Chapter 9
Auggie
The next time I visited the John Doe patient, I brought I whole collection of books with me.
Melody’s performance had given me an idea for what to read next now that I’d finished Peter Pan.
Her recital had included dance routines from a bunch of different ballets, and I’d enjoyed getting a sampling of a bunch of different styles all at once.
Written stories could be the same way. Instead of committing to a single novel, I instead turned my attention to collections of short stories that I could read to the unconscious man.
Furthermore, a lot of ballets were inspired by fables and folklore, which inspired me to bring short story collections of fairy tales to read.
I’d brought about ten in total, and not just the classic Grimm fairy tales, or Hans Christian Andersen.
I also brought Russian folklore, Chinese fables, and even some Ancient Egyptian stories.
I’d managed to bring a sampling of folklore from the entire world into that little room.
“I’m not sure what you’d like most,” I said to the John Doe as I perused the different books.
“So, I’ll just have to choose something and give it a shot.
Let’s see. We’ve got Japanese fairy tales.
I don’t know much about those. Oh, I didn’t realize the Fountain of Youth was originally Japanese. How about we start with that one.”
The hours passed in that small room as I crooned out the words from the stories, the constant beep beep of the life-sustaining machines the only other sound.
Even the normal sounds from the hallway, of nurses moving from room to room or the softly squeaking wheels on the cart of the sanitation crew were drowned out.
John Doe seemed to be enjoying the stories as he rested comfortably. Then again, who really knew what was going on behind those closed eyelids.