leave him for dead. She knew if she hadn’t been coming home late and driving so slow in the rain, he would have been run over by someone and he wouldn’t have survived. That was the outcome, whoever put him there suspected would happen.

Carissa was an intelligent woman, she knew that if Paul, or whatever his name really was, had something to hide, he just wouldn’t be truthful with her. She kept her pistol with her just as a precaution. Her dad had insisted on self defense classes as well as the pistol so Carissa felt pretty confident. The weather had cleared and she could hear workers clearing fallen trees from the roadway and working on the bridge. She had lived in this rural area of Colorado for five years after her father had passed and the bridge had washed out three times. It was always a threat in the springtime.

She enjoyed the seclusion of the area, even though it could be scary at times, she had gotten used to it and had become more independent from living here. The area surrounding her house was wooded and full of wild animals. Cell service has always been sketchy up here, but she could travel down the road and get service and the CB provided some basic communication with people in the area.

She did have internet and a computer hard wired to it, but no Wi-Fi. She hated people who seem distracted by their devices and she kept her computer off most of the time. She used it to pay bills online and not much else. She had learned to live alone and be self reliant. She wasn’t much into visiting with other people. She never got out much when she was caring for her dad and when he passed she never started back.