"He's missing! Roberto is missing!"
It's Sara's agitated, tear-filled voice.
"Calm down Sara! What do you mean Roberto is missing?"
"Today, when I went back to see him, he wasn't in the room. I thought he was having tests: his clothes were all still there, but instead no one knew where he was. They searched the whole hospital. My God, I'm scared, Davide. What if something terrible had happened to him, like to those two porters? I don't even want to think about it and I don't know what to do!"
Heck, I'm worried too.
"Don't jump to conclusions."
Now what am I going to make up to reassure her?
"They confirmed on TV that the porters were mixed up in a nasty drug racket and that that was the work of a settling of scores and not a crazed killer."
Put like that, it should sound good.
It takes him a while to swallow the pill, but then the placebo effect sustains its effectiveness.
"Maybe you're right, I've definitely gone too far. But then what happened to Roberto? Where did he go?"
I haven't idea. In this instant, however, I know where I would send that idiot!
"Have you asked the authorities for help yet?"
Maybe he's wandering like an automaton down some alley.
"Yes, there were still some police officers at the hospital about yesterday's incident, and they helped me with the report, but I don't know what good that will do."
Jokes are fine, but a guy in a hospital gown roaming the streets with his eyes wide open I don't think is that hard to spot.
"Then don't worry, you'll see he'll be found soon enough. He must have had a lost moment. The important thing is that when he comes back, you stay very close to him, ready to help him."
And to the assistance of good psychiatrists. I suggest a dozen.
"Yeah, in fact, my husband and I were thinking about having him stay with us for a while."
"Good idea. Family members are more helpful in these cases than cold hospital facilities."
"You know, I've thought it through and I don't care what happened to him, now I just want to get back to a peaceful life."
Does he really think that ignoring is the right way to regain normalcy? Even these searches of mine have now skewed the concept I had of it. The beauty of it is that I'm looking for answers to questions that are still unclear, including why I want to get to the bottom of this.
"He'll be back the way he always was...have faith."
And may God hear us.