Coma. Federico Betti

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СКАЧАТЬ see a shadow coming close from behind. I realize it because it has a lighter tone of the black around me so I manage to distinguish it, but not to recognize it.

      A stranger? Or who else?

      I have to ask him who he is, and maybe I could ask him if he has a painkiller to give me.

      It comes next to me, so I take the courage to say something.

      “Do we know each other? Who are you?”

       The ethereal figure is stretched forward, but it doesn’t answer.

      “Do you have a painkiller for my migraine?”, I ask without any answer.

      A moment.

      Now I understand why it doesn’t answer: it doesn’t have a mouth, it can’t talk.

      I move my left hand to see if it reacts somehow, but the only thing I get is its departure, I don’t know if it’s my fault or for some other reason.

      I have the ambiguous impression that someone is kidding with me, making fun of me.

      Why?

      It’s a behaviour that I don’t like absolutely, and I keep not understanding.

      I don’t understand a lot of things.

      I stay here, still, waiting for changes. Waiting for a clarifying light.

      xviii

      Mario Mazza went out of the room leaving his brother resting and, after a coffee, he went to speak with the nurses, hoping that the doctors were free too.

      He managed to make an appointment with doctor Parri for the day after at noon and, when the time came, he asked the anaesthetist some questions.

      “Fist of all I thank you for giving me some of your time”, started the man.

      “Don’t worry”, said the other one.

      “Here, you see, I wanted to ask you a few things. I’ve been able to talk to my brother, to stay a little bit with him; but I was surprised when he told me he couldn’t remember any accident that involved him.”

      Doctor Parri stayed a few moments without saying a word, then he answered: “I see. You know, it can happen, even though it’s rare, that a patient loses temporarily his memory, maybe restricted to a certain event, after a cranial trauma like the one which your brother was subject to. When it happens, usually the memories come back in a short time, either gradually or all at once.”

      “Okay. So, according to you, in a few days everything will be back to normal.”

      “Yes, I believe it will be like that”

      “And do you provide any kind of rehabilitation?”

       “Your brother should do exercise, gymnastics and, in time, starting to walk more and more until getting back like before the accident.”

       “Oh, okay”

      “Anyway, we will explain you everything better in the next days” said doctor Parri.

      “Thank you then”

      “It’s my job”

      Mario Mazza thanked again the anaesthetist for the information he gave him, so he went back to his brother’s room.

      He was gone for about half an hour and Luigi was still sleeping; deciding not to disturb him, he thought to just sit in silence, waiting for him to wake up.

      XIX

      When Luigi Mazza opened his eyes again it was around seven in the evening.

      “You slept enough”, started the brother, “It’s seven p.m.”

      “Mm… I thought I couldn’t”

       “Dinner!”, yelled an attendant, bursting into the room with a tray. On it, there was a dish of broth, one with

      Soft cheese and an apple cooked in the oven.

      “This is for you, enjoy your meal”, he said.

      After a few minutes, Luigi Mazza started to eat.

      “When you finish, I’ll go home if you don’t mind. I’m quite tired”, said Mario.

      “Sure, don’t worry. It’s fair enough that you rest too: you’re doing so much for me and I want to thank you for that.”

       “You’re my brother, so it’s my duty.”

       After about half an hour, Mario went home.

      “I will make it on my own too”, Luigi reassured him.

      When the brother was out of the room, the man decided to take a walk in the corridor, stopping by a coffee table with two armchairs and some newspapers. He leafed through the first one near, just to spend some time before laying down again.

      He didn’t find any interesting news, so he closed the newspaper and went all the way back to his room through the corridor, he laid in bed and, after about ten minutes he went in the dream world.

      XX

      I’m driving, I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m still, like in a traffic jam; it’s so dark that I can’t understand a thing: I don’t know where I am, I don’t even know why I’m here… (where’s Here?)

      … and, first of all, I can’t see anyone else nearby; with a finger I touch the air around me, I feel it cold.

      I see something fleeing running next to me, fast, then after about thirty seconds everything goes back to how it used to be.

      It would almost seem that I’m stuck in the car somewhere and other people are overtaking me. Why?

      I have a huge headache and I would need something to make it go away or at least to ease it a little bit, but I don’t know where I could find it, who to ask.

      One moment…

      I see someone getting closer.

      In the distance it looks like a shadow, but slowly it will all be clearer.

      It seems without substance when it’s in front of me, but I can distinguish a detail: it’s a skinny person, probably around sixty pounds and less tall than one meter and eighty.

      When he bows towards me he moves a hand as to say: “Hey, I’m here. What are you doing sitting there?”

       I can’t react in any way. I stay still watching this person in the shape of a shadow that kept making some hand signals to me.

      He closes the hand in a fist and moves it close to me, as if I was really in a car and he (now I have decided that he’s a man, I don’t know why) was trying to knock on the car window.

      “I СКАЧАТЬ