could tell he got them right because Vera’s face lit up as she marked down the score and checked the computer monitor.
“Okay, now I’m going to read you a sentence, and I want you to repeat it exactly as I read it. Okay? Good: ‘
This went on for almost an hour until he was tired and wanted to rest.
When the testing was over, Vera said, “You’re a very bright little guy.”
“Can I go home now?”
“Soon,” Vera said. She disconnected all the wires on his cap, removed it, and wiped his head with a towel. His scalp was sweaty from the cap and sticky with the jelly. “For the time being, we’re going to take you outside.”
“But you said I could go home.”
She didn’t answer, just nodded Phillip over.
They pushed him out of the test room and down the corridor to a staircase at the end where Phillip and the other man lifted the wheelchair and carried him up to the top. Vera then pushed him through a series of rooms to an outside deck.
The shock of the bright sky made him wince. It felt good to be in the warm open air. There were tall pine trees all around. In the distance he could see a lake sparkling in the sunlight. It must have been late morning.
But what caught his attention was the sound of children. To the far right he spotted a small playground with climbing structures and a slide with kids on it. Nearby a woman watched them.
Two of the children had white bandages on their heads.
One of them was on the grass dancing with someone.
At first he thought it was another kid dressed up in some kind of costume. But when the girl spun around, Travis realized that she was attached to a life-sized doll—that the thing’s feet and hands were strapped to the girl’s shoes and hands, and that she was laughing and chanting something, although the words weren’t right.
It took Travis a moment to make out the doll, but when the kid turned into a shaft of sunlight he could see that it was a big blue stuffed elephant with a wide grin and human hands. The same stupid creature they had painted on the walls of his room. And in the puppet-show video they played.
And in a singsongy voice, the woman chanted: “Dance with Mr. Nisha. Dance with Mr. Nisha. Dance with Mr. Nisha.”
30
Greg met Joe Steiner at the Quarterdeck, a popular bar and restaurant in Falmouth center. Sitting with Joe was another man introduced as Lou Fournier, a neurologist from Cape Cod Medical Center.
“I think Lou might be able to give you a little more insight about your skull cases,” Joe had said. Greg didn’t have to be at work until seven, so they met at five-thirty. Joe knew Greg had been put on night shifts. He also was beginning to suspect that Greg might be on to something odd, although he didn’t know what. And that suspicion was why they were meeting.
Fournier was a man in his sixties with a round broad expressive face that made you think of Jonathan Winters. According to Joe, he had been chief neurologist in a hospital in Trenton, New Jersey, but had gone into semiretirement on the Cape. Joe had shown Fournier the photos of both sets of remains and the diagrams of the anonymous Essex Medical Center patient.
They ordered some beers. “I don’t know what I have,” Greg said. “It might all be a grand coincidence.”
“What does your instinct tell you?” Fournier asked.
“That the odds are against coincidence, that there’s some pattern, some connection.”
“I’m not sure, either,” Fournier said. “But I’d say your instinct is right on.” He laid the two skull photos side by side with the drawing of the Essex patient. “On the Sagamore Boy, you’ve got twenty-two holes all on the left side of the skull. On the Dixon boy, you’ve got nineteen holes on the left side of the skull. On this kid from the Essex Medical Center, his X rays show eighteen holes on the left side. I think Dr. Budd is correct: The areas seem to map out interconnected circuits of the cerebral cortex that’s associated with intelligence and memory.”
Using his finger to illustrate, he continued. “This area here is the frontal lobe, or prefrontal cortex, and is important for planning behavior, attention, and memory. This other cluster is over the parietal lobe and is part of the ‘association cortex,’ known as Wernicke’s area.”
“Wernicke’s area?”
“Yes, the area of the brain associated with language and the complex functions of understanding. People with damage to this area suffer aphasia—they lose their ability to comprehend the meaning of words and can’t produce meaningful sentences.”
“What about these other holes?” Greg asked, pointing to seven around the ear area.
“That’s even more interesting,” Fournier said. “These cover what’s called Broca’s area, which is associated with the analysis of syntax and speech production. If someone experiences damage in the Broca’s area, they lose their ability to speak.”
“So you’re saying the holes cover the entire language center of the brain.”
“Yes, but it’s important to note that these same areas make important connections with many other areas of the brain involved with thinking abilities, conceptual skills, and memory.”
Greg nodded and sipped his beer.
“What do you know about this Essex patient?” Fournier asked Greg.
“Almost nothing—a male teenager from someplace on the North Shore, but that’s it.”
“Then you don’t know his handedness—whether he’s a righty or lefty.”
“No.”
“How about the Dixon boy?” He picked up the Dixon photo.
Greg thought for a moment. Grady’s first baseball glove. “Right-handed.”
Fournier nodded. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah. But why is that important?”
“I’m not sure, but more than ninety-five percent of right-handed males have language localization in the left hemisphere. Left-handers are bilateral, that is, they have language centers on both the right and left sides of the brain.”
“But the kid never had any kind of brain operation, his parents said. And I saw his medical records, and his pediatrician confirms.”
“I understand, but these holes are not random, so somebody did something to him. And these others.”
“Like what?”
Fournier took a sip of his beer. “These holes I’d say were made by stereotaxic drilling. It’s an alternative to removing large sections of the skull to reach target areas of the brain—a pinpoint-drilling procedure to remove lesions, abscesses, or tumorous tissue. Or to implant electrodes or radioactive seeds for killing tumors.
“The sheer number suggests mass intercranial lesions or multiple tumors—except the likelihood of survival for young kids is nil. Even with the most precise 3-D imaging, a surgeon can get lost trying to determine where a tumor ends and normal brain tissue begins. And in these areas, that means damage to important neurocircuitry, which could result in serious physical and emotional problems. So I’d rule out any orthodox neurological operation.
“The other possibility is radioactive seeding. But that’s not likely, either.” Fournier picked up the schematic of the Essex patient again. “This is what throws me the most. If this kid underwent extensive stereotaxic surgery, he’s either a walking miracle or he’s walking brain-dead.”
“The nurse said that he looked perfectly healthy and that he has a remarkable memory,” Greg said.
“Then something else is going on.”
