Our story begins with Ed talking to Quinton in the ICU waiting room at Cedars.
"Quinton, you can see Nola now. She's awake and she's asking for you."
"Oh, thank you, Ed. Thank you. Ed, one more thing . . ."
"Yes?"
"Are you sure that she is going to be okay?'
"All the tests that we have run so far show no permanent damage. There is one thing, though. . ."
"Ed, what is it? I have a right to know."
"It's probably nothing. She's just been mumbling some incoherent things."
"Incoherent things?"
"Well, for instance, she told me that I had better stay the hellaway from someone named . . .Lilllian. I don't think I even know anyonenamed Lillian. But I wouldn't worry about that now, Quinton. A littleconfused behavior is certainly to be expected from a patient justcoming out of a coma. Now are you ready to see your wife?"
"Yes. Yes, of course.
********************
Quinton rushes to Nola's bedside and tenderly holds her hand as thetears begin to fall from his face. "Nola, my dearest Nola. I thought Iwould never see you again."
Nola grasps his hand as she says," Is that you Quinton? Is that really you?"
"Yes, Nola."
"Quinton, What . . .What happened to me?"
"You don't remember anything about the accident?"
"No, I don't. What happened? Please, tell me."
"Nola, I can't help feeling it was all my fault. If only I hadn't had that dumb idea about that hot-air balloon."
"Hot air balloon?"
"You really don't remember even that much? Nola, we had just gottenmarried, and I thought it would be very romantic to leave the church ina hot air balloon. And it was romantic. You were thrilled. A little toothrilled, I guess. You were so excited by the view that you just wantedto get a closer look, and . . . "
"Quint, what are you saying?"
"Nola, You . . . you fell out of the damn balloon."
"I fell out? And I'm still alive?"
"Well, we were starting to descend, and you also had the good luck to fall on a haystack."
"Quinton, I want to ask you something. And please be honest with me. How long have I been in the hospital?"
"Nola, you've been in a coma for three days."
"Three days? Is that all? Thank God."
"Why do you say that?"
"I thought it was 1996."
"1996? Why would you think that?"
"Quinton, I've had the most frightening dream. It was absolutely awful. It all started on our honeymoon."
"Our honeymoon?"
"Yeah, we went to Ireland. But instead of spending our time doing .. . well, you know what people usually do on a honeymoon, we spent allour time chasing ghosts."
"Chasing ghosts? I see."
"Wait. That's not the weird part. After the honeymoon, we came backto Springfield, and we found out that Annabelle's father killed myfather and Ed's father too."
"Why did he do that?"
"It's a long story, but I think it was mainly due to the fact thatsomeone just saw the movie 'Ghost Story' without actually reading thebook."
"Oh."
"But that's not the weird part."
"After the Annabelle stuff, we didn't do a hell of a lot, while were living with Henry and Vanessa."
"We were living with Henry and Vanessa? We gave up our own house to move in with my family?"
"Yeah, but that's not the weird part either. After awhile I got pregnant and we had a little boy."
"Well, we must have been happy then."
"We were, but it didn't last. Nothing much happened after that, and then we left Springfield."
"We left Springfield? Why on earth would we ever do that?"
"Well, it was supposed to have something to do with your work, but Ithink it really had more to do with someone named 'Reva' and somethingabout a red dress."
"Okay."
"But Quinton . . ."
"I know. I know. That's not the weird part. What happened after we left Springfield?"
"Well, that depends on which account you listen to. Sometimes, Iwould tell Bridget that we had this really great life with all sorts ofadventures, but then you told J, that you had nothing exciting in yourlife but the books in your study, and that's why you had a mid-lifecrisis."
"A mid life crisis. I had a mid-life crisis," Quinton says with a chuckle. "And who are Bridget and J?"
"Bridget's my niece. I had to live with her at the boarding house,after you dumped me. And J was our son, who we originally named AJ. Buthe thought it would be cooler to have just one initial."
"Nola, did you say that I dumped you?"
"Yeah, for some grad student named Jessica. It was terrible."
"Now I know that must be the weird part."
"Not exactly. After I got dumped, I came to Springfield, and foralmost a year, I didn't do anything but sit at the boarding house;drink coffee; mope about you; and ask Bridget how were things goingwith her and Hart."
"Hart?"
"Don't ask. Quinton, I was a complete wreck. I didn't go anywhere. I didn't have a job, or even any friends."
"That doesn't sound a bit like the Nola I know and love."
"I know. It was sort of like Springfield's version of the 'Twilight Zone'. But you finally did come back to Springfield."
"To be with you, right?"
"No, only because Henry died."
"Henry died?"
"That was the sad part. But you actually had the nerve to bring your girlfriend to the funeral."
"I did?
"Yeah, and even though you were supposed to be madly in love withher, you never once kissed her or anything. You even made her waitoutside the car in the middle of winter."
"Didn't you think that was strange?"
"Well, of course, I did. Especially since you kept looking at me with lovesick, puppy dog eyes."
"Did I beg you to take me back, then?"
"No, that didn't happen until months after the funeral. When you came back to town for a dig."
"An archaeological dig in Springfield?"
"Yeah, and when you came back that was strange too."
"What do you mean?"
"You kept calling our son, J, 'Boy'. You sounded just like 'UncleJessie' on the 'Dukes of Hazzard'. And then you would go off into thewoods and no one would see you for weeks. Then one day, Jessica cameback to town and tried to steal your grant proposal and seduce J."
"Then I dumped her?"
"Yes. That's when you dumped her. And you came back to the boarding house and . . ."
"Threw myself down on my knees, told you my life had no meaning without you, and begged you to take me back."
"No, you just told me that you had dumped Jessica and that you hadan opening for a new 'Bed Buddy", or something along those lines."
"And you told me to get lost, I presume."
"Yep, and then I went up the stairs and no one saw me for two weeks."
"And what did I do? Stay in town, thinking of ways to get you back?"
"No. You walked out the boarding house door and ended up in Afghanistan."
"Afghanistan? Now, I know that has to be the weird part."
"No. Not yet. But I'm getting there. When you were in Afghanistan. Vanessa died in a car crash. "
"That's horrible."
"I know, but it's also the weird part."
"What do you mean, Nola?"
"Quinton, I went to Vanessa's memorial service and I got up in front of all of Springfield, and I hula hooped."
"You what?"
"I hula hooped. See, I found this hula hoop, with Vanessa's initialson it, while I was going through her things. And I thought it would bea good idea to show everyone something that Vanessa had enjoyed doing."
"Nola, you didn't?"
"Hey, It could have been worse. At least I didn't give ademonstration of what I found in her nightstand drawer. Come to thinkof it, she had her initials on that too."
"Nola. I think that's quite enough. It was just a dream. And youshould try to forget it all now. Just concentrate on getting well, andgetting out of this hospital. Because as soon as you do get out ofhere, we'll be able to finally go on our honeymoon to . . . Aruba."
"I love you, Quinton."
"I love you too, Nola. But one thing, let's just keep this littledream thing between the two of us. I wouldn't want people thinking youhad suffered some kind of permanent damage in the fall."
"Yeah, I think you're right. They might think that I had finallywent over the deep end. I mean, what kind of a nut would hula hoop at amemorial service?"
The End