Deja Vu

My childhood haunts were bordered by two former convalescent hospitals. One was located about a ½ mile away and situated at the top of a hill. It was featured prominently in a previous post-entitled "Summer Scare."

The other hospital was located about two blocks away, down the street and across an old bridge. However having begun life as a convalescent hospital its twilight years were spent as a drug rehab center before closing due to pressure from local residents who were not happy with the proximity of the facility to their children who were still in there formative years.

Once abandoned the grounds became another set for our summer adventures.

Most of our parents would have displayed more intense displeasure at our choice of locations for long summer games of hide and go seek and ditch. However the over abundance of avocado trees and the begs of green heaven we brought home convinced them to look the other way as long as no one was hurt.

The hospital/clinic differed from the other one in that most if not all of the buildings were of the single story variety. In addition no equipment was left behind except for a few bed frames that were beyond salvage.

Most of our games included hiding as part of the process so all of us soon became familiar with the layout of the various buildings.

One afternoon found me as the designated "it" person who's job it was to search out the other hiders. As I roamed the buildings in search of my fellow hiders I came across a room I had not previously visited. Upon entering I was frozen in place by a vision my young mind could not explain.

The room was empty but in my mind I saw four beds one on each wall. The beds seemed to be higher above the ground than what would be considered normal, maybe waist high on the average adult. Though I was sure that I was alone I could see that rather aged individuals currently occupied each bed. As my gaze traveled from person to person I found my lingering on the woman in the last bed. She appeared to be in her eighties and extremely frail. I was absolutely sure that I had never been in this building before but at the same time I was equally sure that I had know this woman.

My attempt to solve the meaning of this perplexing vision was interrupted by my brother calling my name and telling me I had to go home. I walked up the street playing the scene over and over in my mind trying to decipher the clues.

I found my mom weeding the front yard garden. I asked her if we had ever visited the convalescent hospital before moving to our current residence. To say the least I was surprised when she said that we had. My father's grandmother had been a patient there before she passed away. I was about three years old at the time and my parents had brought me there to visit her. She died within the week of our visit.

I explained to my mother what I had seen and I asked her to walk down the street with me. We returned to the grounds and I asked her if she could remember the building my great-grandmother had resided in. Without err she walked directly to the room in which I experienced my vision. Upon entering she turned to me with questioning eyes and I told her that this indeed was the room that I had just seen Grandma Finn and three other patients in the beds.

Somehow my mind was able to make the connection to the room and bring back a memory that to this day I have no actual recollection of.

The hospital is gone now replaced by a group of six figure homes. I have often been tempted, but have never followed through, to visit the current residents and find out whether anyone has had a vision of four seniors on their last legs propped up in old metal beds. Maybe tomorrow.