Dreams(Dennis Sutherland) DREAMS

The Michael Collins Story

His name was Michael Collins, son of Edward Collins.
He received his nursing degree at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where he also met his wife Janet. They were married within one year of him graduating. She was born in Massachusetts and worked at the Boston library where he had done most of his studies. He spent the next two years working at Boston Children's Hospital.

Boston library is well known for the two lion statues at its' entrance. The great twin lions, couchant, on pedestals at the turn of the stairs, are of unpolished Siena marble. They are memorials to Massachusetts Civil War infantry regiments, the Second and the Twentieth. One day while leaving the library, each lion seemed to have come to life for just a brief moment. Their heads turned in the direction of Michael and followed his movements as he walked down the stairs to the exit. Could that be real? Of course not. Could I too be like my father?

He began to have reoccurring dreams of an elderly woman with the most evil lifeless eyes imaginable, yet they glared into ones soul. She would repeat the same words in each dream, "Descendants of mine and Collins are the same, I curse each one who denies my name".

One night while making his rounds he walked into one room that had a half dozen children in it. The time was around 11:00 PM and all the kids were sitting in a circle on the floor in the middle of the room playing a game. When he asked "What are you kids doing out of bed?" Only one little girl had looked in his direction. Another nurse passing by heard Michael and confronted him in a stern whisper, "Michael", he turned towards her, "what are you doing? You're going to wake the children!" He then turned back towards the children and they were all asleep in their beds. The two of them left the room. Again Michael thought of his father. What he hadn't noticed was that same little girl was awake, someone woke her, and she was having such a nice dream.

Just months after graduating he had to return home for his fathers funeral. His father, Edward Collins, was a tax lawyer in a small town in Madison County, Illinois. He attended law school in Chicago. He had dated the same girl through college. Her name was Sheree. She graduated at the top of her class and had a promising career. Edward was one year ahead of her, they married while she was still a senior. They were only married two years, she died during childbirth with Michael. Edward was later diagnosed with depression and schizophrenia, but was he really schizophrenic? He never knew how to cope with the hallucinations. Is this what had lead him to take his own life? He died on September 10th. Since his death these strange ordeals are beginning to happen with Michael.

Even though they were happy and doing well in Boston he couldn't resist the compelling urge that drew him south. What was the driving force behind this strong desire to move south? Not just anywhere south, but Louisiana. Janet was always adventurous and did nothing to discourage Michael's need.

After sending several resumes he was hired at an assisted living retirement home in New Orleans. It was a two story building and like many of the buildings in the Ninth Ward, it was an old building.
They were eager to have him. They had no other male nurses on the staff. It can be quite a challenge to move some of the elderly patients and having Michael there would make such a task easier. He worked the night shift with two other nurses. One of the nurses introduced herself, her name tag read Supervisor S. Wilson, "I'm Samantha Wilson but everyone just calls me Sammy", holding her hand out towards the other nurse she said "This is Ellen Daly, she'll be working with you and showing you around the place for the next few days."
Ellen reached out to shake Michael's hand and said "Just call me Ellie."
Michael replied "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm looking forward to working with the both of you."

Sammy was a slightly over weight attractive black women in her early 40's. She had been working at the home for ten years. She was certainly in the right profession, she was kind, caring and often quick witted.
Ellen was a young white woman around 25 years old. She had short brown hair and a pleasing smile. She had been working here just over one year.

There was only one doctor at the home, His name was Dr. Douglas Knight. Everyone at the home referred to him as Doctor or The Doctor. He didn't talk much. His interest was mainly with the patients with Alzheimer's. The other patients almost seemed to be a bother to him. If not for the many well trained and caring nurses at the home these patients might be otherwise borderline abused.

The Doctor was experimenting with a drug cocktail of his own design. It was made up of Donepezil (cholinesterase inhibitor), Namenda (memantine hydrochloride), vitamin E, lithium for bipolar disorder and steroids. All but the lithium and steroids are approved by the FDA to slow the process of Alzheimer's but never together. He was injecting patients who had no known family and were diagnosed with stage 5 Alzheimer's (Moderately severe cognitive decline).
There were two such patients that fit that description. The first, a black woman in her late 80's named Ashley Winters, graduate and home coming queen of Monroe Colored High School. Best known for her gorgeous bluish-gray eyes. The other was a white male. No one really knew much about him. He was found wondering the streets one day and appeared to have been abused at one time. He was checked out at a local hospital and released. The state placed him in the home. Every effort was made to find his true identity. While trying to find out who he was they asked several questions and he would just answer "Can I be frank with you?" Sammy said "Of course you can honey". From that day on he was known as Frank. He'd been here two years now.

With Janet's experience, she had no problem getting hired as a librarian at the Milton H. Latter Memorial Library. One of many New Orleans public libraries. It was once an old St. Charles Avenue mansion built in 1907 owned by Broadway and silent film star Marguerite Clark and opened as a library in 1948. It was the type of mansion you might see in a horror film.


The first few weeks went without incident. Michael and Janet moved into an apartment near the water. They were both happy with their new jobs and their new lives.
Then The Doctor started to test his new drug on Ashley and Frank. For several days there was no change in either one. It all began about two weeks later. One night Michael and Sammy were sitting at the nurse's station and Ashley was wandering aimlessly through the hallway with the help of her walker. After passing by the nurse's station she turned back in an odd and awkward manner and said to Michael "I know who you are". Michael asked Sammy "What do you think she meant by that?"
"Meant by what?" she asked.
"When she said, I know who you are".
"I didn't hear her say anything, hell, she doesn't even know who she is".
"Well, I'll get her back to her room".
He walked her back to her room and got her back in bed. As he was leaving the room she repeated, "I know who you are". Michael paid no attention this time.

Both Ashley and Frank were beginning to show improvement. This was more than The Doctor had expected. They were given a test and their Alzheimer's had improved to stage 3 (Mild cognitive decline). The effect was temporary though, lasting only hours at best. Still, The Doctor was excited about his findings and what he had accomplished, but had to keep this information to himself. What he was doing was so wrong in so many ways.

There was one serious side effect that went unnoticed. They were both starting to have very vivid dreams. More than just dreams, but memories of their past.
Michael was still plagued by his same dream too. That same woman saying "Descendants of mine and Collins are the same, I curse each one who denies my name".

A couple of days has gone by since Michael walked Ashley back to her room. He was making his rounds when he noticed something out the window. What the hell? There were two young girls in the courtyard! He went out there and asked them who they were and how did you get here. They both had their backs to him. They were sitting at a small table pretending to have a tea party. One girl turned to him and at that moment Michael was shocked at what he saw, those eyes, those bluish-gray eyes. They could only belong to one person, Ashley Winters. Staring at him she said "I know who you are". Just then there was a strong wind and the skies opened up with a down pour. The storm was here. That caused him to look skyward for a second and then back to the girls. They were gone. He made his way to Ashley's room. She was in bed but awake. She was angry, she said, "You ruined it, you ruined everything. I was playing with my best friend and then you showed up and made it rain. I know who you are".
This can't be possible. "What just happened? What do you mean, I know who you are?"
She only replied with "Marie Laveau."

Michael was thinking of his father now and what kind of hell he may have gone through. He wasn't feeling well now. Back at the nurse's station he told Sammy "The storm is here and we need to act fast". Sammy told him that the day shift supervisor had already made the calls for the patients with family in the area. Some had already been here and the rest should be here in the morning to pick up the others. Then he asked her if she had ever heard of a woman named Marie Laveau.
"Marie Laveau?" she asked in disbelief "Honey, everyone in New Orleans has heard of Marie Laveau". She then googled her and up popped several pictures of Marie Laveau. Michael was even more sick now. He was white as a ghost.
"What's wrong Michael, are you ok"?
He was speechless. The woman on the computer screen was the very same woman in his dreams. He had to sit down, he went to the TV room and sat there for hours in the dark.

Early the next morning the storm had become stronger. He called Janet and told her all about the night before. He also told her he had to stay at the home. All the other employees had left the city and there was just Sammy and The Doctor left. It was too much for Sammy to handle on her own. The Doctor sure wouldn't be much help. There were eight patients left here that had no family in the area.
It was now the day before Katrina hit New Orleans. Mayor Ray Nagin issued the city’s first-ever mandatory evacuation order. He also declared that the Superdome would serve as a “shelter of last resort” for people who could not leave the city.
Michael called Janet again. "You have to get out of the city, go to the Superdome and I'll meet you there as soon as I can".
Janet said "I will leave soon, I'm researching Marie Laveau and I've found some very interesting things about her and your family. I also have another surprise for you".
"You can tell me all about later when I get to the Superdome. You must leave the city now".
Michael and Sammy moved the patients that resided on the first floor to the second floor with the others. The home had become quite chaotic. The halls were cluttered with wheel chairs, serving carts and even a couple of IV stands.
Many private caregiving facilities that relied on bus companies and ambulance services for evacuation were unable to evacuate their patients because they waited too long. This home was one of those facilities.
That night Michael was checking on the patients that had to move to the second floor and saw a strage man in the hallway dressed in black attacking Frank.
"Hey you there" he said as he grabbed the man. The man swung around quickly hitting Michael in the mouth, knocking him into a serving cart and falling to the floor. Sammy heard the load noises and came running. She helped Michael up and asked "What just happened and who were you talking to"?
Michael was not surprised this time to see that there was no one there. "No one, I didn't see the cart there, that's all".

The storm was much stronger now.
Michael went to Franks room and found him sitting on the edge of his bed. He was sweating and scared. Frank was having a brief moment of clearity. "Michael, you don't know it but you just saved me". There was still a slight tremor in his voice. "Michael, your lip is bleeding, what happened? Are you ok?
"Yes Frank, I'm fine, just a little accident. You need to lie back down now and go to sleep".
"NO! I don't want to sleep. I don't like to sleep. It scares me to sleep". The moment of clarity was beginning to fade. "Frank? Why did you call me Frank?"
"Well Frank, if that's not your name, what is your name?"
The moment had passed. Frank just stared with no expression on his face. He helped Frank to lie back down and he fell asleep.
What the hell just happened? Michael thought. Why is it happening to me?

The storm was at it's strongest now. The first floor was flooding and the hurricane winds were more than the old building could handle. The Ninth Ward was under so much water that people had to scramble to attics and rooftops for safety. Eventually, nearly 80 percent of the city was under some quantity of water. No one will ever learn of The Doctor's experiments or his findings.

Janet's research had found that Marie Laveau was born on September 10th 1794 and died in June of 1881. Although some references to Marie Laveau in popular culture refer to her as a "witch", she is properly described as a 'Voodoo priestess'. She was the most well known and most powerful Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. She was reported to have had 15 children including Marie Laveau II, who followed in her mother's footsteps. IT is not known which (if not both) had done more to establish the voodoo queen reputation.
She was surprised to find that Marie was also a nurse. She acted as a nurse in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. She also nursed victims of yellow fever and other deadly diseases.

On a hunch Janet decided to check Illinois state records and discovered that Michael's family history was all a lie. Edward Collins was the great grandson of Marie Laveau. His grandmother was Marie Laveau II. He was named after Marie II's brother who died at the age of seven. His given name was Archange Edouard Laveau (known as Eddie by friends and family). Because of his family name, at the age of 18 Edward left New Orleans and moved to Chicago where he legally changed his name.


EPILOGUE

Janet was at the Superdome waiting to hear from Michael. He wasn't answering his cell. Then she got word of what happened at the retirement home, it had collapsed and there were no survivors. She was devastated. It was September 10th. She never got the chance to tell Michael who he really was and where he came from. Even more important, she never told him what the surprise was. They were going to have a baby.

With the city in ruins, Janet relocated to southern California. She gave birth to a beautiful little girl. She named her Marguerite after the silent movie star who once lived in the library. When she gets older Janet will tell her all about her father's family history, but will it be too late?

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