Chapter Sixty-Six. Betty, 1964
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
“During the Cold War the CIA started researching ways they could turn Americans into CIA-controlled ‘superagents.’ Under what was known as the MK-ULTRA project, CIA researchers experimented on unsuspecting American (and Canadian) citizens by slipping them psychedelic drugs.”
—
Betty put her index finger into the little hole on the rotary phone that corresponded to the last digit of Kathleen’s phone number. She spun the clear plastic dial counterclockwise before taking out her finger to allow the dial to twirl back into place.
“The number you have reached is no longer in service,” a recorded voice said in her ear.
Where had her friends gone?
“All done, hon?” asked the nurse named Peggy, who had a blond bouffant and wore light blue eyeshadow.
Betty nodded and hung up the receiver on the desk phone at the nursing station.
“Let’s get you back into your room,” Peggy said. “Today’s a big day. I’m sure you’re glad to be going home to that handsome husband of yours.”
Betty tried to inject enthusiasm into her voice. “Yes, I am.”
Peggy squeezed Betty’s shoulder. “As I live and breathe, I’ve never seen a man as devoted as yours.”
“I’m lucky to have Douglas,” Betty replied.
In the month Betty had spent at the hospital, so much about her had transformed. She’d come in by ambulance, unconscious and badly injured. Luckily Douglas was only bruised; the truck had rammed into her side of the car.
Once doctors triaged her most serious injuries—her spinal cord injury that resulted in paralysis below the waist and the loss of her baby—she slept so much they ran tests to make sure she had no underlying illness.
“Here we are.” Peggy pushed Betty across the threshold of her room.
Douglas stood there, wearing his usual white button-down, dark slacks, and skinny tie. His face filled with relief upon seeing her.
“Where’d you go?” he asked, hurrying to her side. “I was so worried.”
“Just down the hall, darling,” Betty soothed him. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived.”
Douglas was not the same man she’d been married to at Marquis. His changes were even more dramatic than hers. He’d grown obsessed with Betty’s safety; sometimes when she woke up from a nap, she found him standing over her, his hand resting on her chest, staring at her.
“What are you doing?” she’d whispered once.
“Making sure you’re breathing,” he’d said. It was such a loving gesture, she told herself, even as the fine hairs on her arms stood up.
Every night before Douglas returned to the new home he’d bought for them with money from his trust fund, he checked to make sure the window in her hospital room was securely locked.
Betty was never quite sure if he wanted to keep intruders out or make sure she was sealed inside.
If he’d been allowed, Betty felt sure he would’ve remained in the chair next to her bed overnight, watching her.
“You had two narrow escapes,” Douglas said once. “I can’t risk a third.”
It was ungrateful, but Betty couldn’t help feeling relief when night fell and she was alone.
As she lay in the darkness, she thought about her friends constantly, trying to summon a spark of their old connection.
But it felt irrevocably severed. She tried to block out her memories of Dr. Trimble, but she often dreamt about him, waking up panting and sweating from nightmares, the machine beside her beeping wildly.
“Why don’t I help you to your car?” Peggy offered now. “There’s no reason for you to stay here a minute longer.”
“Our home is all ready for you.” Douglas leaned down to kiss Betty’s cheek. “The kitchen was finished last night. I had to pay the workers overtime to get it done, but I think you’ll like it.”
As Douglas picked up her bag with her nightgown and toiletries, Peggy whispered, “I know you’ve had a rough go of it, and not being able to walk is an enormous challenge. But always remember to be grateful for what you still have.”
In the hallway, Douglas pressed the button for the elevator, looking all around, as if he was expecting to see someone he knew.
“Betty may feel especially tired tonight,” Peggy told Douglas. “She should just rest at home for the next week, before you start going back out to dinner or to run errands.”
Douglas nodded. “That’s all we want, to be home together. Right, darling?”