Page 63 of An Immaculate Deception

“Leandro”—he clears his throat—“why don’t you go fetch some water?”

Maria das Dores looks startled to see me in the kitchen, and even more shocked when I embrace her.

“A miracle has happened, Maria das Dores.” I wipe the corners of my eyes with my knuckles. “A miracle!”

It is a miracle. Mother was so close to death that Doctor Lobo was talking about her funeral yesterday. It seemed inevitable. But now she is awake!

This doctor, he is a miracle worker.

“Mother has recovered! She’s moving, speaking, as living and conscious as you or I!”

“This is great news, Senhor Neves! So you visited her?”

I remember she does not know Mother has been in the house this whole time, in the senzala. Instead of answering, I kiss her on each cheek, and she laughs.

“You are wonderful, Maria das Dores! Wonderful!”

I fill a glass with water and drink it all. Then I fill another for Mother. As I climb the stairs my hands shake and I spill most of it. I return to the kitchen to fill the glass once more.

Not only is Mother alive, but her affectionate way of greeting me shows she’s not angry with me. She has no idea of the things I’ve done. She doesn’t remember any of what I told her, doesn’t know what has taken place in this house while she slumbered.

I feared she would just know, in a mother’s-instinct sort of way.

When I return to the room, Doctor Lobo is examining Mother. He speaks with such ease, as though she is a regular patient and this is a routine examination. I am amazed at his self-mastery and presence of mind. He has her raise her arms, bend down and touch her toes, and a number of other tasks, all the while asking, “Does it hurt here?” and “How does it feel?” and sometimes she says it feels fine, but most of the time she says that it hurts.

Doctor Lobo speaks of her having experienced a traumatic event. I suppose he means being so deathly ill, then being in the deep slumber for so long.

Mother glances at me warily, then looks away.

Something feels different about her.

It’s strange that she’s hardly addressing me. She hasn’t asked the questions I would expect her to ask upon awakening: How long has she been asleep? Is she recovered from the yellow fever? Why is she in the guest room and not in her own room? What procedures were done to her? What happened while she slumbered? How much time has passed?

Maybe she has already had this conversation with the doctor while I slept, before I came in. They were talking when I arrived. Or maybe she’s still getting her bearings.

I remember the warning that Doctor Amado gave me initially: Even if she does wake up, she may not be the same.

“I’ll give you some laudanum for the pain,” Doctor Lobo says, “which can be supplemented with willow bark tea and hot baths infused with eucalyptus and hortelã leaves.”

Mother drinks the draught, then lies down. The back of her head rests on the pillow, eyes facing the ceiling. Then she closes her eyes.

Her face takes on the ghostly appearance it had when she slumbered. The shadowed cheekbones, the squared jaw and flat lips. The heavy-lidded, gaunt cheeks, the shadows beneath the brows. That spiraling, endless, tortured sleep that never ends.

“Wake up!” I cry. I startle even myself. Mother’s eyes fly open as she sits up. She and Doctor Lobo gape at me, alarmed. My whole body is shaking. I cannot help it, though I know my behavior is bizarre. Still I am relieved—she was only sleeping after all.

“For God’s sake, what’s the matter?” Mother asks.

“Nothing, I…I am sorry.”

“All is well,” Doctor Lobo says in a reassuring tone, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Let’s give her leave to rest now.”

I am reluctant to leave Mother alone, but Doctor Lobo practically drags me out of the room.

“Why is she going back to sleep already?” I ask as we head downstairs. It doesn’t sit right with me that she should go back to sleep so soon. It makes my blood squirm. “What if she doesn’t wake up?”

“She needs rest after waking up from such a deep sleep. Nothing to worry about.”

“How do you know? Are you absolutely certain? Did you check her pupils?”