When Daniel woke up, he found he too was sleeping on a
comfortable hospital bed, he was inside what looked like a private chamber,
that could accommodate more than just one patient, but he found he was the only
one but his eyes scanned the room he found that he had company, in the same room,
there was this large ceiling to floor curtain, polythene, bluish green, and on
the other side he could see the silhouette of another body lying facing the
other side, Daniel could hardly remember anything beyond the time he had passed
out, the music from the night club was still pounding inside his head, all he
knew was he had checked Annie into a hospital, he was not even not even sure if
this was the same or if it was some other place.
Just then two nurses entered, one elderly and jovial and the
other young, petite and pretty serious – both initially were bound towards the
other body but then when they found him awake they changed direction and moved
straight towards his bed – the elderly one was the first to speak, She said –
Hello ? Dhanielle? In a heavy Spanish accent, pronouncing
his name after reading it out from his treatment chart lying next to his bed.
Daniel managed a smile and was surprised he was feeling good
despite a mild feeling of heaviness.
The younger nurse quickly checked his drips, adjusted the flow
made sure she avoided eye contact. Daniel wanted to ask a lot of questions but
he was still drowsy and so decided to keep his mouth rested, but then the elderly
sis introduced herself with a smile
“Ursula” .
Daniel acknowledged. A Hi ! The younger simply did not
bother. She kept doing some stuff and then quickly moved to the bed on the
other side, She had a badge on her chest but Daniel had no energy to look at
it, nor did have a chance.
Ursula saw Daniel scanning the other bed, then She said Ms.
Ezekiel. Your friend? Pointing her index finger towards the other bed.
Danny was at first confused when the nurse used Annie’s
surname and then grinned and nodded a yes.
Ursula, soon said all fine. No Problimo. “Too much alcoholic”!
She said it in English with a face of disgust. And then quickly smiled.
No problemo, No problem.
After a while Ursula pulled the thick polythene curtain that
was in between Daniel and Annie.
By then the younger nurse had left the room. Soon Ursula
indicated that She’s gonna step out but then also tried communicating again in
English –
Backing with Doctor, soon !
Daniel again grinned and after a while, he fell asleep again.
Annie was still out in her own world. She wasn’t even
stirring. She was sleeping nice and sound. And the quiet of the hospital only
accentuated her sleep into a zone of her own.
One feels strange sometimes, looking at two urban souls, who
were so disconnected from everything, the departure from all things like faith,
religion, love or God or even neo-platonism that once ruled the elite of the
world – these two represented a generation that was all about ‘them’ , that’s
it.
It was just them.
Everything else was an open debate. Open for views,
opinions, debates and arguments.
So they were a generation fairly untouched by norms of
social governance, they travel, they party, they dance, drink, talk everything
from Philosophy, art, music, theatre, literature, politics and economy but yet
remain detached and beyond true traditional bonds – the family on both ends is at
an arm’s length – they lived, living and completing the cycle of days and
nights and days on their own.
And they did not find it strange.
Not even when Daniel
became an alcoholic, a self styled musical poet, a womanizer, a substance abuser and dilletantic loser who tried possessing Annie in a desperate attempt to hold onto a totem pole and Annie's own struggles to sustain her space and freedom.
Their youthful, playful physical banter of throwing verbal and physical abuses
at each other that once upon a time was used to mock married couples turned a
circle and haunted their relationship in real – when they briefly turned their
relationship into a living in relationship and then they tried being married.
It was a disaster.
Annie, had to go through a piece of hell. Not that Daniel did not have is share.
But then neither ever believed hell existed. But in psychological terms, it did. And they were the square creators of it.
For Daniel, it started when he suddenly found himself disillusioned, lost, depressed and
confused.
His dependence on alcohol and dope compounded the whole problem.
His esteem kept plunging.
Reuters became history.
The musical fusion of Shelly and Byron remained one more
obsessive indulgence.
His Guitar and Piano and his plush ocean face apartment in New York all tumbled into a downward spiral and crashed.
Suicide became an everyday thought.
What kept Daniel alive remained a mystery.
But what kept Annie alive was an even bigger mystery.
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