TUESDAY 8:06 A.M: ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Clint Justice pulled into the parking lot of the parking garage on Alabama Street in downtown Atlanta for his 8:30 a.m. meeting with the USDA district manager. He parked the car and reached to turn off the ignition key, but hesitated so he could catch up on the local news.
“Support for WABE comes from WallCloud, providing dependable web hosting for mission critical applications. More at WallCloud.com. This is your home for Atlanta’s classics and NPR News, the time is 8:06. Now the news. A spokesperson at Athens Regional Medical Center said a second person has died in as many days from what doctors are calling flu-like symptoms. The spokesperson said the hospital has experienced a spike in flu-like symptoms since Sunday, and are cooperating with both the CDC and Georgia Health Department, as many of the afflicted are from out of state. Yesterday, a thirty-four-year old New York woman died in Athens, as did a forty-two-year old Dallas businessman. Both died at Athens Regional Medical Center. In all, the hospital admitted over twenty people yesterday with flu-like symptoms. Neither avian nor swine flu has been ruled out. In weather, Hurricane Isabel is expected to hit the Bahamas this evening as a Category 3 storm. Forecasters predict it will continue to strengthen and make U.S. landfall somewhere between Jacksonville, Florida and Charleston, South Carolina by Thursday evening. This is John Mattock for WABE News.”
Clint turned the key and sat in the car for a moment.
***
TUESDAY 9:10 A.M: SAN SALVADOR, BAHAMAS
Doctor Severino Ortega parked his jeep in front of the rented beach home and tried unsuccessfully to open the driver’s door. The steady, southerly winds already exceeded seventy miles per hour even though the eye of the storm was almost nine hours away. Seve, as his friends back in Spain knew him, crawled over the center console and opened the passenger door. The wind flung it open violently, threatening to warp the door on its hinges. The doctor grabbed his bag and fought his way to the front door and let himself in. John heard the front door open and the winds howl through the house. He left Rose’s side and went in to greet the doctor.
“Doctor,” John said pleading, begging, “she’s in here.” Seve followed John into the bedroom. Wind-driven rain and sand pelted the side of the house and the windows. Seve looked at the windows vibrating as he walked into the room. “I hope those windows hold,” he said.
“I couldn’t leave her,” John began, “so I didn’t have any time to board the windows, and didn’t have anything to use if I did. So I hung those blankets on the inside.”
“Well, looks like the eye is headed for Nassau and will pass west of here,” Seve said. “We won’t get the worst of it but we’ll get a wallop. And we’ll be cut off from Nassau and the U.S.” Seve sat his bag on the floor next to Rose and sat on the bed. He needlessly put his hand to her head but he could see that she was soaked with sweat.
“I’m scared, Doctor,” John said, his voice shaking. “She was unresponsive all night. The last she spoke to me was about 2:00 a.m. or so, saying that both her chest and abdomen hurt. She has been a little delirious at times.”
Seve took the thermometer out of Rose’s mouth and made a note of the temperature of 103 degrees. He placed his stethoscope over Rose’s lungs and listened closely. The wind whistled and battered the house, making it difficult to concentrate. What he heard through the stethoscope concerned him more than what he was hearing outside the house. He cupped his hands over his ears and concentrated on the continuous sound of the rhonchi that was reminiscent of constant, low-level snoring. It was a sound he had heard in patients before and it was never a good sign. As he removed his stethoscope Seve surveyed John. Other than being distraught, John looked perfectly fine. “On the phone late last night, you said you thought she had the flu,” Seve said. “Why did you say that?”
“Because, that’s what Rose said when we landed on Sunday. Just that she felt like she was coming down with the flu. Then she started feeling better and actually looked fine yesterday morning, which is why I left for the day. What was I thinking?” John started to ramble and get off topic. He had never been so scared. When he looked out the front door an hour before, the low clouds and crashing surf attacked him relentlessly. He shut the door and came to be with Rose, pacing the room frantically and waiting for the island’s only doctor to get here after seeing other patients who just couldn’t wait.
“You don’t seem to have any flu-like symptoms.” Seve said.
“What? No, of course not. I’m fine.”
“Were you or your wife around anyone with flu?”
John thought for only a second. “No, I don’t know anyone with the flu. Well, I’m not with Rose all the time. I don’t know, maybe she bumped into someone at a store or something. How would I know? She was fine until we flew down here.”
Seve knew that it wasn’t flu season and he already suspected it wasn’t the flu anyway. He wished it were the flu. “She doesn’t seem to be congested. Did she have a runny nose at all?”
“No, I don’t think so. No.”
“Did she complain of dizziness?”
“Dizziness? She hasn’t been up since I got back yesterday. She felt confused when I asked her questions last night. Couldn’t concentrate, but I don’t know if she was dizzy.”
“How do you know she couldn’t concentrate?”
John felt himself becoming infuriated, his face feeling as if it was baking in the sun. What the hell is wrong with her! That’s all he wanted to know. Enough with all the questions! “Because–” John hesitated, “she–she couldn’t remember the names of our daughters last night. She kept asking me their names and when I told her she–she forgot them instantly. Kept shaking her head and saying that wasn’t right, then she’d ask me again.” The lights flickered off and cast the room into utter darkness. John gasped loudly as he swore he saw a black, bird-like figure fly around the ceiling, circling over Rose. The lights flickered back on and remained on.
“Jesus...did you see that?” John asked. “Did you see something on the ceiling?”
“Yeah, we’ll probably lose power anytime,” Seve said, unaware of what John thought he had seen. Seve picked up Rose’s left arm and placed two fingers just below her wrist. As he feared, he detected no radial pulse. He had begun to suspect that Rose may already be losing blood pressure, which is why he had asked about dizziness. Lack of concentration would be another symptom associated with low blood pressure.
“What did you do on Saturday before you flew down here?”
“Nothing. Just packed and went to a dinner Saturday night. Then straight back home. Why all the questions? Don’t you just have something you can give her besides this stuff she’s been taking?”
“What has she been taking?”
John showed Seve the two tincture bottles he had found in Rose’s purse. One read “Echinacea Tincture: take daily in water for immune system health” and the other read “Yarrow Tincture: spray in nostrils for flu, in throat for cold.”
Seve examined the bottles and placed them back on the table. “Did you do anything with these tinctures?” Seve asked.
“That’s all we have here. Everything last night was closed. EVERYTHING! Like the whole island shut down. It took me forever to reach you, the ONLY doctor on the whole island. No hospital, no nothing!” John began pacing, his breathing labored. Outside the outer band of winds from a Category 3 hurricane slammed the house, but John heard or felt none of it. He was beside himself, furious that he had left the day before to catch a fish. A stupid fish! He left Rose to catch a stupid fish.
“It’s okay, John. Back in my country people swear by those tinctures. You did fine, John.”
“I–” John began and hesitated, “I sprayed the yarrow in her nose and in her mouth. I know it’s stupid, I know. But that’s what the label said and I didn’t know what to do. I just needed to be able to do something for her. Her twin sister is really into that holistic kind of therapy stuff.”