20
Fester
Pugsley! Wednesday! Get yourselves in here!
It's just gone two o'clock, and the children have just returned home from school. The front door is, notably, unlocked, and as they both step inside the house, they hear Fester's call. Everybody, bar the children, has gathered in the drawing room, around Gomez's bed. Morticia, Fester, Grandmama, Lurch, and two doctors: Dr. Harvey, Gomez's physiotherapist, and Dr. Arendash, Gomez's communication and speech therapist. Both seem a little perturbed by the house itself, though both also appear to be sort of flushed with excitement.
Pugsley and Wednesday bound into the drawing room. Of course, Wednesday has told Pugsley about last night's happenings with great excitement. The two are greeted by the sight of their family as they enter, but both stare at the strange doctors, neither of whom the children have seen before.
Wednesday
Who are you?
Harvey
I'm Dr. Harvey! You must be the Addams kids. I'm gonna be working with your father to keep him flexible, so that when he's better, he won't be stiff from all this time he's spent not moving.
Arendash
And I'm Dr. Arendash, I'm gonna be working with Dr. Harvey and your father to get him finally able to communicate with you again. The three of us are gonna be working as a team, so you'll probably be seeing a lot of us.
Fester (to the stick-thin Dr. Arendash)
Heh, I'm not seeing a lot of ya.
Arendash (ignoring Fester)
Your charming uncle called you in because we think you're going to want to see this.
Morticia turns to look at the children. She seems elated – maintaining her usual signature stoicism until she shuffles over to Wednesday and Pugsley, unable to contain a huge smile.
Morticia
Oh, c'est magnifique! Yes, darlings, come over here and see your father.
She lifts Wednesday up to get a better view. Pugsley worms his way between Grandmama and Morticia, standing on the tips of his toes.
Grandmama
So, do you wanna say something to your father?
Pugsley (somewhat confused)
He still looks like he's asleep.
Grandmama
Oh, but he isn't! Go on – tell him something.
Morticia
No – ask him something. Something he can answer yes or no to.
Wednesday (enthusiastic)
Are you happy to see us, father?
Pugsley
Don't be silly, he can't see us, his eyes are still closed.
Arendash
But wait, kids, watch this.
Dr. Arendash very gently lifts Gomez's eyelids open and talks directly to him.
Arendash
Mr. Addams? Your daughter wants to know if you're happy to see her. If you are, look up for me. If not, don't do anything.
Pugsley cranes his neck to look, as Gomez's held-open eyes quickly flicker to look up for a moment – it's brief and very slight, but unmistakable.
Dr Arendash closes Gomez's eyelids, a smile forming on his face. Even though Wednesday told Pugsley about what happened the night before, it blows Pugsley's mind to see his father actually move any part of his body on his own, without help.
Pugsley
Did you see that?!
Fester
Your father's happy to see ya, Wednesday! How about that?
Morticia
Well, I should hope he would be.
Harvey
Now, all of you – if you could please, and I'll say this as politely as I can, leave us for just a moment to speak with the patient? And his wife, of course. We want to start to develop a communication plan that we can use, going forward. We feel it should be left up to the patient and his next-of-kin.
Fester
Sight for sore eyes, are we?
Arendash
Come now, sir – it'll take just a moment. We can't have too many people distracting Mr Addams. His file says he has probable ADD.
Grandma
That's my boy. Puts the ADD in Addams.
Harvey
Please, everyone. Just ten minutes with the patient and Mrs Addams, and then you can come back in. I know you're all excited to be able to speak to Mr Addams again, but please, let's get the trivial stuff out of the way first.
Fester
Alright, alright! Follow us, children! You too, Lurch.
Fester and Grandmama take the kids' hands, and Lurch follows Grandmama, Fester and the children out of the room. When the door shuts, Harvey goes over to a briefcase that's been set on the windowsill. He begins opening up the case, talking to Morticia and Gomez as he does so.
Harvey
So. Mrs Addams, we came to bring you this as soon as Dr. Benson told us about your husband's progress. As I said, I'm a physio, and Arendash here is a communication and speech therapist. Dr. Benson had us both lying in wait until Mr Addams showed any signs of regaining movement. You may be asking: but why? Well - I make movement happen, and he makes communication happen. And with movement… comes communication. That's why we're a team.
Harvey produces a letter-board from the briefcase.
Harvey
This is a letter-board, and it's the direct line to communicate with your husband again, Mrs Addams. Now – of course, once he regains enough eyelid control to open and close his eyes by himself, you may think about investing in an eye-tracking computer for him.
Morticia
A computer?
Harvey
One he can operate with his eyes. But he'll need to be able to open and close his eyes himself before you can think about getting him one.
Morticia
He may be able to communicate through a computer?
Arendash
Easily. He won't need any movement anywhere else in his body to work it, either. Just his eyes and eyelids, and he'll be able to compose full sentences. He'll be able to let you know what he needs, what he wants, if he's in pain or discomfort, how he's feeling – anything his heart desires.
The thought of this seems to excite Morticia.
Morticia
Well, why don't I order one now?
Harvey
There's no damage in that, Mrs Addams. I suppose it is better to have it ready to go, so that the moment he gets his eyelids back, he's able to jump right in.
Gomez concurs. "Capital idea, Tish", he says, internally.
Harvey
But, for the time being, we have this letter-board. This can be a time-consuming and repetitive process, but it works. We recommend using this only if the need to communicate with your husband is overwhelming. If you need an answer other than yes or no – or, if you believe your husband really wants to communicate something to you, but you cannot guess what it is, that is when to use the board. Of course, it's also useful to have when you just feel like checking in with how he's feeling. You probably don't even realize how much it'll mean to your husband to be able to tell you if he's feeling down, or if he's feeling stable, or under the weather, or even if he just has an itch.
Harvey lifts Gomez's eyelids while Arendash explains.
Arendash
Now - Mrs Addams, the first thing you do is put the board in his line of sight, and read aloud each column on the top: column 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. Now, Mr Addams, you take a look at the letters in each column, and if the letter you want is in the column your wife has named, you look up. Mrs Addams, your job then is to read aloud each letter in the column your husband looked up on. For example, Mr. Addams, if you wanted to communicate the word "I" – as in "I need this, I need that", you would look up when your wife reached column 3. Then, you'd look up again when she reached the letter I. And of course, Mrs Addams, if you're unsure, you must also make sure to ask your husband if he is finished spelling the word. Shall we try?
Morticia
Yes. Yes, let's try.
Morticia takes the board from the doctor, and holds it right in Gomez's line of sight.
Morticia
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5.
Gomez looks up.
Morticia
E – J – O – T.
Gomez looks up.
Morticia
T. Okay – again – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4.
Gomez looks up.
Morticia
T-I? Alright...
NB: For the sake of convenience and easiness to read, I will just shorten the sequences that Gomez spends dictating letters, because they are repetitive. Of course, this is the reality for most people with LiS who use a letter-board to communicate. Dictation is absolutely a laborious process and this ought not to be forgotten.
A few minutes later. Morticia begins to realize what her husband is spelling. Once it dawns on her properly, she smiles, coyly – with a tiny tinge of loving exasperation. Of course - only Gomez would use his first opportunity to communicate his innermost thoughts in 20 days to tell her the following:
Gomez
T-I-S-H-T-H-A-T-S-F-R-E-N-C-H
Morticia (shaking her head, unable to shake her coy smile)
Gomez! But - what was French? When did I speak French?
Arendash
Why not ask him?
Morticia
Of course, of course. My darling – what French do you mean?
Gomez and she take more time working together, with Morticia gently holding his shoulder as they collaborate to spell out his response.
Gomez
C-E-S-T-M-A-G-
But Gomez doesn't need to finish the thought. Morticia figures it out.
Morticia
Oh, Gomez – when I said c'est magnifique to the children? Oh, my poor darling. All this time after I'd spoken French and no way for you to burst into that fiery furnace of affection. Well, bubele, I am sorry.
Morticia leans down, gently clasps under his chin, and eases his mouth shut. Then, she leans in and kisses him, right on the lips.
Morticia
My sweet.
Arendash has stepped back, bemused, while Harvey keeps Gomez's eyes held open.
Harvey
And, once he's able to open and close his eyes himself, there'll be no stopping him telling you exactly when he needs some love.
Morticia
Oh, I know. I know all too well.
Harvey
You know, he took to that quickly. You both did.
Morticia
Well, of course he did! He's an Addams. A genetic wellspring of talent. My husband takes everything in his stride. Even catastrophically disabling illnesses.
Arendash
So - about that. Now he can communicate, maybe we can inquire as to his wishes for his ongoing care.
Morticia
How do you mean?
Arendash rejoins them around the bed, and leans forward, right into Gomez's line of sight, picking the letter board up from Morticia, and holding it up while Harvey manually blinks Gomez's eyes for him, but then returns them to being held open.
Harvey
Well - we were going to ask you, Mr. Addams, if you, um – are okay for us to continue with this life support and ongoing care?
Morticia's head darts to the doctors, stunned.
Morticia
Doctor! I thought we had agreed the answer was yes.
Arendash
But now your husband can answer for himself, it's best to make sure you're on the same page.
In the midst of it, Harvey forgets to give Gomez instructions on how to respond.
Harvey
Oh. I'm sorry, Mr. Addams. Let's try again.
Morticia joins the questioning promptly, standing beside Arendash and looking her husband straight in his eyes, which flicker a bit to the left when she appears in his line of sight - he's obviously looking at her rather than at Arendash.
Harvey
Mr. Addams - would you like us to keep on going with your life support and physiotherapy? Look up for yes, or stay looking straight ahead on the count of five if you would rather we didn't. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Gomez's eyes flick up instantly. Morticia's face flushes briefly.
Morticia
Oh, Gomez, I knew you'd say yes, but still, to see you actually do it...
Gomez's eyes flick up again, twice in a row quickly.
Morticia
Gomez? Are you trying to say something?
Gomez flicks his eyes up again.
Arendash manually blinks them for him.
Morticia
Give me the board, doctor.
Harvey hands it to her.
Morticia
Alright, my sweet. Go ahead.
Gomez (after lots of time and manual blinks from the doctors)
M-I-A-M-O-R.
Morticia leans down and kisses his forehead, letting his eyes drop closed.
Morticia
Doctors - could you please, just for a few moments - leave us to ourselves? Just the two of us?
The doctors nod.
Harvey
Of course, Mr and Mrs Addams. Yes, this is an emotional time for couples. Of course - do what you will. We'll be outside.
Harvey and Arendash leave the room, letting Morticia be alone with Gomez.