Chapter 3
At the Veterans Hospital, a doctor greeted them. "You are here to see if Mr. Doe is your brother-in-law?" he asked.
"Yes," Tony explained. "Our friend Howard saw his picture in the newspaper and thought we should come. We think it might be Lt. Colonel Roger Healey."
The doctor's eyes got wide. "This might be an astronaut?" He gulped and went on. "The man we have has been mugged and severely beaten by his attacker. It appears that he attempted to fight back but his attacker must have been very strong. He received a very bad crack on the head. As a result, he has no long-term memory. He may not remember any of you."
"He wouldn't remember me anyway," Howard said. "He's never met me."
The doctor looked at Howard. "If I had a guess what Mr. Doe looked like before he met his attacker, it would be like you." He looked back at Tony and Jeannie. "Just brace yourself. He is heavily bandaged, and sometimes it can be traumatic when you are expecting someone to recognize you and they do not."
The four went into a semi-private room. Only one bed was occupied. The man named "Mr. Doe" looked up at them when they entered. "Oh. You brought more people to poke and prod me. You guys don't let up, do you?"
"No, these people say that they might know who you are," the doctor said. "It's important for us to identify you, so we can start getting you healed."
Tony looked at the man. "Roger?" while Jeannie went to his bedside and took his hand. "Roger? Is that you?"
"Mr. Doe" looked up at them and said, "No, I don't know you. Am I supposed to?"
Tony, Jeannie, and even Howard, were disappointed. They had hoped that the man would instantly be cured and would remember who he was and who his family was.
"Yes, Roger," Jeannie said. "We had hoped that you would remember us and that we could bring you back home to Houston."
The man looked even more confused, so the doctor led the three out into the hall to talk. "What do you think?"
"I think it's Roger, but I can't say for sure," Tony said.
A nurse walked up with a bag full of things. "Are you here about the John Doe case?" she asked, and got a return nod from both Tony and Jeannie. "These are the clothes that the man was wearing when he came in, according to Walter Reed Hospital." She took the contents of the bag and laid them out on a table. "These were his coveralls – we believe it's what's left of a flight suit."
"That's an Army flight suit," Tony nodded. "But the nametag is ripped off."
"And he had some civilian clothes underneath. Here's what's left of them – the labels were all from department stores, nothing identifying," the nurse went on.
Tony grabbed at a plaid shirt. "This is Roger's shirt. Or at least, Roger's got one just like it."
"Tracy would know," Jeannie suggested.
"Jeannie – go – you know – bring Tracy here."
The doctor and nurse looked very puzzled, but didn't ask. Jeannie stepped out in the hallway while Tony questioned the doctor and nurse a little more. When Jeannie came in, five minutes later, she had Tracy and Skylar with her.
"He has short-term memory. He has been able to care for his own needs, as much as he can, and even requested specific brands of toiletries like soap and shaving cream. But he doesn't know his own name, anything about his family, what he does for a living, or where he lives," the doctor was saying. "Oh, hello, who are you?"
"I'm Tracy Healey, and this is my daughter Skylar. Jeannie says you might have my husband here." Tracy then noticed Howard standing there, and asked, annoyed, "Oh, you're here, too?"
"Tracy, if it weren't for Howard here, we wouldn't have had this lead. He found an article in the Washington DC newspaper," Tony explained.
Tracy softened just then. "Oh, thank you."
"Anything I can do to help, I'd like to," Howard replied.
The doctor explained to Tracy the same things that he explained to Tony and Jeannie, earlier. Then he said, "I'm not sure that seeing this man would be the best thing for your little girl."
Tracy could be very hard-nosed. "If I have to get a counselor for her later, I will. But if this is her daddy, she needs to know that he's alive. She's been crying most every night, thinking he may never come back to her. If it isn't Roger – we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
The nurse showed Tracy the clothing. "Before we bring you in, ma'am – perhaps you can identify this clothing as your husband's? This is what he was wearing when he was brought in to Walter Reed."
Tracy looked at the flight suit first. She gasped when she saw it, then pointed at a small stain near one of the pockets. "That stain – that's chocolate – I tried to get that stain out more than once!" She burst into tears and then saw the plaid shirt, also slightly torn up. "And that's Roger's favorite shirt! I bought it for him for his birthday last year!" More tears streamed down her face.
The doctor nodded. "All right, we have possible identification of the clothing. Unfortunately, the law won't allow me to accept that as conclusive evidence except in certain types of cases."
Tracy looked at the doctor. "I know one way I can tell for sure, but I can't do it with anyone in the room."
Tony chuckled. "Sis, you've kissed Roger in front of us before."
"No – there's just something I know about Roger that – well, you wouldn't notice even though you WERE his partner and roommate, Big Brother." Tracy looked around, then whispered, "Roger has a mole on the inside of his left thigh – right below the – um – groin area."
Tony snickered, Jeannie blushed, and Howard laughed. "Darn, she's not going to kiss me again!" Howard sighed.
"Now I know what she was referring to when she said she'd rather kiss a stranger than ask you to do something else," Tony said.
Tracy went into Roger's room by herself, but found that Roger fought her off. "You nurses are all alike, poking and prodding me and never letting me get any sleep!"
"Roger Healey - they only want what's best for you, and that's to help you get better. Now, all I want to do is look for something on the inside of your leg. Do you understand me?"
Roger looked sheepish. "Yes, ma'am."
Tracy snickered, because Roger didn't usually call anyone "ma'am" or "sir", but went on to check it out. Sure enough, there was the mole. "You ARE Roger! Oh, honey, I'm so glad we found you! Now we have to get you healed and your memory back!" She hugged him, and could feel Roger enjoying the hug.
"OK, you think you know who I am. Who are you? Nurses don't hug like THAT!"
Braced for this question thanks to the doctor's talk, she answered, "I'm Tracy Healey, your wife. You're Roger Healey - astronaut, husband, and father."
Roger disagreed. "I don't think I'm any of those things."
Tracy went back out into the hall, telling everyone, "It's Roger!" Everyone responded with whoops of joy.
The doctor said to the nurse, "Well, I think we have just renamed John Doe. Change his medical record to Roger Healey, please." To Tracy, he said, "I couldn't really change his record on basis of identifying clothing. But a mole – well, that's conclusive evidence."
"Skylar, come here, sweetheart!" Tracy knelt down, explained to Skylar what she was going to see, emphasizing that her daddy was injured and in lots of bandaids, but they would get to have him home sometime when the doctor thought he could travel. But she warned her, too, that Roger would not know her.
"That's okay, Mommy. We help him 'member us soon. I go see Daddy now."
As Tracy brought Skylar into the room, the doctor commented, "That's a very brave little girl there." The rest of them followed Tracy, who held Skylar's hand.
"Roger? I brought someone else to see you this time," Tracy said.
"What am I, a circus? Did you want me to do elephant tricks?"
Tracy giggled. "Still a good sense of humor. This is your best friend and my brother, Tony, his wife Jeannie, our new friend Howard, and you already know your doctor and nurse. But I have someone else for you to see." Tracy picked up Skylar.
Roger looked up at the little girl and stared at her for about one minute. Everyone held their breath, praying that he wouldn't say anything that would hurt Skylar's feelings forever. Instead, Roger's eyes got wide and he put his arms out. "SKYLAR!"
"Daddy! You 'member me!" and Skylar put her arms out. Tracy put Skylar on Roger's lap in the bed, and the two hugged. There were tears in everyone's eyes.
Howard whispered to Jeannie, "That's why I had to find him. That little girl. She just needed her daddy like that." Jeannie nodded, in total agreement.
Roger and Skylar remained in the hugging position, and Tracy sat on the bed next to them. After a few moments, Roger looked at Tracy, still holding his daughter close to him. "Tracy? My wife?" he asked, puzzled.
"Yes, honey. You lost your memory – do you remember me, now?"
Roger lay back on the bed and grabbed his head with one hand, still holding onto his daughter with the other one. "Oh, man, I have a BIG headache right now."
The doctor chased everyone out except Tracy and Skylar.
Bob Hartley stopped Howard, again. "Howard, how did you feel at that point?"
"Oh, Bob, I was so thankful. That little girl had her daddy again. And the man, he had a family again. That's so important."
"Anything else?"
"No – I still don't know how genies do their thing. After Tony and Jeannie thanked me, they sent me back to the airport. By blink. I felt weird again. But I could deal with that feeling every day. Sure beats the Chicago El for getting around!" Howard was referring to the elevated trains, otherwise known as the I.C. – Illinois Central.
"So the next time you saw this genie, she blinked into your cockpit?" Bob still wanted to know about that.
"Yes. This morning, I was flying and suddenly, there was Jeannie in her – genie outfit – and she blinked into my lap. She said that the cockpit was too crowded," Howard stopped to laugh.
"And how did you feel about that?"
"Um … well, if a beautiful blond suddenly landed in YOUR lap, wearing a very scanty outfit, how would YOU feel?" Howard chuckled.
Bob returned the chuckle. "So what did she want this time?"
"I'm invited for dinner sometime, and they'll provide the transportation for me to Houston. I also have a standing invitation anytime I'm in Houston – all I have to do is phone either the Healeys or the Nelsons," Howard seemed pretty pleased.
"And how is the astronaut doing?"
So Howard continued the story.
Roger was still at the Veterans Hospital. Most of his long-term memory had returned. But his body needed time to heal and some special treatments so that he could be recertified for flight status.
The story of the mauling finally came out, told by Roger, and others. One of the generals at NASA in Houston had sent Roger to Washington, D.C. on a quick "turn-around" flight to deliver some plans to NASA in the Capital. His intentions were to be home in time for dinner, so he didn't bother to call Tracy to let her know he was flying that day. Parking his F-16 at Andrews, he took a taxi into D.C. and decided to walk the last 6 blocks. He was carrying the tube containing the plans and nothing else, when he was suddenly attacked. Using the tube of plans as his only defense weapon, he remembered nothing else of the attack. Pedestrians later found him knocked unconscious and bleeding on the sidewalk, and called the police. The ambulance took him to Walter Reed Army Hospital, because they thought they recognized the flight suit as Army. Later, a different police squad, investigating the mauling, found the plans and delivered them to NASA. When no one claimed the plane for the return trip, Andrews AFB informed NASA in Houston, who listed Roger as MIA – Missing In Action. His wallet had disappeared, and he wasn't wearing any other form of identification.
Bob butted in for a moment. "Howard, did it ever come out – why didn't that general think to look in Washington, D.C. for the astronaut, when he turned up missing?"
Howard answered, "I guess he tried. They put out the MIA notice on him, but the secretary who typed it got a few details wrong. They listed his hair as red, but it's really brown. His eyes are blue, not green like the MIA notice said, and they put his weight as ten pounds lighter. So the doctors at Walter Reed thought it was someone else. And I guess that secretary got fired – Tracy – Mrs. Healey - posted a complaint about her."
"Howard – let me ask you one final question: do you believe that Jeannie Nelson was really a genie?" Bob asked.
Howard looked Bob directly in the eye and answered, "I would bet my life on it. But she told me it was private. So it's between you and me, Bob."
Bob Hartley shook his head. He wouldn't disbelieve Howard's story about the genie, nor would he believe it. If Howard wanted to dream of genies, so be it. Howard was already a little "off-center" – what difference should this belief make? None, he figured.
He sent Howard home to his apartment with a promise that he would sign a statement that Howard had been to see a psychologist and was in sound mind to fly. Bob looked at the clock, realized that it was almost midnight. So he wasn't surprised when he went into the bedroom and found Emily sound asleep.