Lavender Walls

I couldn’t move my head and could only focus straight ahead of me. My feet and toes stood to plaster cast attention, set against a wall that looked blurry… or the clour di… the colour purple, but lighter… with a touch of pink. No, grey. No, pink… I can’t remember what it is.

A nurse appeared, standing between the blur and my toes. I had to refocus my eyes.  They were slow to do so and now I remembered this from yesterday.

“How are we today?” She asked, looking out the window.

“Fine, I think. What colour is that?” I felt a tinge in my arm as I tried to lift it and point to the wall behind her. But nothing moved. I pushed my eyes down and right but they only went so far and I thought, Is this as far as eyes go?

“Doctor will be along shortly. Have you eaten anything since breakfast?” She was now looking at something in her hands, a rectangular shape, very thin, flat, light grey or off-white in colour. She peeled something off it and looked more intently, then reapplied the peel. And that was it. It disappeared under my feet. She said something else, but I didn’t understand what it was. I think it was another language, one made of grunts and muffled sounds, so I didn’t reply. I felt an urge to move, but couldn’t, sighed and closed my eyes.

“How are we today?” A different woman’s voice.

My eye went from right foot to left, back to right, with the light purple, slightly pink and blurred wall refusing to move.

“Fine, I think. I can’t move though. Is that normal?” I couldn’t see anyone but the voice continued.

“Let’s see if we can remember those …” The voice trailed off.  Suddenly the horizon broke and a hand appeared. It was mine. It was my hand, in another person’s hand! My fingers were splayed out and the other hand was trying to make me grip a pen, or something like a pen. 

I thought, I am in a hospital, but it cant be very sophisticated if they use pens, or pen-like things to conduct tests. 

The voice continued. Something about “anti” something. I thought of my auntie Wendy.  It was her birthday recently, an important number, maybe 60?

“Can you tell me what year it is?”

“I think she’s about 60.”

“No Mr Johns, can you tell me what YEAR it is – now, at this very moment?”

“2022?”

“Very good.”

“Was I right then?”

“No more questions Mr Johns. I’ll be back to check on you before 4pm.”

“Oh, just one more, sorry, what colour is that?”

editing by Jayne Marshall.