Comatose Patient Awakens to a Pandemic and 2020 Elections Part II

A Rip Van Winkle Cautionary Tale for 2020

Sandra Justice Hall
6 min readSep 28, 2020
IStock@/1203890170

Dear Readers,

This is Part II of the piece. Part I is about a fictional woman, Valerie Jameson, who had been in a coma since late August 2015. She wakes up to find that Donald Trump is running for re-election and the world is in a pandemic. Valerie has a lot to absorb. In this section, two close friends are allowed to visit.

The next day at lunchtime, a tall, slender woman tiptoed into Valerie’s room. The good friends cried a little and laughed. Elaine adjusted her bright red Lucille Ball wig and smoothed the wrinkles out of her fifties-style apron. She sat down by the bed and proceeded to dig around into her tote bag. Pulling a Lucille Ball lunch box from the bag, she set it onto the bed tray and opened it. It was full of notes from colleagues, friends, and former students. They were tied with a ribbon so Valerie could read them when she had the energy. Elaine plopped the package in her lap. Valerie reached for them and winced.

“What’s the matter?”

“Oh, nothing. The therapists have me doing a lot of physical therapy. I’m quite sore.”

Pointing to a small Pyrex dish, she said, “Mom made her famous chocolate pudding for you. You gave us quite a time, young lady. Nothing like a little chocolate to fix what ails us.”

“I know I’ve missed five years, but why are you dressed like Lucille Ball?”

IStock@/458601177

“Don’t you remember? We co-taught a course, and our students called us ‘Lucy’ and ‘Ethel.’”

With a deep laugh, “I do remember. What fun. It was a great course.”

“So, tell me about you and your snowboarding son.”

“For me, pretty much the same old — work, fix up my house, take care of Mom. Oh, she lives with me now. I have managed to present at a few conferences. My son is working in Public Health in Baltimore.”

“Wow. You must be proud. And thank you for being there for Marcy and Michael. I know they were in good hands.”

Just then, Michael came in with some notes and his phone. Elaine left them alone.

After he kissed and hugged her, Valerie exclaimed. “Michael, you have grown so much. Your shoulders are so broad!”

“Well. Most of what I have to tell you about high school involves the swim team.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And I loved it. I did well in the 500 meter, the Individual Medley, and the Butterfly. Matthew and I were on the team together. Here is a picture of me on the Sports page doing the Butterfly.”

“Oh my. You have matured. That’s quite a picture.” She sighs, “I’ve missed so much.”

“Well, Dad has a lot of videos of my meets. Here’s a picture of the swim record board. I broke some school records, and we won some sectionals.”

Valerie hugged him.

“Between classes and swimming, there wasn’t time for too much. Here’s a picture of the Junior Prom. I went with Jeanie. Dad took me to some swim camps. I went to a Science Camp at Alfred and fell hard for a girl from Jamestown.”

“I took lots of college-level classes in high school. I’m a freshman at the University of Rochester majoring in mechanical engineering. Right now, I’m home doing virtual classes because of COVID-19. If they have sports, I’ll be on the swim team.”

Valerie secretly prayed she’d be able to see some meets.

“Uh, Mom. I know you are getting out of your room and meeting with other residents. I just want to warn you to be careful what you say. The country is very divided since Trump was elected. People get quite upset. Also, you have a lot to catch up on, so I don’t want you to have a problem or cause one,” He said with a twinkle in his eye.

Roy and Marcy came with salads for two to eat for dinner. Mom had her usual. Michael had to get home for a Zoom class.

“You know, Michael warned me to be careful about talking politics around here.”said Valerie.

“Oh, yeah. He’s right. People have lost friends; in some families, people don’t get together for Thanksgiving because of strong political feelings. It’s the most divisive political climate I’ve ever witnessed,” said Roy.

“It’s true, Mom. I no longer talk to Cathy, Doug, or Phil.”

“Really? I thought having Bush as President was bad enough.”

Raising his arms, Roy said, “See. That’s exactly the kind of a comment that can land you in trouble.”

“Oh, my.”

“Mom, I brought you my old tablet, connected it to the Wi-Fi here, and saved some sites on the Internet that catalog Trump’s actions, comments, and tweets. Now, you can read up on your own.”

“What’s a tweet?”

“It’s an app that lets you send a short messages on your phone to followers. Trump sends an average of 7 tweets a day. . . So it looks like you have missed about 9,000 tweets!” Marcy laughed.

“Sounds like I have some homework to do and need to find a filter for my mouth.”

“I’ll give you some tidbits to mull over. On June 16, 2016, Trump announced he was running for President. Remember, you and I laughed because we didn’t think he could win.

  • Since then, at least twenty-six women have accused him of sexual harassment.
  • After a Presidential debate in August 2015, Trump was frustrated by a question asked by Megyn Kelly, a Fox moderator. Megyn asked him direct questions about his comments about women. After the debate, Trump made a lewd comment to CNN’s Don Lemon: ‘You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.”

Valerie gasped.

“I can’t imagine any parent voting for that Reality TV personality.”

“I know,Mom. Get this– Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but Trump won the Electoral College. I thought for sure he’d lose after the Access Hollywood tape appeared.”

Roy stood up and said, “Well, kiddo. Let’s let Mom rest. See you tomorrow, Honey.”

Valerie attempted to read some on the tablet, but sleep took over.

Valerie slept fitfully. She was sore from physical therapy and refused to work with her therapist in the morning. She pulled the blanket over her head and yelled, “Leave me alone!”

Dr. Schwarz examined her and explained to a worried Roy that this kind of withdrawal is to be expected, “The euphoria of waking up and seeing her family has worn off, and the craziness of the last five years is sinking in. People who have been awake during all of this — especially the pandemic, cannot fully believe it. She needs time to process and mourn all the news.”

“I know. Valerie puts herself completely into a task, and occasionally, she needs to let it all sink in and rest.”

For five days, Valerie “slept.” Her room was darkened, and she heard people being hushed away. Even her family gave her space and simply sat with her.

One evening, Marcy tiptoed tentatively into Valerie’s room. She immediately heard sobs and rushed to her mother. “Mom, what’s wrong?”

Valerie mumbled, “I so wanted to see a woman president. I know many people didn’t like Hillary Clinton, but she certainly knew the law, the Constitution, and how to run a State Department. I thought she was a great senator, too.”

“I know, Mom. When I found out Trump won the election, I was physically ill. For two weeks, I didn’t do much of anything — especially eat. And, I couldn’t talk to you.” Then Marcy started crying. They sat there in the dark for a while. Both of them realized the world they thought they knew no longer existed.

For Part III,click here.

--

--

Sandra Justice Hall

My first career was as a teacher of English. As a retiree, I’m enjoying writing memoirs. I am a survivor of 2 brain surgeries and celebrate each day .