"Mr. Alexander?" The voice came to me through a haze of narcotic euphoria. "Mr. Alexander, can you hear me?"
I tried to speak but was unable to force my vocal cords to vibrate. "Where am I?" I silently mouthed, not sure if my lips had obeyed the command from my brain. I tried to open my eyes, and that's when the pain hit me, spiraling me into welcomed unconsciousness.
"Mike? Oh my God! Mike!" The woman's voice seemed somehow familiar to me, but I couldn't quite place it. "Doctor," the voice called from the doorway, "come quick! Somebody, help me! He's awake!"
I cracked open my eyes, and the first thing I noticed was the table at the side of my bed. On it was a vase of flowers of some kind – mums, I thought, not really sure. Then it registered in my conscious mind that they, and everything else I looked at were in focus. "Damn," I muttered, reaching for my face, "they forgot to take off my glasses."
As my arm responded to my command to reach up, I felt very weak, as if the task involved bench-pressing a Buick. Slowly, inexorably, my hand reached my chin, and taking another deep breath, I forced it to slide up my face to my glasses – which weren't there. What the hell?
Just then a crowed of white-lab-coated men and women burst into the room, led by an aging gentleman with medium length gray hair, glasses and a wide smile. I assumed he was a doctor. At his side was a woman, the only person not wearing a lab coat, and tears were streaming down her cheeks.
"I know you," I thought. "Sis?" I finally managed to croak – what the hell happened to my voice – it sounded and felt like an elephant had tap-danced on my vocal chords.
My sister, Sandy, gave a small squeal of delight and pounced on my chest, flinging her arms around my shoulders. "Mike, I can't believe it! You're awake!" she cried. "I just can't believe it."
The gray-haired doctor was beaming and said, "Well, Mr. Alexander, welcome back."
"From where?" I croaked.
"Mr. Alexander," he continued, motioning to another hospital staff to disengage my weeping sister, "what is the last thing you remember?"
What the hell kind of question was that? I struggled with the answer. Then I remember. I had just left the house to go to my favorite place, Cascade Hills golf course.
"Golf," I half-whispered.
"Good, good!" the doctor smiled. "Miss Perkins," he said over his shoulder to a young medical attendant, "please get Mike some water."
"Yes, Dr. Rider," she said in a perky, up-beat voice. As she moved to the doorway, I noticed a suggestive sway to her hips that woke me up in places I forgot were asleep.
"Mike," Dr. Rider said, turning back to me, "do you remember your golf game?"
Strange. I struggled with it. "Not really," I finally admitted, "Why?"
"Mike, on the 7th hole, as you teed up, it started to rain. According to your golf partners, everyone ran for cover. Unfortunately, before you got to shelter, you were struck by lightening."
Holy shit! "What?" I exclaimed, suddenly finding my voice. "I what? No!"
"Yes, you were hit by lightening, but obviously, you survived." He paused, and his look grew grave. "Mike, that's not all. The date you were struck was June 14th 2007."
I felt a cold chill start to creep up my spine. Just then Miss Perkins supplied me with a small paper cup and straw, which I sipped at somewhat clumsily. After a small swallow of clear, cool water, I asked, "So what day is it today?"
Sandy, now more composed than before walked to my bedside, and seating herself at my side took the cup gently from me and said, "Mike, it is October 10th."
"Holy Christ!" I exclaimed, refusing to accept it.
"Two-thousand-ten," she finished.
I stared at her with blank incomprehension. Then the bed slowly began to spin, and as it picked up momentum, I heard Dr. Rider say, "Miss Perkins, catch him!"
The smell was horrible, stinging my nose and making me gag. I tried to turn my head away and push at it with my hands at the same time. "That's it," I heard Dr. Rider say, becoming more clear with every syllable, "he's coming around."
"I'm sorry, Mike," he said, as I opened my eyes. He was now seated at my side with a vial of smelling salts in his hand. "I intended to break the news to you a little more gently," he said, casting a withering glance at my sister. "But now you know the worst."
"Why?" I asked.
"Why were you unconscious for so long?" he said, standing and taking on a professorial air. "Clinically, most victims who survive a lightening strike regain consciousness within a few minutes and regain their full faculties within a few hours or possibly days."
"So why was I different?"