New Beginings - 15. NB Chapter 15

When I woke up, I found myself in a hospital bed and a regular beeping sound coming from a machine nearby, and a few minutes later a nurse entered the room. “Hello young man, it is good to see you awake finally, you are in hospital, and you have been in a coma for the past nine weeks, do you remember what happened?” I was informed and I tried to think, but I had no idea why I was in hospital.

“Do you know your name?” the nurse asked me, and I thought for a moment, “It’s Hugh I think, or something like that” I replied, “Ok Hugh, well I will go and get the doctor” the nurse said with a smile. About ten minutes later the same nurse and a doctor appeared. “Hello Hugh, I am Doctor Williamson, as the nurse has said, you have been in a coma for over nine weeks.

Apparently you fell off a cliff, and you sustained a few broken ribs, a broken left arm, a nasty bruise on the side of your head and broken right collarbone, luckily you have no internal injuries, and most of your breaks have healed while you were in a coma. We found no ID on you when you arrived here by rescue helicopter, do you have any family we can contact?” the doctor said to me.

“I... I don’t remember, I can’t remember my last name and I don’t know where I am from” I said feeling upset that I couldn’t remember anything. “You rest now, and continue to recover from your injuries, your awake now which is a good sign” the doctor said to me. Soon after they left I fell asleep, and next time I woke up, there was no beeping sounds from machines, and a lady came in with a meal tray.

“Good morning young Hugh, I have breakfast for you, now eat up, we want you to get better” she said to me with a smile, as she placed the tray in front of me. A few days later I was able to get out of bed for the first time, with the assistance of a nurse, and the following day I began physiotherapy, to get full motion in my shoulder and arm, and this became a daily event, as I slowly gained my strength.

I was still having troubles with my memory, as I still didn’t know my full name or where I am from, which was upsetting me a lot, and I had been awake from my coma for just over a week now. When the nurse came in early in the morning, I was already awake, as she checked my vitals, and recorded them, “Oh, you are awake, we may have an idea on who you are, do you remember anything about being on Rottnest Island on the Easter long weekend? She said to me.

“I don’t remember anything” I replied, feeling upset about, not knowing anything “We think your name is Huon Devonport, from Toodyay, we tried calling your home number but it was disconnected” the nurse said to me, “It’s not disconnected, my house burnt down in a bush fire last summer. I have been living with...” I began to say when I was interrupted.

“He has been living with me and my son. Hello, I am Reverend Annette Davies, we have been worried sick about Huon, he just disappeared during Easter” Rev said as she entered the room, and introduced herself to the nurse. “It’s good to know you have some caring friends who have been looking for you” the nurse said as she left the room, “Hello Huon, I am glad that you are alive an well, we reported you missing, when I received a call from the university, saying you had missed your lectures two days in a row, straight after Easter.

I have been calling the missing persons unit of the police every week for the past nine weeks, and it was just late yesterday afternoon, that I had a call that a young man with memory loss has been in hospital for over nine weeks” Annette said to me, as she sat down and held onto my hand. “I remember bits and pieces, you are the minister at the Toodyay church?” I said to Rev, “That is right, I am Annette Davies, but you often call me Rev for short.

“I think I remember you, but everything is a little hazy” I said, “Well the doctor said you had a big bump on your head and that your memory should come back fully eventually, do you remember anything else about your life?” the Rev asked me, “I think I own a farm that I work on part time and on the holidays, but it was damaged recently by fire, and I think I still go to school or something like that” I replied.

“Do you remember anything else?” Annette asked me, and I tried to think but it made my head hurt so I shook my head no, and soon after my breakfast arrived Annette left so I could eat. For the rest of the week, Annette came to visit me in the hospital, and she encouraged me to think and remember anything to do with my life, but I just couldn’t remember anything, no matter how much I tried, and i got upset quickly because of this. The doctor kept telling me that it will take time, but eventually it will all come back to me, but they didn’t know when, whihc made me get very frustrated and angry.

After lunch one day, I wandered down the corridor of the ward, to stretch my legs a bit, when I heard some raised voices in one of the rooms, and as I approached, I heard a nurse say, “I don’t understand what you are saying, what is it that you want” to a female patient. “Dove sono i miei occhiali? Non riesco a leggere con i miei occhiali” the patient said and I understood everything she said.

“Excuse me nurse, she is asking for her glasses, so she can read” I said from the doorway, and the nurse looked around and in the bedside cupboard till she found the glasses. “Grazie, grazie” the lady said, “She is saying thankyou, thankyou” I said to the nurse, before I kept walking. “Excuse me, Mrs Pentrani is asking another question” I heard the nurse say to me, and I turned around and went back.

“A che ora è mio marito è venuta a farmi visita?” the lady asked as soon as I arrived, “She is asking what time her husband is coming to visit her” I said to the nurse, who just shrugged her shoulders and walked out of the room, and I could see that the lady was visibly upset. “Ciao, il mio nome è Huon, vuoi me per rimanere e parlare con voi per un po'?” I said to the lady, asking if she would like me to stay and talk a while.

“Sì Si prega di giovane, io non ho nessuno con cui parlare, come non so quando mio marito tornerà a farmi visita” the lady said with a smile and so I sat down in a chair near her bed and we spent the next few hours talking, and since I could not remember much about myself, Mrs Pentrani told me all about her family. When asked how I spoke Italian so well, I said that I could not remember how, and I said I was fairly sure that neither of my parents were Italian.

When the day arrived for me to be discharged from hospital, I was still no better off remembering who I am, and where I live, I remember that this lady who comes visiting nearly every day is a minister, and that she had known me for over four years. I was told that I would be living with her until I have fully recovered. The car ride to her home was mostly silent, as I looked out the window trying to find anything recognisable, but there was nothing.

When we arrived at the house, which was next door to the church, I stepped out of the car and looked around, and I did not recognise anything, as a teenage boy approached. “Hi, I am Kyle, welcome back home” the teenager said happily, and I just frowned, as I was in no mood to be happy. When I was shown my room, I didn’t recognise anything in the room, as I was told all the clothes, books and laptop computer, apparently belong to me.

I sat in my room and just stared at everything, which was strange to me, and when it was time for dinner, I politely ate my meal, then returned to my room. Over the next few days, I spent most of the time in my room, while the minister and her son went about their daily routines. The minister told me that before the accident, I was a university student, studying Veterinary medicine, and that I also spent each summer working on a farm at Douglas, in the Falkland Islands.

I had no idea where this place was, and I looked around the house for an atlas or map to try and find this place, but I couldn’t find one, so I went to the laptop computer and turned it on, and connected to the internet, before I typed in “Falklands” on the search bar, and it came up with Falkland Islands, I was surprised to see that it was in the far Southern Atlantic Ocean near South America.

I looked at some information about the islands, but nothing looked familiar at all, so I shut down the computer, and lay on my bed to continue staring at the ceiling like I had been doing for the past few days, trying my best to remember anything, that may help me to recover, but the longer that I stared at the ceiling the more frustrated I got. Four days after getting out of hospital, the minister informed me that she was taking me to the rehabilitation hospital for a week of tests and some sessions with a psychologist, to try and help me with my memory loss.

The minister helped me to pack some clothes for my time in hospital, and she drove me to the hospital in the city, and once I was admitted, she said she would come and see me in two days, and she left. For the first two days back in hospital, I had a series of tests, as well as a counselling session every day, and nothing seemed to be coming back to me, regarding my memory.

When a young man with a foreign accent, came to visit me, I did not recognise him, even though he said he was my first cousin. He tried to remind me about how we met for the first time, and about his twin brothers. “Do you speak Italian?” I asked when I remembered about the lady the last time, I was at the hospital. “sì, parlo italiano, vero?” he replied and I understood what he said.

“Sì, quando ero ultimo in ospedale, una signora parlava solo italiano e ho aiutato a passare all'infermiera” I said in reply, “Now I know why I speak Italian” I added in English. “You told me that you began to learn Italian, when you and your father went to Italy when you were ten, and you studied Italian for three years at school” the young man said to me, and I thought about this for a moment, then I looked at the young man.

“Your name is Seb, you have twin brothers... Louis and Joachim” I said realising that I had finally remembered something about my life, as tears flowed down my cheeks. “Yes Huon, you are right, it is good to see that you have remembered something at last” Seb said with a big smile, and he gave me a hug, which felt good. Two days later I was discharged from hospital again, this time Seb and his brothers collected me, and as Seb drove us towards Toodyay, the twin chatted to me in a mixture of Italian and English.

I laughed at this mixture of languages, “So you are teaching them English?” I asked Seb as we turned onto Toodyay Road, and he laughed, “Yes and they like the combination of both languages, than just one on it’s own” Seb replied with a big smile. Are we heading back to that minister’s place, I can’t remember her name” I asked, “Her name is Annette Davies, and you usually call her Rev for short, no I have a better place to take you” Seb replied.

Nearly an hour later, we drove into the town of Toodyay, “Does anything look familiar to you?” Seb asked me, as we slowly drove through town, “No, but that big chapel that was on the side of the road at a big school looked very familiar, but I can’t remember its name or the name of the school” I replied, as we turned left onto Harper street, then right onto Julimar road. Eventually we crossed over the river, and continued on till we turned left onto Harder’s Chitty Road. “I know this road, this takes us to my home” I said when I remembered.

“That is right cousin, we are taking you home” Seb replied with a smile. “But... my home was burnt down” I said sadly as I remembered seeing the ruins of my home, and loosing everything of mine and my family. “That is right cousin, that is why I took the liberty of building a bigger and better home for you and us to live in” Seb replied with a big smile, as we turned left again onto a gravel road, and ten kilometres later, we slowed down as we approached a fence line and a gate.

There was a big archway over the double gates, and on the archway was a large sign – “Deepdale Estate, H. A Devonport”. “That is my name” I said when I read the sign, “That is right cousin, this is your home” Seb replied, as he stepped out to open the gate, and once we were on the property, and the gate was closed, we drove down the drive way, with the late afternoon sun, began to sink closer to the horizon, it showed the outline of a large house, close to the river.

Seb came to a stop at the stone ruins of the original house, my former home. “I decided to leave it untouched, until you are well enough to decided what to do with the ruins, we had all the burnt sheds and machinery cleared away, so there is just the homestead remaining” Seb said to me as I turned to look towards the new house. “It looks very big” I said as I studied the new house from over 270 metres away.

“It is all yours, with my compliments” Seb replied, as he lead the way towards the house, with the twins already way ahead of us, at running speed. “The house was completed two weeks ago, and the twins and I have been living here since then, I hope you will like it, it has a total of six bedrooms, split into two wings, the master suite, that is your bedroom, has a private balcony that looks out towards the river, and your own bathroom, and private sitting room, there are also two guest bedrooms with a shared bathroom.

The other wing is identical to the south, with me having the second master bedroom, and the boys having the other two bedrooms, with shared bathroom” Seb added, the entry foyer was large, as we stepped inside, after climbing the large set of stairs, with the house being raised 4 metres off the ground. As I looked around the large entry area, I saw a door on each side, about 2 metres from the back wall.

“That door to the left goes to the laundry, linen room, and wet room, where wellington boots and jackets at stored away during winter months” Seb announced to me, and I chuckled at this, “We call them Gumboots here in Australia” I said with a big smile. “It’s good to hear you laugh and see you smile at last, cousin” Seb said to me, and he gave me a big hug. “The door to the right goes to a small sitting room, bedroom and bathroom for a in house housekeeper, if you decided to hire one.

The end door to the left leads to a library and a main study, plus the left wing accommodation, while the end door to the right leads to a large play room for the boys and a multi use room, which is currently the boys school room, then there is the north wing accommodation” Seb said to me.

“Wow this is a big place, what else is there?” I commented, “Well those double doors in the centre front wall, lead to a large formal sitting room. To the left of that is the formal dining room, and the kitchen is in the front corner, which is overlooking the front veranda and the river, to the right, is a media room, with seating for twenty four people, with a huge projector screen, along the back wall.