Riverside Sleep Center

Riverside Sleep Center is the cold-sleep facility where Dan Davis finds Frederica Virginia Heinicke’s name among the scheduled withdrawals and finally witnesses her awakening. Its rules of client confidentiality delay his access, while its carefully controlled withdrawal procedure makes the center the threshold between Frederica’s long sleep and the reunion Dan has pursued across time.

Identity and Setting

The Riverside Sleep Center, also called the Riverside Sanctuary, is a cold-sleep institution in Riverside Borough. The evidence presents it as a functioning sanctuary with committed clients, a director, a lobby, and staff who control access to clients and their withdrawal procedures. In Dan’s search it is not merely a destination: it is the place where a name in a newspaper becomes a living person he may still be able to meet.

The center enters the story through the withdrawal listings in the Times. In the Tuesday withdrawals printed on Wednesday, May 2, 2001, Dan sees “F. V. Heinicke” listed for Riverside. The initials and surname bring back a connection he had not consciously held in mind: Heinicke is the surname of Frederica’s grandmother. He cannot explain exactly where he acquired the information, but the printed entry makes the association click into place. The facility’s name in the listing gives that recovered clue a concrete address.

The Search and the Center’s Confidentiality

Dan immediately calls the Riverside Sleep Center, so excited and shaken by the possibility that he can hardly fit the information into the telephone slot. He asks for the Riverside facility and confirms that he has reached the sanctuary. When he identifies F. V. Heinicke as a new withdrawal, the man on the screen refuses to disclose client information by telephone, especially in the middle of the night. He advises Dan to call after ten or, better, to come in person.

Dan tries to narrow the request to the meaning of the initials. The employee hesitates, then consults a card and reads the name as “Frederica Virginia.” The confirmation overwhelms Dan: he nearly faints with relief. The exchange establishes both the center’s privacy rule and its limits. Staff do not freely identify clients, but Dan’s request for only the initials’ expansion is answered; that small disclosure is enough to transform a possible lead into certainty.

Arrival and Access

On Monday, April 30, Dan checks out and travels to Riverside, staying at the Mission Inn. The next morning, at ten o’clock, he presents himself to the center’s director, Dr. Rumsey. He gives his name as Daniel B. Davis and offers two documents for identification: a 1970 Denver driver’s license and his withdrawal certificate from Forest Lawn Sanctuary. He asks whether Frederica Heinicke is scheduled for withdrawal that day and whether he may be present at the final moment, when the last restimulant is given and consciousness returns. His request is carefully limited: he does not ask to take part in the processing routines, only to be there when she wakes.

The director verifies Dan’s identity and tells him he may wait in the lobby or return later; the staff will not need him for a couple of hours. Dan waits, then takes Pete for a walk, carrying the cat in a new travel bag fitted with a one-way window. When he returns at eleven-thirty, the staff finally let him in to see Frederica. The center’s timetable governs the meeting: Dan can identify himself and ask, but he must wait until the withdrawal process permits access.

The Awakening

At the bedside, Dan can see only Frederica’s face because her body is covered. He recognizes her as his Ricky, now grown, and sees her lying as if asleep. Dr. Rumsey explains softly that she is under posthypnotic instruction and says he will bring her up. He asks Dan to put Pete outside; Dan refuses. The director begins the awakening without the cat being removed, turning the center’s clinical procedure into the immediate scene of their reunion.

The Riverside Sleep Center’s defining role is thus a passage under institutional control. Its confidentiality initially keeps Frederica’s status from Dan; its identification procedures let him establish who he is; and its withdrawal routine determines when he can stand beside her. The contrast between the impersonal listing of initials and the face Dan recognizes gives the scene its force: the center’s records make the reunion discoverable, while its waking procedure makes it possible.