When the movie was over, Joann stood up and asked her aunt if it would be alright for her to walk downtown and see Marcy. Joann looked at Linda for approval as well.
“It’s okay with me if it’s okay with you mom. I’m a little tired anyways,” Linda looked at her mom.
“Okay, but please don’t be gone all day, and check in with us periodically,” Cathy said.
Joann smiled at her cousin, “I’ll see you later. Thank you, aunt Cathy, I’ll text you later,” Joann walked out the door.
Linda rolled over onto her right side and closed her eyes. Cathy sat in the chair and watched a TV show that came on. Joann left the hospital and headed to the coffee shop that was about four blocks away to meet with her friend Marcy. This was a different coffee shop that they occasionally went to, not the one where Jeff works. Joann wasn’t in the mood to answer any questions from Jeff.
It took Linda about fifteen minutes to get to the coffee shop by walking. As she stood out in front of it, Marcy pulled up across the street in her Honda Accord. Joann watched Marcy as she was very meticulous about how her sunshade was positioned against the windshield. When Marcy finally got out of her car and ran across the street, Joann couldn’t wait to tell her about Linda.
The two of them went inside the coffee shop and ordered their usual drinks. As they waited for them, Joann told Marcy what Linda said she saw inside of the spacecraft.
“Yeah, she said that the aliens were a dark grey like I remember seeing, slender, and stood about eight feet tall,” Joann whispered.
“Wow, that must have been scary,” Marcy said.
When the barista put their drinks on the counter, Joann and Marcy grabbed them and found a table. They picked a table off in the corner where they could talk more privately. Joann mixed her macchiato with her straw and then took a sip. Marcy asked Joann if she has noticed Linda having any side effects yet since her surgery. Joann told her not yet and the only thing that Linda keeps saying is that she was hungry.
Marcy and Joann talked a few more minutes about Linda but then moved on to their futures. Marcy has been friends with Joann since junior high and both have shared their dreams. Even though Joann decided to go to college, Marcy is now assistant manager at their local Kohl’s department store. She is pushing to someday manage her own store. Joann was excited to hear of Marcy’s promotion and told her that she knew that she could do it.
As the girls celebrated at the coffee shop, Linda suddenly woke up with stomach pains.
“Mom, my stomach hurts,” Linda moaned.
“Okay sweetheart, let me get someone,” Cathy pushed the call button.
A nurse at the station answered the call and asked what they needed. Cathy told the nurse what was going on so she paged Dr. John’s. About five minutes passed and Dr. John’s and a nurse arrived in Linda’s room. She pushed around on Linda’s abdomen but didn’t feel anything. Linda once again said that she is hungry and that her stomach pain feels like bad hunger pains. Dr. John’s asked Linda if she had ever felt pain like that before and she replied no. Before doing any other tests, Dr. John’s wanted to try something and asked the nurse to get some peanut butter crackers.
“Maybe these crackers will help you until lunch is brought in. The peanut butter has some protein in it that will hopefully fill the void in your stomach.”
“Are you sure that nothing else is wrong with her?” Cathy asked.
“If she continues to have pain, we will do some tests. Try the crackers first and we will take it from there,” Dr. John’s started to remove the gauze from Linda’s head.
“How does it look, doctor?” Cathy peeked at the incision.
“It looks good. No sign of infection which is good,” Dr. John’s said.
When the nurse came back with a handful of peanut butter crackers she set them down on the table. Dr. John’s asked the nurse to get her some new gauze and tape to recover the incision. The nurse went out and came back a few minutes later with the new gauze and tape. As the doctor put the last piece of tape on Linda’s head, Linda grabbed one of the crackers. She ripped open the package and shoved the cracker into her mouth. Dr. John’s watched as Linda shoved another cracker into her mouth and chewed it like she was a starving animal.
“Does she normally eat like this?”
“No, not at all,” Cathy watched with concern.
Linda grabbed another package of crackers and ripped it open. This time she ate it a little slower and didn’t look so crazed with hunger.
“What, why are you all staring at me?” Linda asked in between bites.
“How do you feel now Linda?” Dr. John’s asked.
“Better thank you,” Linda took another bite of the cracker.
Dr. John’s looked at Cathy and motioned her to come out into the hall with her. Cathy followed Dr. John’s out into the hall and asked her what was going on. She told Cathy that she has observed this behavior one other time with a different patient. She said that the patient had brain surgery for other reasons and the side effect afterward was excessive hunger. The patient would fall into a dazed state and was driven to get something to eat as soon as possible. After the patient’s brain registered that he had eaten something, he returned to his normal self.
“I think that a hunger hormone in Linda’s body might have been affected by the implant that Dr. Giovanni took out of her head,” Dr. John’s explained.
“So is she going to get better or is she going to feel this way from now on?” Cathy asked.
“We just need to observe her for the next few days and see if her body readjusts back before the implant was put in,” Dr. John’s said.
Cathy and the doctor stood in the hallway and watched how Linda munched on the crackers like nothing ever came over her.
Please join me again for more of: Unexplained Encounter.