I have never felt so outmaneuvered. Here I am, lying face-up like an abandoned lab experiment, greasy patches of hair sprouting out from my shaved and bandaged head, cracked lips half-open, semi-toothless, tubes rooting in and out of my arms, belly, and between my legs, all while Dani offers solace to my boyfriend. Almost my fiancé! Fortunately, it seems Brett is too stricken and preoccupied to notice Dani’s advances.

“Hey, that would be real nice. But right now, I’ve gotta get to rehearsal.” He comes to the other side of my bed, leans down, and brushes his lips against my cheek. It is the first time he’s kissed me since the accident, and I can’t help feeling smug in front of Dani. Like I’ve nabbed the crown off the Homecoming Queen.

“Jackie, honey, I love you, sweetheart.” His eyes well and he shakes his head.

“I’m sure she can hear you,” Nurse Dani says. “Coma patients are aware of a lot more than we give them credit for.”

She has that right.

SLOW DISSOLVE TO:

INT. MALIBU COLONY HOME

LATE AFTERNOON

1977

It was a Friday afternoon, the week before I turned nine. I’d come home from school to find my father and Anna, somber-faced, sitting on the yellow cubes of the modular couch with an orange square empty between them. Right off, I knew that seat was meant for me. My father was rarely home before dark, and Anna always greeted me with a smile. I must have done something terrible, but what? I tried to remember as I lay down my books. Had Daddy found the planter where I stashed my bobby socks on the way to school? Or had Anna found the candy Nicole and I had stolen from the pharmacy?

“Sit down, Jackie,” my father said in the gravest tone I had ever heard him use and patted the vacant seat. This was serious. I lowered slowly, knowing I was about to be given a shock. I wished I were bigger so my feet could reach the ground.

“Your mother is gone,” my father said simply.

“Gone,” I repeated.

Anna had tears in her eyes. I had only ever seen Anna cry during soap operas when something tragic happened to one of her characters.

“Did she die?” I asked my father.

“No, of course not, honey.” Daddy appeared confused and began waving his hands around like a frustrated toddler.

“She’s alive?”

Anna attempted to rescue him. “Jackie, what he is TRYING to say—” She had, by now, learned to speak English primarily from watching the soaps. As a result, her phrasing was dramatic and intense regardless of the subject. “Your mother has chosen to GO. And live in another place. She still loves you very VERY much, and I’m sure that she will LOVE to visit you soon.”

“Where is she?” I asked my father.

“We aren’t sure.” He turned to Anna, who nodded.