Chapter 16: If This Be a Dream, Sleep On and Wake Me Not

I WOKE UP IN A STRANGE BED in a strange city. The sounds were not my sounds, the smells were not my smells. The warm soft body lying next to me was not my body.

Damn!

I sat up straight pulling the covers off the waking, naked form of Peg beside me. She opened her eyes and pulled me back down onto the pillow.

“How did I get here?” I asked.

“That’s an improvement,” she answered. “Last time it was ‘who are you?’ Remember anything?”

“Last time? How long have I been here?”

“No, you have to answer one to get one.”

“I remember...” Drowning. That’s what I remembered. Being knocked into the river and drowning, knowing I’d never see the light of day again. “ ... being pushed into the river.” I finished lamely.

“More like being catapulted,” she said. “There was no mistaking that the incredible hulk intended to kill you.”

“Intended to,” I repeated. “I’m not dead then?”

I don’t know what I expected, but the kiss she planted on me was not it. In fact it was like nothing I’d experienced in a long time. I didn’t make a move to break it and neither did she. After while she pulled away and asked softly, “Do you feel dead?” I most certainly did not.

“Have we been ... I mean did we... ?” I felt like an idiot.

“No. You haven’t been up to it so far. I haven’t given up hope, though.” She threw that off as if it was just a saying.

“How long have I been here?” I asked. She looked at her clock. It was nearly ten. I wasn’t sure if it was morning or night.

“About 34 hours,” she said calculating. “It’s Wednesday morning.”

“My God,” I said. “I need to check in. Riley will be panicked.”

“Don’t tell me Riley is your wife,” Peg moaned.

“No, my partner,” I answered.

“Thank goodness,” she said and rolled on top of me with another kiss. “I did not haul your ass out of that river and thaw your freezing body with my own for someone else.”

I blame it on the pollution in the Chicago River affecting my brain. I couldn’t for the life of me sort out my priorities just then. In fact, it was about half an hour before I could think at all.

Eventually the reality of my situation dawned on me and I struggled to separate myself from the warm and willing woman still nestled in my arms.

“I really need to make that call,” I said. “Where are my clothes?”

“You need clothes to make a phone call?” she handed me a bedside phone.

“I was going to use my cell phone and not call on your home line.”

“Only if it’s waterproof,” she answered. She slid out of bed and padded naked to the dressing table and picked up my cell phone. She brought it back and noted that I hadn’t begun to dial. I was simply staring. She smiled and pirouetted in place so I could see her from all sides. “I hope you like,” she said as she handed me my waterlogged device and slid back in under the covers. It didn’t take long to realize that the phone was ruined. I got up and dialed the office on Peg’s landline.

When she answered, I could tell she had been crying by the catch in her voice. “Riley, it’s me,” I said.

“Dag?” she sounded stunned. “Really? Is it you?”

“It’s me, Riley,” I repeated. “I’m fine. I wanted to let you know.” I wasn’t prepared for the stifled sobs I heard at the other end of the line.

“Your GPS blanked out in the Chicago River. I didn’t know until I came in yesterday. I thought you were dead,” she said through the choked voice that meant she was crying. “I called Jordan and he’s on his way to Chicago.” The calm control of her words belied the emotion I could hear in her voice. I don’t remember anyone caring about me like that.

“I wasn’t conscious,” I said. “I came to my senses enough to call you just now. Really, I’m okay now, but apparently I’ve been out of it for a day.”

“Thirty-five hours,” Riley whispered softly. “Dag, I thought I’d lost you.”

“Not this time,” I said. “But it was a close call. The big guy who brought the laptop to our office decided he wanted my computer in trade. He grabbed my laptop and dumped me in the river. Kiddo, I thought I was done for, too.”

“Where are you now?”

“I’m with a friend who hauled me out of the river and nursed me through the fever,” I said looking at Peg. It was not necessary to get into the details with Riley.

“Jordan is going to land this afternoon. He’ll want to see you.”

“As soon as he calls you, tell him that I’ve been found. I’ll see him tonight.”

Peg whispered to me. “Not unless you want to see him naked. Your clothes are at the cleaners.”

“Uhhh. Make that tomorrow morning, Riley. I’ll call him with directions. My cell is dead after being dunked. I suppose the GPS transmitter is too.”

“Yes. The signal went dark at 12:21 Central time yesterday morning. Dag, I thought...”

“I know Riley. I thought so too. You know Lars’s old saying about opening the floodgates?”