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TWO DAYS AFTER HIS discharge, Jamie and Max returned to the hospital for a follow-up appointment. Jamie dropped by the inpatient wing where Hero Doe had been moved to see if she could shake loose any news about the injured woman.
“Boo!” Max yelled when he saw the tall woman stick her head out the door of the staff break room and took off toward her before Jamie could flinch.
“Max, stop,” Jamie called as loudly as she thought she should in a hospital. “Max, no.” She hurried to catch him, but he had a head start and no inhibition about reaching his target.
“Boo,” Max reached his hero and leapt into her arms. Fortunately she avoided crunching his broken fingers as she caught him.
“Well...Max, it’s good to see you! Oh my, what happened to your hand?”
“Remember, you saved me. Like Supergirl! You flew in and saved me from the truck!”
“I did?” the woman replied with equal enthusiasm. “Wow! But you hurt your hand.”
“You broke it. But that’s okay, you didn’t mean to,” Max offered matter-of-factly.
“I’m sorry. I’m glad you forgive me—what did you call me?”
“Boo!”
“Is that my name?”
“Yes!” Max pronounced.
Boo looked up to see Jamie and a nurse standing in front of her. Extending her free hand to Jamie, Boo politely introduced herself.
“You must be Max’s mother? I’m...Boo. Sounds a lot less pretentious than Hero.” Boo gave the nurse a humble look.
“Hi, I’m Jamie, and yes, I am Max’s mother.” Jamie cocked her head to one side to inquire, “They said you can’t remember your name, but you remember Max?”
“No, not really,” Boo turned her head slightly away from Max, who was running his un-splinted hand over her nearly bald head. “I heard you call him. He seemed so excited to see me, I didn’t want to spoil it.” Boo lifted an eyebrow and shrugged.
Jamie was relieved to sense Boo did not recognize her. She had learned to pick up on the moment of awe when someone realizes they are meeting a celebrity. Boo seemed to have a pleasantly blank face when looking at her. The innocence was refreshing.
“How are you feeling?” Jamie took her first long look at Boo’s face, studying the strong jaw, the lines forming at the sides of Boo’s nearly golden light brown eyes, and the deep dimple on one side of the her face. Her unevenly shaved hair was still mostly obscured by gauze bandages. The bronzed skin of Boo’s sinewy forearms and well-defined biceps suggested she spent a lot of time outdoors. Boo definitely had roguish good looks even if she was a little worse for wear at the moment. Jamie consciously forced herself to stop staring.
“I’m able to hobble around. Bit of a bruise on my ankle. Guess my big boots saved it from being broken. Otherwise, just minor bruises. Oh, yeah, a bit of a head-bang.” Boo rolled her eyes toward the gash in her head, which had been stitched and taped over.
“I need to thank you for saving Max. They told me you grabbed him and...” Tears filled Jamie’s eyes. “If it hadn’t been for you...” Jamie couldn’t finish that sentence either.
“Well, I am glad I did whatever I did, because this little person is precious.” Boo gave the child in her arms a little tighter squeeze. “Hey, Max, if it’s okay with your mother, do you want some ice cream? The nurses hide some in the freezer, but I think they’ll share.”
“Mom, can I?”
“Yes, go ahead, but not too much. It’s almost lunchtime.”
Boo silently thanked Jamie for her permission, then addressed the nurse.
“You can tell...” Boo paused to think, “Jamie—I’m not too good with remembering names yet, but I’m getting better. You can tell Jamie what you told me about retro amnesia or whatever fancy name you called it. Right now this seems to be as close as I have to family.”
As Boo and Max disappeared into the staff break room, the nurse eyed Jamie. There was no harm in sharing the basic information about the patient’s condition.
“Boo, as she will now be known, has a mild to severe concussion. We are still monitoring her for any complications, seizures, brain swelling or other symptoms from her injury. There do not appear to be any other serious injuries. She has a bruised ankle, where the truck hit her, and bruises on her arm and hip, where she landed on the car. She has near-total loss of memory of names, places, and prior events in her life, but the basics are still there. We are following a concussion protocol, trying not to overstimulate her brain. But we’re also trying to help her remember things if she can. This type of amnesia typically reverses and the patient recovers some or even most of their memory...eventually.”
“I don’t know what to say. Is there anything I can do?” Jamie asked.
“I don’t think the police have turned up any ID yet. We’ll keep her for at least a week and hope we make some progress. If she hasn’t remembered her name, someone will have to decide where she goes. It’s unclear what will happen at that point.”
“Please let me know if there is anything I can do. I owe her everything.” Tears stung Jamie’s eyes again.
“This is the perkiest I’ve seen Boo since she came to our unit. I won’t tell if you pop back in for a visit. Hanging out with nurses and doctors who just want to poke and ask you how many times you’ve had a bowel movement today gets rather boring. We have not turned on the TV or offered her access to the computer, and she hasn’t asked. We are trying to limit stimulus. A little interaction might help. I’m sure you’re busy and it’s a lot to ask, but we have all rather taken a liking to Boo. She may not remember her name, but she remembers her manners. She is quite a charmer.”
Jamie relaxed, feeling more at ease believing Boo did not recognize her. It was a long-lost sensation to meet someone with such a clean slate.
***
“HOW’D IT GO?” SARAH popped into Jamie’s kitchen to check in after Max’s morning appointment at the hospital.
“Max is fine. Doctor says he will probably only vaguely remember this whole ordeal when he’s older,” Jamie replied as she prepared sandwiches for lunch. “We saw Boo, as Max has named her. I tried to thank her but didn’t do a very good job I’m afraid. I was all choked up.” Jamie’s eyes held back tears just thinking about what might have happened if not for Boo’s quick action. “Have you eaten?” Jamie asked her sister.
“I had something, thanks. I’m catching up on some paperwork down at the office. First time I’ve felt like working since this happened. Talked to Mom and Dad again today and finally convinced them Max is fine and they do not have to rush home. They said from the stories in the news it sounds like Max is near death. I can’t believe those fucking so-called reporters,” Sarah fumed.
“Bryan told me one story had the police and social workers crawling all over this place, and I was about to lose custody or some such nonsense. He just wanted to warn me in case someone said something.”
“Speaking of police,” Sarah took the opportunity to change the subject, “Chief wants to stop by. Said she had a little more information to share. I told her to come by about three. Hope that’s okay.”
“That’s fine.”
After lunch and a nap with Max in a shaded hammock on the back patio, Jamie heard Chief call from the gate. Jamie buzzed her friend through and met her at the front door.
“Is this official business?” Jamie hugged her old friend.
“Mostly, but I also wanted to check in on Max, and you. How is my little buddy?”
“He’s fine, we received a good report from the doctor.” Jamie nodded her appreciation of Chief’s concern.
“We found the man who picked up our hero’s backpack. He barely remembered it. He was high on something. Said he took the cash from a wallet and a camera. Swears he threw everything else away and did not pocket a phone, and doesn’t remember seeing any name or anything else. He was focused on the cash, about a hundred dollars. Said the camera was a superzoom, but nothing fancy. He sold the camera to someone for $50. He couldn’t tell us who and didn’t care. He just wanted the money. We checked the dumpsters around where he says he threw backpack away, but it was long gone to the landfill. We notified the people out there, but it’s a long shot that anyone will ever find it. We’ll see if we can find the camera, maybe it has some pictures on it, but that’s also a long shot.”
“That’s not much to go on. Do you think we should post a reward for information? I’ll put up the money if you think it would help.”
“At this point, I think that would bring trouble, people calling us with things just to see if they can get the money. Let’s hold off. I talked to our hero briefly. She has no idea how she ended up here. No accent I could detect. Maybe that makes it less likely she’s from the south or New England where they tend to have heavy accents. That doesn’t narrow it down much. The doctor said memory loss would not make her lose an accent.”
“I’ll listen more carefully next time I talk to her.” Over the course of her career, Jamie had spent many weeks with accent coaches preparing for roles. “Maybe I’ll pick up on something. After all, I have imitated almost every regional accent at some point or another.” Jamie was already looking for excuses to see Boo.
“We obtained some surveillance video from a couple of stores and from the city building. We found her walking in front of the city building about five minutes before the incident. Came from the north headed south. We have a better picture of her now and sent our people out to stores and restaurants to see if anyone recognizes her. Nothing yet. We are also checking for abandoned cars or if someone is supposed to be in a hotel room but hasn’t been. In other words, she had to come from somewhere and be here for some reason. Failing all that, sooner or later we’re bound to find a missing person report on her. She doesn’t look like a stray.”
Jamie nodded, taking it all in. “I saw her today at the hospital. I don’t remember seeing her before Saturday. I think she has the kind of strong face I would remember if we had interacted. And she’s tall for a woman, so I think that would have made an impression. I’m really sure I would have remembered her voice if we had talked.” Jamie relived the pleasant sensation the low timbre of Boo’s voice caused in her body.
“That makes me feel a little better she’s not a stalker or something.” Chief wanted to say, unless we have a new one, but instead added, “It’s my job to be suspicious. And to serve and protect.”
Jamie smiled fondly at Chief. Their long history included a few intense, scary moments when Jamie was stalked by someone with delusions of being in love with her, or more to the point—one of her characters. Chief spent a couple of sleepless nights guarding the house until the creep was caught. The guy fit the description of psychopath to a T.
“Will you please let me know if you find out anything or if there is anything I can do?” Jamie offered.
“Will do. If you need anything, call or text me.” Chief made her way out to her car to return to the station and continue monitoring the progress of this mystery to be solved.
***
JAMIE MADE AN EXCUSE to go to town the next day and stop by the hospital. Walking past the atrium cafe, Max suddenly yelled Boo and took off toward a woman dressed in gray sweatpants and a dark blue T-shirt, courtesy of the local fire department. Chief was seated across from Boo. Both were standing by the time Jamie caught up. Max was already in Boo’s arms for a hug.
“Makes you feel a little second best, doesn’t it?” Chief put a protective arm around Jamie.
“Not a bit.” Jamie leaned into Chief, gazing admiringly at Boo holding Max.
As Max reached over to hug Chief, he kept his legs wrapped around Boo.
Raising her eyebrows and nodding toward Max, Boo silently mouthed the question, Ice cream? Jamie nodded yes.
“Hey, Max, want some ice cream? They brought chocolate today.”
Max looked at his mother, who nodded her okay.
“Yes! Can we bring Mom and Chief some, too?”
Boo looked at the two, who both politely declined. Max and Boo headed toward the staff break room while Jamie walked down the hallway beside Chief.
“Did I interrupt something?” Jamie asked.
“No, we were just talking. I brought in a map of the US to see if anyplace prompted a memory. Nothing yet. Seems she has no clue why she is here in Crestwood or how she arrived here. We have started trying to match up missing person reports in other states and took her fingerprints to run through the databases.”
“Max seems really attached to her. What do you think?”
“Not sure,” Chief pondered for a moment, “I admit, she is charming as all get out, in a good way. Thoughtful, polite, impeccable manners. In fact, the nurses are calling her Boo Charming now. I can see it.”
As they reached Boo’s room, Chief excused herself, promising to keep in touch with any new developments. Jamie involuntarily smiled at the sight of Boo and Max talking about the map of the US as they bonded.
“Chief said the map didn’t spark anything yet. How are you feeling?” Jamie pulled in a chair to join them.
“The doctor said I am more likely to have older memories at first, from years ago. I remember being in a forest, near a mountain. I was looking for something but don’t remember what. I can’t bring up any names or where or when it was. Hopefully things will keep coming back to me. I feel...disconnected. I realize everyone else has a family and home to go to, and here I am, with no home, and no one I can remember.”
“If there’s anything I can do to help, please tell me. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through, but I don’t want you to feel alone.” Jamie did the best she could in the moment, but felt inadequate in her effort to comfort the woman who had saved her son.
Boo looked at Jamie with a genuine expression that wanted nothing.
The intensity of the warm feeling spreading through her body startled Jamie. She suddenly realized, outside of her close friends and family, this was the most real she had felt with anyone in a long time.