Chapter 13

I had been home a week when I removed the tiny pink computer from my large black backpack. I had seen it when I removed the cold weather gear, but I just couldn’t remember why I had it. I couldn’t remember buying it, and I didn’t remember the general giving it to me. But then all of a sudden when I was on my, now five mile morning ride, it came to me. There was a full copy of his agreement with the state department on the hard drive. I was curious of course. I tried to turn it on but nothing happened. It had gone several months without a charge.

I knew someone who could easily figure it out, or at least could find someone who could. But something about that didn’t sit right, and I didn’t know why. My mind was still a wheel of Swiss cheese. My memory didn’t change from day to day. It would come and go almost hourly.

While I still had it on my mind, I checked on Google for the right adapter. I found several on Ebay for ten bucks or less, so I ordered one. While I waited the three days, I totally forgot about the computer. I had other more important things which I also forgot.

I still knew what a refrigerator was, and what a toaster oven did, I just couldn’t remember the days before the RPG blew up two cars. Yes I counted the Toyota along with the Porsche. At least that’s how I remembered it. When I could remember anything.

It seemed that all my after the coma memories were fine, it was just the Prague memories that were like Swiss cheese. During the first week I promised myself that I would make a decision about Tonya. I didn’t have to she made it for me.

She decided she didn’t want to babysit me as well as her daughter. Yes she knew I would likely function fine without a couple of weeks worth of memories. My body was beginning to get a little stronger, which gave me hope. It evidently wasn’t moving fast enough. She was very nice about it, but she assured me she had given it a lot of thought, and decided she needed to move on.

I just nodded, and let it go. At least I hadn’t confessed about Shepard, I thought. I also could slow down on my desire to ride ten miles out and ten back again. It was a goal I pushed back a bit. I had until the end of the summer to do that. What I did do, was to remove the scooter from the packing case. I managed to wrestle it outside on a very pleasant spring day. It started right up when I used the kick start. The battery had been dead of course. I left it to run at idle speed hoping it would charge the battery before it ran out of gas. After fifteen minutes I decided to ride to a gas station to see how my balance was.

When I put two bucks worth of gas in the tank, I decided to go grocery shopping. There was a Piggly Wiggly grocery store much closer to town than the Walmart. So I stopped there and filled my saddle bags with a few things. I missed Walmart, so I didn’t buy much. I would be fine in a couple of weeks. At the time I was absolutely sure of it. At least well enough to ride the scooter to Walmart. It might take a little longer to do it on a pedal bike, I realized.

When I got home I removed the saddle bags, then wrestled the bike into the box, and raised the side which had originally been the lid. When it was dried in. I carried the grocery purchases inside the house. It was a cold ride, but I decided that it was also very doable anytime I chose to go out. I still wanted the bike to be my first choice for short trips, but my joints ached each time I tried going past the five mile mark. I was sure I could make it in time.

A couple of days later I had learned to make cinnamon and raisin biscuits using something called ‘Grand’ canned biscuits. They were so good that they were dangerous. I could sit, with my day old coffee, and eat the whole pan. Like I said before I could handle a slow weight gain, but not an instant one.

The same day the charger for the pink computer arrived, Lucy2 and Tasha arrived. I was shocked to see Tasha without Nita. I thought they were an item.

“Hello old man,” Lucy greeted me.

“Well if it isn’t my two favorite agents,” I declared.

“You are just saying that because it’s true,” Tasha suggested.

“Of course it’s true,” I admitted. “Dominic isn’t my type.”

“I see you drove down,” I stated it after looking to my driveway. “So how about you drive us to dinner and I’ll buy.”

“Of course you will,” Tasha stated it strongly.

“So what do you feel like?” I asked.

“Dinner in a fancy hotel dinning room,” Lucy2 suggested. “Take a look in your bank account.”

We had plenty of time, so I looked at my online statements. “What the fuck,” I asked the chilly night air. “Were did all that come from.”

“Some of it is from Tasha’s father and some from Force Protection,” Lucy explained. “It seems they have a very good workers compensation plan. We don’t know the details but the insurance company made you a settlement. Nobody wanted to end up in court.”

“Damn, I was planning to sue them for some real money,” I replied. The two of them swore they didn’t know anything for sure. I didn’t plan to explain anything to them. I did plan to hide the money as soon as I got a chance to launder it.