For the Betterment of Sarah Williams - Chapter Eight

The lawyer asked for a postponement of the hearing. He informed the judge that they had received a lead to the possible whereabouts of Sarah’s husband and had to check out whether the lead was productive or not. Sarah was really nervous about the whole thing. It had been more than a year without any evidence and the night before she was going to settle the question, this had to happen. The older woman agreed to drive her to the rehabilitation facility. A wave of emotion swept over Sarah as she thought about the possibility that her husband was in fact not dead at all. The person in the rehabilitation facility didn’t know who he was. He didn’t know where he came from and had no memory of his past life. If this person did turn out to be her husband, what would it matter if he didn’t know her? Would that be better than death? They would have to get to know each other all over again. He would be a stranger to her. Would he even want to know her? She wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.

The drive took all day. They reached the facility in the late afternoon. The person they spoke to on the phone met them. He cautioned them that the person in question did not know who he was and that if he is Sarah’s husband he would not recognize her. Sarah understood and they proceeded to an area where outside guests would meet with patients. The man was sitting at a table. He was wearing a white robe that fastened in the back. His hair was short because they had cut it regularly and he had also been shaved. His eyes were blue and when you looked into them it seemed like nothing was looking back at you. Although the man could speak and hold a conversation, his eyes seemed vacant like there was no soul inside of them.

Sarah sat down across from the man and the older woman sat next to her. Sarah examined the patient to see if there was anything she recognized. His eyes were the right color. His hair was the right color too. She asked the man to stand up and he did as she asked. He seemed like he was the right height. His facial features seemed a bit off. Sarah brought a picture with her to help jog her memory and she held the picture up to him. He looked a lot like the picture but there were things that were a bit off. Sarah couldn’t quite explain it but he looked like her husband and he didn’t look like her husband. Sarah thought she would be able to recognize him instantly. Sarah thought now that perhaps she was going crazy.

She gave the picture to the older woman and asked her what she thought. The older woman agreed that he looked like her husband but also agreed that there were some things that didn’t seem right. Sarah wasn’t sure. She couldn’t say one way or another. She asked the person who phoned if there was a way to determine his identity. He said that if Sarah had a DNA sample from her husband, they could compare it to the patient and it would confirm his identity. If there was a strand of hair on some clothes or a hair brush, that would do it. Sarah thought. She hadn’t given away any of his clothes, there had to be his DNA somewhere.

Sarah and the older woman drove back home. The next day she called the lawyer and explained what the problem was. The lawyer said he would need a court order to get the patients DNA. In the meantime, Sarah would need to find a DNA sample from her husband. She took all his clothes to a lab and they searched until they found something they could use. They just needed to wait for the DNA sample from the patient that they would have to match. The thought of having her husband back made Sarah’s heart race, the thought of him not knowing her from any other woman left her anxious. She wasn’t sure which situation was better, but she had to know for sure.