Daisy has only been a Physical Therapist for a short time. She has a great support system including coworkers, friends, and her wonderful husband. She is very active and compassionate; however, her compassion for her patients begins to interfere with her own life as they readily pass away. Daisy begins seeing and hearing things that she would have been able to disregard if everyone around her was not having the same experiences. She questions how her home and place of business can both be haunted by the same beings, and why they are her former patients. Finally, she realizes that she must combat her past in order to fix her life and her future.
Haunting Daisy
Actual Experiences of a Physical TherapistBy Michelle Distler TovarAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2011 Michelle Distler Tovar
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4634-1875-5Chapter One
"Thank you so much, Mrs. Smith. You won't regret it." Daisy put her hand out to shake that of her supervisor's. It had been nearly four years since the horrible night, but also four years forgotten. The only thing that might briefly remind her of the dreaded incident from time to time is the fact that the place where the body sank deep into the river can be seen from her car on her way to town, and is only about eight miles from her house.
"Daisy, how many times do I have to tell you? Mrs. Smith is my mother-in-law's name. My name is Alana." She took Daisy's hand with both of hers and shook it. She was a very strong woman who, obviously worked out at the gym and stayed fit throughout her life. She was not thin, but rather toned and sturdy. This made her all the more respected by her employees.
"I know. It's just that I have worked here for almost six months and probably seen you five times. I just don't want to be disrespectful." "We are both therapists. I may be the one who pays you, but we are all family here. Think of me more as your non-biological half-mother twice removed, and those other four goof-balls out there as more of your sisters than co-workers."
Daisy glanced out the window into the therapy gym to find Jillian and Kristen clapping and laughing at the other two. Robin had hooked Lauren up to an electrical stimulation device that creates muscle contractions. The way she had placed them on her legs, though, initiated a walking pattern that resembled a hen trying to lay an egg while attempting to make its way to the feed on the other side of the pen.
This made Daisy smile so big that it showed all of her teeth. Before she could laugh, though, her attention was quickly diverted away from the comedy show to regard her supervisor.
"I'm truly impressed by the work that you do and the reaction that our patients have to you. I even have them asking for you by name. That's something to be proud of. You deserve every penny of this raise." Alana become aware of the clock beside her and continued, "Oh, wow, I didn't notice the time. We need to get our patients down here before they think we forgot about them. Go tell the others, please."
Daisy thanked her once again and went to the gym where her four coworkers were already putting up their toys and leaving to go and gather their groups of patients. "Time to be professional," Daisy said as she smiled, and received four smiles back.
"How'd it go with Alana?" Robin asked as they began to walk down the Lavender hallway. "Did she give you a good evaluation?"
"It went pretty well." Daisy answered as she continued smiling. "I think she still likes me."
"Well, of course she does. If we all like you, she has no reason not to." Robin turned the corner to gather her group of patients as Daisy continued straight ahead. The therapy room exited to a nurses' station at which point five hallways branched, each belonging to a different physical therapist's patient load and a different nursing staff. Each hall was also identified by the color of the walls. Daisy had the yellow hall, Robin had the light blue, Kristen had the green, Jillian had the pink, and Lauren had the Dark blue. The therapy gym was lavender and was the only place with a black and white checker-board pattern on the floor. All other floors in the facility looked like an elementary school cafeteria, except the upstairs formal dining room that had white floors to match its white walls and white tables.
Daisy knocked on the door to the last room on the left before entering. She spoke in a quiet, yet enthusiastic tone as she asked, "Ms. Henderson? Are you ready to come work out with me?" She always began her route with the patients who she was most familiar with due to their length of residency.
"I'm ready, I'm ready. I can get there by myself. If you try to push me in that dang chair, I'll run over your toes. I don't even need that thing. I don't know why you guys keep putting it in my room. Chairs are for sitting, not traveling." Ms. Henderson was very assertive and independent, and was also very unwilling to seek help or assistance when she really needed it. She, too, was a physical therapist once and exhibited a stubborn mannerism when it came to any offered help. Her attitude may have been due to this fact or possibly a stereotypical characteristic of the red hair that hung just below her shoulders.
"Ok, Ms. Henderson. I'll see you down there in a little while. I'm going to go gather everyone else up." Daisy left the room and crossed the hallway to the next patient's door, which stood open. She knocked as she entered. "Ms. Burnett? Are you ready to come down to the gym with me? It's time for our exercise." No matter whose room Daisy entered, she always spoke with a tone of enthusiasm and a smile.
"Well, hi, dear," Ms. Burnett said with her usual soft, sweet tone, "did you see my boyfriend last night? He brought me flowers and we danced until nearly midnight. You know I'm dating the president, right? He lives next door."
Daisy unfolded the standard wheelchair as she replied, "Well, that sounds like a wonderful night! You must be tired today from all that dancing."
"Oh, no, dear. I feel so alive and refreshed. He really knows how to step."
"That's great, Ms. Burnett. Maybe we'll be able to do some extra laps around the gym today." Some days this kind woman was married to an incredible doctor, and some days she was dating a celebrity. Daisy never did have the heart to tell Ms. Burnett that she was not dating nor married to anyone anymore, or that the place she thought these men lived was a broom closet. The fantasies made her so happy that Daisy just went along with her stories as though they were true. Ms. Burnett actually had two children, who were married and had children and grandchildren of their own, but she seldom mentioned them or anything else that might be more real than her fantasy lovers. She and both of her children shared a very common feature, the soft voices and the southern drawl that might make someone think of the movie "Gone with the Wind".
As Daisy was transferring Ms. Burnett to her wheelchair, which was not hard because of the adequate strength that remained in her legs, Jillian knocked on the door and asked, "Hey, Daisy, do you have any extra gait belts? Mine have all magically disappeared into Laura's locked desk drawer and she's behind closed doors right now with a patient and the key."
"Yeah, I think so. Come with us to the gym and I'll find you one." On the way down the yellow hallway, Jillian paused her conversation with Daisy to say, "Um, Daisy? I think you might have some company."
Daisy turned her head and saw, out of the corner of her eye, Ms. Gaskins following behind her, so close that she could feel a breath on her back. She leaned over to Jillian and whispered, "I love her, but it really freaks me out when she does this."
Ms. Gaskins was in the late stages of Parkinson's disease, which meant her face was completely expressionless and she was nonverbal most of the time, probably because of her frustration with her cruel infliction. She was always very short, but now her five feet of height did not matter to her as it had, some time ago, become the least of her worries. She normally did laps up and down the yellow hall; sometimes migrating into the light blue hall, following behind anyone who...
