Hotel Room (Part 3) by Catterina Coha

Here comes the long awaited Part 3 of “Hotel Room”. Yes Catterina, you have no idea how many were waiting for it!!!!

Juliet and Madeleine – Photo by anonymous of Catterina (on the right) and her sister a few …years ago

Juliet sat in the dim light of the intensive care room staring at Madeleine heartbeat on the monitor, the regularity of which was reassuring. Because of the heavy traffic from the airport, it had taken longer than expected to arrive to the hospital, and the attending physician taking care of Madeleine was gone. Juliet had spoken briefly with two house staff doctors covering the night shift. She had learned that Madeleine arrived comatose at the emergency room early that morning. The diagnosis was “acute alcohol intoxication” because of the high BAC, or “blood alcohol level” as Juliet had summarily learned. Her sister’s BAC did not reach the “dangerous” level of >500 mg/dl associated with risk of death. However, the two young doctors cautioned Juliet that there is a lot of variability among people, and they had just witnessed an amazing recovery in a homeless dude, who had a BAC above 1000 mg/dl. He was a drunkard accustomed to tolerate large doses of alcohol, but her sister did not look like one, so she may have lower tolerance.

Juliet’s idea of tolerance to alcohol had been shaped by her teenager experiences. In her mind, Madeleine had high tolerance, at least compared to her. Juliet thought of the disastrous nights when she attempted to keep up with her older sister and ended up vomiting just about everything inside her but her soul. She recalled waking up in the morning feeling lousy and with strings of long hair clumped in dry puke. Madeleine never vomited, and would know when to quit, unlike Juliet who would be distracted by people who caught her interest and in whom “she saw more than was there”, at least according to Madeleine. But since they had moved on to their adult lives Juliet and Madeleine had not seen each other often, and Juliet did not feel qualified to express an opinion about Madeleine’s tolerance to alcohol, or anything else, for that matter. It occurred to her that she knew very little about the person who still remained in her heart and mind her closest life companion.

In the long hours spent at the hospital that night Juliet thought about the unique bond that siblings have. The shared genetics is often redistributed in random ways among the children, giving rise to people who can look either very similar or so different that one would not assume any relationship. Madeleine resembled their mother far more than Juliet, and at least in Juliet’s perception she had always been more beautiful than herself. When they were school age and Juliet, striving to catch up with her sister, had grown almost to the same height, they would often dress in identical clothes and pretend to be tweens. It was a game, but Juliet deep in her heart truly desired to be identical to Madeleine.

But more than genetics, it was the memory of early life experiences that merged into a sense of shared fate and identity, into a unique bond. Together they had experienced the oddities of their family, the reassuring sweetness of the happy times, and the anxiety of the unhappy ones, when the parents quarreled, or worried about finances or other matters. And given their small difference in age and the fact that Juliet followed Madeleine like a shadow, the two sisters had lived common social experiences: friends and disappointments, boyfriends and betrayals. Facing together the early challenges of life had made it easier, at least for Juliet, who felt that she had an unwavering advocate in her sister. Madeleine, perhaps because of her beauty and sharp intellect, as well as her rank of first-born, grew into a confident and dominant personality. Juliet, on the other hand, born to a world where the spotlight was taken by the sister whom she adored, and naturally more inclined to please than to impose, developed a personality rather complementary to Madeleine.

Memories of childhood kept surfacing from the corners of Juliet’s brain that had been put aside in storage for many years. Juliet had been so busy, especially since the birth of her children, keeping up with her own life and years had passed before she hardly noticed that she had not seen Madeleine more than once or twice. Time contracts and expands in our perception, so that the first twenty years of life occupy the same space as the rest of it, no matter how long. Juliet indulged in recollections of the past, like a rainy autumn day when she saw Madeleine emerging first on the last stretch of the race to win. She was so genuinely happy for her sister’s unexpected triumph. Madeleine, on the other end, then 11 year old, swore that she would never do it again; she hated the mud where they had to run. This was Madeleine: the strong-minded and stubborn child that was turning into a difficult teenager, and then into a young woman “in control of everything”!

Madeleine’s early teenager years challenged their tight partnership, as Juliet struggled to understand the transformation of her sister. The beautiful large breasts grown on Madeleine’s chest were loathed by the girl, causing Juliet to feel lucky and even guilty that her own had not grown as much, a perception that of course would change with time. Madeleine went through a period of withdrawal, during which she appeared to be fighting with nature over the control of her own body. She often refused to go out, gained weight by eating chocolate all day long, then lost it becoming almost anorexic. Poor Juliet was so concerned about her sister that she had no time to worry about her own physical transformation. For the first time in her short life she had to get her own friends, as Madeleine had none anymore. And the more Madeleine refused to ski, skate, run, swim and do all of the activities that they used to do together, the more Juliet became active, to compensate for her sister inactivity. The high school gym teacher loved Juliet and one year when there was a shortage of girls involved in track and field she had Juliet compete on all possible games, taking advantage of the inability of Juliet to say no.

But in her late teens the intelligent Madeleine emerged from her fight with nature as a winner. Struggles are necessary to give depth to our confidence and test the sturdiness of our resolve. Madeleine’s confidence grew; fueled by her academic success, and the acceptance of her body gave her a new sense of power, realizing that she had become a beautiful young woman. However, she rarely found satisfying relationships, despite the many suitors. Her high standards, challenging intelligence and a certain intransigence made it difficult for her to find a mate she admired enough to fall in love. On the other hand, Juliet was tolerant, adaptable, energetic and keen to please, and such a confortable partner that her boyfriends would never want to leave her, and she had to scramble out of relationships she had grown tired of. As time passed, Madeleine left home to study at the university and became absorbed by her passion for science and a successful but demanding career. Juliet, who was equally intelligent and successful in school, gave up potentially more rewarding jobs to accommodate the needs of the man she eventually married.

Juliet’s thoughts slowly dissolved in a dreamy haze while her eyes closed, and she fell asleep, her chin resting on top of her crossed hands resting on the back of the chair near the bed where Madeleine was still fighting for her life.