Daniel Hecht - Land of Echoes

And it didn't help that as she was leaving Dr. Corcoran had sketched out the pharmaceutical protocols he was considering if Tommy didn't shape up soon: Thorazine, haloperidol, Risperdal, maybe clozapine. Try the empirical approach, see if his condition responded. The trial-and-error method that so often became just that-a wrenching trial for the patient, a lot of errors. Dr. Corcoran talked as if he planned to have Tommy with him for a long time.

Tommy Keeday was in deep trouble. And Cree Black, Mrs. Ultrasensitive Ghost Buster Queen, or whatever the hell she was, didn't have a clue how to help.

"We need to have a conference right away," she told them as they came toward her. "Julieta McCarty is on her way over. I've asked the nurse to join us, too. I want everybody on the same page here."

Ed gave her an appraising look. Joyce frowned and chided her, "Well, hello to you, too, Cree. We're glad to see you, too."

Cree just dipped her chin, took their elbows, and led them up the walk to the infirmary porch.

They convened in the dayroom, taking seats on the couch and chairs that surrounded an oval coffee table. Julieta arrived from the administration building, Lynn came in from her office.

Once Cree had introduced everybody all around, she turned to Julieta."I've asked Lynn to join us because we need to be able to share information about every detail of Tommy's condition and behavior. Lynn has spent more time with him during his crises than anyone, and she may recall details that didn't strike her as significant at the time but might be crucial for our team. But for her to do that, she'll need to know exactly how we're thinking of the problem. Which means, Julieta, that I need your approval to share information with her. Per our confidentiality agreement."

Julieta didn't answer right away, but looked thoughtfully first at Lynn and then at Cree. She looked tired, but the effect seemed to make her all the more lovely. Today she wore a gray wool pantsuit with a Navajo necklace that complemented the color of her skin and hair, and she looked older, her beauty derived from her poise and dignity.

"Of course," Julieta said at last. But she gave a tiny shake of her head, and the message in her eyes was clear: Everything but my secret. Peter Yellowhorse. My baby.

Cree nodded. "Lynn, you already know how we're thinking of this. I'm sure it strikes you as bizarre. Do you think you can you ride with it despite your skepticism? Give our perspective a chance?"

The nurse was sitting in a soft chair and seemed huddled in on herself, slumped, holding her knees or toying with the end of her braid. Her eyes rose to meet Cree's and the bronze speck sparkled. "You mean, the idea that Tommy's possessed?"

"As I told you, I don't like the typical assumptions that come with the term, but that's about it, yeah. What do you think of that hypothesis?"

Lynn directed her coy smile at Julieta. "I just work here. I'll do whatever I'm told. Frankly, having seen him when it's… on him, I don't find the idea such a stretch. Maybe being married into a Navajo family for sixteen years kind of wore down my skepticism. Possession-that's what a Navajo diagnostician would probably call it." She turned back to Cree. "As for confidentiality-" She made a lip-zipping gesture.

Cree found she couldn't stay seated. She was too energized, impatient, frustrated. She got up to pace the room as she brought them up to date: "I saw Tommy at the hospital today. It's getting worse. Joseph kindly talked to them and they let me in as a consultant, so I have access to him. But I have no authority to treat or prescribe. The doctor in charge of his case has a tight psychological theory, but if Tommy doesn't improve he's also considering treating him for seizures, impulse control disorders, schizophrenia. Which means lots of drugs, lots of side effects, personality alteration, long-term hospitalization. I sure hate to see it go there. And I don't think it will work."

Julieta's lips had narrowed, and though she didn't move, her aura changed, the resigned dignity turning shaky again as desperation rose beneath it. A mother's reaction, Cree thought.

Cree continued, telling them about her pending meeting with Donny McCarty to explore the possibility that the entity was indeed the vengeful ex Julieta seemed so certain of. "Julieta, you've given me an impression of who Donny is and who Garrett was. Is there anything you can add that will help me when I talk to Donny?"

Julieta thought about that and finally shook her head. "What you saw when we met Donny was pretty typical. How about you, Lynn? You had contact with the McCartys when your husband worked for them, right?"

Lynn nodded and explained, "My Vernon worked as chief explosives engineer for McCarty for many years. He got to know them pretty well. Not down here, he worked at the Bloomfield mine, up near Farmington. And I ran the Bloomfield medical unit for a few years, so, yes, I saw both McCartys now and again."

"Can you tell me anything about them?"

Lynn shrugged. "I really don't know what might be helpful to you. I wouldn't know where to start."

"How about beliefs? Was Garrett religious? Is Donny? Or superstitious at all?"

"Garrett went to church, but I don't think he was really religious. I think he saw it as a useful way to network. Donny, he doesn't believe in much of anything, I don't think. Neither struck me as superstitious in the slightest. Pragmatists, both of them."

"What would be Donny's reaction if I suggested, for example, that I'd heard his father's ghost haunted the mine?"

Lynn chuckled. "Well, he'd get a kick out of it. He'd think you were a weak-brained female."

Julieta nodded agreement. "And he'd think I had put you up to it to give him grief in some way. Or that you'd heard it from some superstitious Indian."

Cree turned that over in her thoughts, trying to find a way to engage Donny, enlist his help. "So… what is his attitude toward Native Americans?"

"Donny always treated Vern with respect," Lynn said immediately.

"Patronizing," Julieta said. "Condescending. Navajos make up ninety percent of his workforce. He talks respectfully only because he doesn't want to alienate his labor pool and sometimes needs to swing favors with the tribal government. As for Garrett, he was pretty much an out-and-out racist."

Lynn looked like she was biting her tongue but kept a little smile at the corners of her lips.

Cree mentally filed it away as Joyce took notes. "Okay. If I can ask a favor, it's that you both ponder the issue. What can you tell me about Donny that will allow me to ask about his father, the circumstances of his father's death? And Lynn, please look back at every contact you've had with Tommy and tell me anything that you think might be helpful." They nodded.

"Okay. Julieta, I can't work only on the premise that we're dealing with Garrett's ghost. There are other possibilities to consider. His… parents should be a high priority." Cree's eyebrows jumped; she had almost said adoptive parents. "Joyce, do you have anything on that?"

"Only the basics so far. Car crash, spring of '97. Father was driving drunk. Both died at the scene. The accident was up near Tuba City. I'll keep looking into it, but if we want to consider one of the parents we'd have to ask ourselves, why would the revenant come here, two hundred miles away, and why now, six years later? I mean, if one of the parents' ghosts homed in on Tommy, why not at the Keedays' place, or his previous school, and much earlier?"

Cree nodded. "Good questions. We'll look for more information in the coming days. In the meantime, there's another possibility you should know about, Julieta. I was very interested in Tommy's drawings of the cliff faces, so last night, Dr. Mayfield and I went out to the mesa to explore. You had a drawing class with him out there, didn't you? Out at the big ravine?"