Chapter 07

"These are two and a half and five pound weights." Jessica said.

Alex was seated in one of the La-Z-Boys, in the fully upright position. Jessica held out the smaller weights, and Alex took one in each hand. He rested his forearms on his thighs, then lifted the one in his right hand. It went up fairly easily, as he curled his arm in and up, bringing the dumbbell up to eye level, holding it. After a few seconds he was unable to keep it up, lowered it. He tried the left one. He still had a pain in his left arm, and it felt weaker. He remembered something.

What? He was tied to the bed. Tied with wire. Thin wire. Like the old clothesline his mother had. What's that doing here? He couldn't move his legs at all. Spread out, so just a couple inches from the bed rails. Arms a little looser, enough that his left arm was twisted over in an unnatural position. Woke up like that, couldn't move enough to reach the call button. Right arm tighter than the left. Pain was pretty bad, but the feeling of helplessness was worse. Why was he tied up like this? He tried to recall his last memory, of before he found himself here. Something there in his memory. Should be there. Why?

Couldn't lift the left one. Got it up, just a few inches above his leg. No further. He let go of the one in his right hand, used his right arm to assist the left one. Got it up a bit. Up almost to shoulder level. Got to let it down.

"That's bad."

"Try your right again." Jessica said.

He grasped the dumbbell again. Raised it. Not too bad. Probably couldn't do it more than a few times. He tried the left again. Same result.

"It may take a while. Let's try it later."

Jessica put the weights on the floor.

"Want to do some work?"

"Yeah. Try again later."

Jessica positioned the walker and he pulled himself up. Jessica handed him his cane. Moved to the desk.

"You're going to make it." she said. "It's just going to take some time."

Alex got into his chair, moved to the desk.

"I'm going to work on your records. Call if you need me."

He booted the other new computer from the USB stick he had burned with Mint 21. Got the install going. Moved to one of the old ones, prepared a backup for transfer.

Waiting for the backup to run. Over 300. Probably a lot of it not necessary, but best to have everything. A lot to reconstruct.

Can I reconstruct sixty years of life? How do I do that?

The stuff was in there somewhere. Like having the cables in the data center pulled out, some put back in the wrong places, some left out.

And what if some of them had been cut? A piece of equipment removed. A router setup trashed.

I somehow remember what that stuff is. Kind of. I started using my computers like nothing had happened. Except I'd been asleep for almost a year.

Almost a year. A year of my life I can't afford.

Someone had done something bad to him. Why? Why tie him to a bed? With wire? Wasn't those padded cuffs and straps. He'd had red rings around his wrists where the wire almost cut them. And Jessica told him, so did Charlie and Sam, they were there when he was completely out. Sat there and watched him for hours and he didn't move or make a sound. Something wrong here.

He unmounted the stick, plugged it into Savanna. He'd named the first of the new computers Jessica. Where'd he get that name? He just naturally named the first one Jessica. She know anyone named Savanna?

Come to think of it, who was he supposed to know? Besides his sisters, and Jessica? Doug? Yeah, try to visualize. Bring it back.

He started the file copy, moved back to the old computer. Open a terminal window.

Here's my home directory, /home/alex. I remember all the computer stuff. That's encouraging. Why don't I remember people? Places?

He wasn't even sure he remembered Jessica. He assumed she was part of his life, like his sisters, because they were all the life he'd had since he woke up.

When we went to the farm I felt like I recognized it. I think I did. Knew somehow it was mine. Part of my life. What else do I have?

His house in Paragould. This house was rented. Half a mile down Perry Road, off 63. Outside town. Small working-class area, fairly new houses. Small subdivision, probably less than twenty years old. Jessica had rented it in her name. Talked about transferring the guardianship, but that meant more court stuff. Talked to Sam several times a week, Charlie too. She was thinking about buying one of the properties they owned and moving there. Their parents had left the farm and some smaller properties to them, one of them was a small place in Wynne. He'd gone to school in Wynne, didn't remember anything about it. School or anything else.

Going to his farm had seemingly stirred some memories. Probably he should have Jessica take him out to visit the others. He'd been sitting here, day after day. Go to town maybe once a week.

"You reading my mind?" he asked, as Jessica walked in.

"Why?"

"I was just thinking of you. Didn't know if I could call loud enough for you to hear me."

"I was just thinking of you," she said, "but then I always am."

She walked around behind his chair. Leaned over, her head next his, cheeks touching. Her long hair falling over his shoulder. Gently kissed him.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I need to get out some. See people. See places. When we went out to the farm, it seemed to bring some things back. Not much, but some."

"Where do you want to go first?"

"I was just thinking about Doug. I can remember the stuff about work, but I don't remember him. We worked together for, what, over ten years? Or anyone at the office. We might go over and visit, see if it helps."

"Want to go tomorrow? I'll call Alysin and see if there's a good time. We can have lunch. I don't know if Doug is still there, Alysin didn't say how much notice he gave. Emma and Frank would be happy to see you too.

"That'd be a good start. Who's Savanna?"

"No one I know of right off. What made you think of that name?"

"Dunno. I was naming the new computers, used yours of course for the main one. Then, that was the next name I thought of."

"What are the old ones named?"

"Melissa and Vanessa".

"Hmmmm. Notice anything?"

"The names have seven letters. One letter doubled. Three syllables."

"Guess I'm strange."

"It could be part your ASD. People with autism are often attracted by patterns, order in things."

"Autism?"

"You really don't have any memory at all, do you?"

"Apparently not. I'm not even sure I'll remember this tomorrow."

"You got used to using your computers pretty quickly. That's encouraging. Maybe things will come back as you have contact with them again. Like your farm."

"What about..?"

"If you don't have.. can't access for now, memories of your past life... you were diagnosed with Asperger's. It's a long story, we'll have to talk about it tomorrow. Maybe it'll help. It will help."

"OK. It's gonna be a long trip. Can I have a drink and some cookies?"

She smiled. She hadn't been doing that much lately.

"Your sense of humor is intact. Yeah, let's go to bed. I'll call Alisyn in the morning, see about a date."