The Long Way Home

by Donna Poole

“Dana!”

She jumped and her co-worker laughed. “I’ve been hollering your name, and you didn’t answer. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, just exhausted. These twelve-hour shifts are killing me.”

“Well, you’ll like this news. The boss just said our crew can leave before lunch today.”

Dana couldn’t get to her car fast enough. Now there would be plenty of time to take the long way home and drive by the special place she’d been thinking about all day.

***

Marlene checked the time again. “Dave, I’m getting worried. Your mom is never late when we invite her for dinner. Can you call her again?”

“I just did. It went right to voicemail. She probably decided to pick up a few groceries or something after she got out of work.”

“And she didn’t call to tell us? You know that’s not like her. She’s a whole hour late.”

“Maybe she had to work overtime. I’d call and see, but I don’t want her to think we’re checking up on her. You know how independent she is.”

Marlene picked up her phone. “I’m calling.” She listened for a minute, said “Thanks,” and put the phone down. “They let her go home at noon! Where has she been for the last six hours?”

“Maybe she’s sleeping. Let’s go check her apartment before we panic.”

They knew before they went into her apartment she wasn’t going to be there because her car wasn’t parked in its usual spot.

“Okay,” Dave said, “maybe it’s time to panic. And pray.”

It only took them a few minutes to get from the apartment to the Hillsdale police station. The officer was kind and took the information. Name: Dana Peters. Age: Sixty-two. He recorded the make and model of her vehicle and her license plate number.

Then he said, “There’s not a lot I can do at this point. You said your mom doesn’t have dementia or any health problems you know of, and she’s an adult capable of living on her own. Perhaps she went to visit a friend or another family member.”

Marlene’s eyes filled with tears, and Dave shook his head. “You don’t know my mom. She was supposed to come for supper, and she’d never not show up without calling. She hates to worry us. This isn’t like her at all. Isn’t there anything you can do? I’m not a guy who jumps to conclusions, but something is really wrong here. Either mom has been in an accident, and she’s in a ditch somewhere, or—”

“Maybe someone abducted her,” Marlene finished for him. “She won the lottery last year; it was all over the news on the Lansing and Toledo television stations.”

The officer scratched his head. “Well then, maybe she decided to go to Vegas to try her luck again and have some fun. Or maybe she wanted to take a cruise and didn’t want to tell you.”

Dave was getting frustrated. “Listen, I’m telling you—”

“Officer, please listen to us; Dave’s mom would never do something like that. She’d know we’d be frantic trying to find her. She’s too much of a loving, responsible person to scare us like that. Isn’t there anything you can do to help us?”

The officer started to protest, but then Marlene said, “Sir, what would you do if this were your mom?”

His face softened. “Let’s start with the hospital here in town.” He called and shook his head. “Not there. If you seriously think she may have been abducted, I can get the state police involved.”

Dave and Marlene looked at each other and nodded.

“Okay,” the officer said, “Then go home, and someone from the state police will be there soon to take a statement.”

***

After the state police officer took Dave and Marlene’s statement he said, “I agree with you. Dana has been gone too long. We’ll ping the location of her phone. It it’s on, we can find out where she’s been, and where she is now.”

The officer stepped out to make some calls, and then came back to sit with them. It took some time for the results to come in. When they did, the officer said, “Okay. Looks like Dana left Hillsdale and headed northwest; it looks like she travelled through Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, and now she was in. . . Michigan City. Does your mom like Lake Michigan?”

Dave nodded. “She loves it. She used to take us kids there every summer. But she’d never take off for the lake without telling me. She doesn’t like to drive far from home alone anymore.”

The officer raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s exactly what she did.” The officer’s phone rang, and he stepped out to take the call.

“Dave, what on earth?” Marlene said. “Why would she go up there without telling us?”

“I don’t know. I have no idea what she’s—”
 
The officer stepped back into the room. “We just saw she’s headed for Chicago. You know anyone there?”

Dave jumped up. “No! Mom would never drive to Chicago alone! She hates the little bit of traffic we get in Hillsdale!”

“Okay, well right now she’s at Silver Cross Hospital, 1890 Silver Cross Boulevard, New Lenox, Illinois. Does she have a family member or friend she could be visiting?”

Dave didn’t even have time to react before his phone rang. “What? Yes, she’s my mother. No, I have no idea what she’s doing there. Yes, we’ll come right away.”

He turned to Marlene. “Mom is in the hospital. She isn’t hurt, but she has no idea how she got there. The doctor wants us to come get her, and he wants to talk to us.”

The three and a half hours it took to travel the 202 miles felt more like ten hours to Dave and Marlene. As they drove, they discussed every possible scenario: “Is Mom getting dementia? Is she depressed? Did she just want to get away for a few days? Why wouldn’t she tell us if we did so we wouldn’t go through all of this? Was she in an accident? Why is she in a hospital if she isn’t hurt?”

Dana was sitting up in a recliner and wearing her clothes when Dave and Marlene walked into her hospital room. A doctor followed them into the room.

“Hi Mom,” Davey said. “What hap—”

“This looks like a hospital,” she said. “I keep asking people, but no one will tell me. Why am I here, and how did I get here? Can you tell me Dave?”

“We’ve told you Dana,” the doctor said gently, putting his hand on her shoulder. “You just don’t remember. You walked into the ER and said you needed help.”

“Oh.” She rubbed her forehead. “Where is ‘here’?”

“You’re at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, Illinois.”

“Oh, my goodness! Illinois! Am I near Chicago?”

“About forty miles away.”

“Mom,” Marlene said, bending down to hug her. “We’ve been so worried. Where—”

“Marlene, honey! I’m so glad to see you! I keep asking everyone, and no one will tell me. Where am I?”

Dave looked at the doctor. “What’s wrong with my mom?”

“We’ve explained this to your mother, but she isn’t going to be able to remember it for now. She’s having an episode of transient global amnesia.”

“Amnesia? Did she hit her head or something? Was she in an accident? If she has amnesia, how does she know who she is and who I am?”

The doctor shook her head. “She doesn’t have any kind of head trauma. This is a different kind of amnesia. Transient global amnesia is when a person knows who they are and can still recognize loved ones but can’t recall any recent events. They often ask the same questions repeatedly.”

“Well how long is she going to be like this? Is it permanent?”

“It’s still somewhat of a medical mystery. It seldom lasts more than twenty-four hours.”

“Well, if she didn’t hit her head then what caused this?”

“We don’t know for certain,” the doctor replied. “Sometimes it can be triggered by physical or emotional stress.”

Dave frowned. “I don’t think she’s under any emotional stress, but she has been working twelve hours shifts, and I don’t like that. I think it’s too much for a sixty-two-year-old woman.”

Dana cleared her throat. “I won’t be sixty-two until August.” She looked up at Marlene. “But where am I, and why am I here?”

The doctor explained again, and Dana nodded. Then she looked even more confused. “Wait. The last thing I remember was leaving work early. I was going to take the long way home. I wanted to drive by the old farmhouse where we spent so many happy years raising our kids.”

“It’s good you remember that,” the doctor said. “You probably will never remember the hours between then and now, but I think the episode may be over.”

“Well, that’s good, I guess.” Marlene looked at Dave. “Do you remember what today is?”

He shook his head.

“That’s okay. I wouldn’t expect you to, but today is the day your dad died.”

“I’m sorry for your loss, Dana,” the doctor said. He turned to Dave. “So, there was some emotional stress in addition to the physical stress your mom has been under. That could explain why this happened to your mom.”

Dana’s eyes filled with tears. “Am I getting Alzheimer’s? Normal people don’t leave work and drive hundreds of miles away and not know how they got there.”

The doctor patted her hand. “You don’t have Alzheimer’s, Dana.”  

“Was it a stroke then?” Dana asked. “Will I still be able to work?”

“You haven’t had a stroke, either. I know you don’t remember, but we tested you for those things when you got here. You’ve had an episode of transient global amnesia. I know it’s frightening, but you’re okay now. Since we’ve already been able to run all of our tests, your son and daughter-in-law can drive you home any time you’re ready to go.”

She sighed. “I’m more than ready. But Dave and Marlene, I’m so sorry I put you through all this.”

They both hugged her.

“We’re just happy you’re okay!” Marlene said.

Dana teared up again. “I’m so embarrassed and so sorry.”

“It’s okay, Mom,” Dave said. “This wasn’t anything you could have helped.” He hugged his mom tightly. “And I’m sorry I forgot what day it was. I miss Dad too.”

Dana sighed. “I know it isn’t what I should be focused on right now, and I feel selfish even saying it, but this will be the first time since your father died that I won’t have been able to drive by the old house.”

Dave squeezed her hand. “Come on, Mom. Let’s go. I’ll drive you by the old farmhouse before I take you home, okay?”

Marlene drove Dana’s car, and Dana was asleep in Dave’s car even before they got out of the parking lot. They were in Battle Creek when she rubbed her eyes, yawned, and said to Dave, “Where are we?”

“Go back to sleep, Mom,” he said gently. “We’re taking the long way home.”

The End
***

These blogs are now available in book form on Amazon:

Backroad Ramblings Volume One: Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter

Backroad Ramblings Volume Two: Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter

Backroad Ramblings Volume Three: Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter

I have six other books on Amazon as well, four fiction books in the “Life at the Corners” series, and two children’s Christmas picture books.

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