Chapter 2

Linda took a short walk around the floor for a few minutes to stall for time. She was supposed to be signing some papers and wanted it to look good. In reality, however, she was trying to process what Dr. Kensington had told her.

Three young lives, snuffed out simply because they were enjoying the day. Sure they made a bad decision in driving while drinking, but being killed in such a horrific manner seemed unjustly harsh.

She wondered what the families of the three young boys was going through. She felt her heart breaking over the thought of such a waste. She tried to put herself in their place. What if it had been one of her children in the car?

The thought was too awful to consider. She decided that Dr Kensington was absolutely right – Steve mustn’t find out about the fate of the three boys until they was sure he could handle it. Linda remembered Steve playing with Michael in the front yard just a few days before he left for this business trip.

Michael had just turned eight and was getting into baseball. Steve and Michael were playing catch outside, enjoying a rare moment when he hadn’t been working lately. Linda began feeling sad, she felt responsible for his having to work so hard.

Maybe if she had been a little less demanding, he wouldn’t have had to take that damn business trip in the first place! Maybe if she hadn’t pushed him so hard and complained about how some of her other friends had more money and more nice things, he wouldn’t have felt the need to work harder to give her the same comforts as her girlfriends bragged over!

She felt very small and very petty. She walked slowly back to her husband’s room, almost afraid to go in for fear that he would see her and read her demeanor. She didn’t want him to know she was sad, because then he would want to know why and it would involve letting him know about the outcome of the accident. So she stood at the door for a moment and mustered up a reasonable attempt at a smile before walking in.

“What took so long?” Steve asked, as she came in the room.

“Oh, I had to sign the papers and then I called to check on the kids,” she said quietly. She hated lying to him, but she knew it was for his own benefit.

“Tell me about us. Tell me how we met and about how it’s been for us since then. I don’t remember anything and it’s driving me crazy!” he said with an obvious sense of exasperation.

“Okay, well let’s see ... how we met. Hmm ... Well you and I have known each other for a long time. We both grew up in the same town and went to the same school for most of our childhood. In fact, my maiden name was Wilson so in junior high school and high school our pictures were right next to each other.

“Our parents thought it was quite charming, the two of us growing up together and then falling in love. We had what everyone called “the storybook love”. You was on the football team in high school – a tight end, I think you called it – and I was a member of the cheerleading squad. We went to the prom together ... the whole thing. It was almost like a romantic movie or a fairy tale.”

“It sounds like it,” Steve said, listening to the story.

“Yeah, well even fairy tales have their bumps. After high school, you went off to the Navy and I got a scholarship to Washington State University. We kept in touch for a while, but the letters started coming further and further apart until they just seemed to fade away completely.

“After you got back from the Navy, you tried to look me up, you went over to my old house and my folks told you that I was in Washington. I had found someone else by then and we was seeing each other pretty regular. We weren’t engaged yet, but I had hopes at the time.

“Anyway, you called me one day and told me that you came back to Sioux Falls, where we had lived to see me, but I had moved to Pullman, Washington. You got a job there in Sioux Falls as an advertising agent with AAG where you still work today. I was in class one day prepping for an exam when there was a knock on the door. The professor went to answer it and it was you.

“You came into the room and walked up to my desk. You reached down to pull me up and into your arms and carried me out of the class just like in a romantic movie, to the applause of everyone in the room ... except maybe the professor!” she said, smiling shyly.

“Really? I did that? Sounds pretty corny!” Steve said.

“Oh it was! It was delightfully corny!” Linda said, grinning broadly “So much so that I dropped out of school the very next day and came back to Sioux Falls with you. It was a ‘proposal’ I couldn’t resist, and we were married about 3 months later.

“We started our married life in a small two bedroom apartment with the very basic of furniture and belongings. Our kitchen table was a folding card table and our front room consisted of a secondhand rocking chair and a bean bag chair. Our bed was two mattresses on top of each other. And we had milk crates for shelves and storage. But it was our place, and we had all we needed.

“As you got promoted and got better and better assignments, our economic situation improved. A few years down the road and we were able to buy our current house. We had Michael just before we moved. In fact it was because of him we moved ... the apartment was too small for all three of us.

“Then, a couple of years later, we had Cindy. And that is where we are now. The four of us still live in the same city you and I grew up in. The town has gotten a lot bigger since we were kids, but it’s still pretty much the same place.”

“I see,” Steve said. “So we were born in Sioux Falls?”

“Well you were. My family moved there from Georgia when I was about six. In fact, that’s how we met. My family was moving in when you came down the street on your bike and saw our moving truck. You was talking with the moving man when I came out. Once you saw me, that was it, we were destined to be together!”

“Interesting,” Steve said. “So we’ve been married how long?”

“It will be 10 years this June,” Linda replied.

“Okay one more thing that I’m wondering about. How did this accident happen?” Steve asked.

Linda took a deep breath. She had to do this tactfully so as not to say too much, but she had to answer the question to his satisfaction. “Well you have been working very hard on a big advertising promotion for a huge client. You have put in a lot of extra hours to get this contract.

“You finally got the presentation finished and approved by your agency and you had to go to Chicago to present it to the client. You had been in Chicago for almost a week and finally got the contract signed. You were on your way home when the accident happened.

“Instead of flying home like you did to get to Chicago, you told me you were going to drive because the next flight would have been the next day and you could drive home quicker than waiting for the flight. Only you...”

Linda choked up a bit as she spoke, “never made it home. I was sitting at home waiting for you to come through the door when I got a call from the Illinois State Police telling me you were in an accident. Dad arranged a flight for me to get here – I was a complete wreck – and I’ve been here ever since. My sister volunteered to watch Michael and Cindy and I have called them every day since I’ve been here to talk to them.”

Linda couldn’t hold back the tears anymore and she put her head on his chest and cried.

“Oh Steve, I am so sorry!” she sobbed “I have been such a whiney little bitch! And you don’t deserve that. I’ve been so jealous of the other girls and what they have that I haven’t appreciated all that I have.

“And I’ve bitched and complained about why we can’t have this, and why we can’t do that, that it drove you to bust your ass trying to make me happy. When I should have been happy just to have you.

“I drove you to work so hard and then complained that you didn’t spend any time with us. Steve, this is all my fault. If I had only been happy with what we had, you would have never had to go to Chicago and you wouldn’t be in this bed right now!

“It’s because of me and my constant nagging that you are here instead of home with me and the kids!” As Linda cried on his chest, Steve put his hand on her head and stroked her blonde hair softly.

“No Linda, this isn’t your fault. I probably should have taken that plane home. Then I wouldn’t have been on the road that day. You can’t blame yourself, you couldn’t have seen what would happen.

“At any rate, I will be fine. My legs will heal and the doctor says in time I will remember everything. I’ll have to be in a wheelchair until I can walk again, but it’s not like I still play football anyway! And I’m sure I can find some hot blonde willing to push me around!” he said, winking at her. Linda stopped crying and smiled as she wiped her eyes.

“Why not, I’ve been pushing you around for years. I have experience!”

A couple of days later, Linda was taking Steve outside for a walk around the hospital grounds. He was able to get around in his wheelchair and the fresh air was making him feel better. He still couldn’t remember anything about his life before the accident, but he was taking it one day at a time and thankful that he had Linda there to help him. As they got back to the room, Dr Kensington came by for a visit and to look in on him.

“How are you doing today, Steve? he asked.

“Not bad. Linda and I just got back from a little trip outdoors,” Steve said.

“That’s great. A little sun on your face is a good thing. How are the legs?”

“So far, they’re still attached!” Steve said, with a grin.

“Good to know. And how about the rest of you? Any aches and pains?” the doctor asked.

“No I’m feeling pretty good body-wise. I just wish this snowglobe on my shoulders would clear up.”

“Well, give it time. At least the here and now looks good, even if your history is still a bit cloudy.”

“I guess. But it sure is aggravating not knowing your past. Everyone I meet is a stranger even though they know me. It’s an unfair advantage,” Steve said with a tinge of frustration in his voice.

“I can imagine. But maybe I can make the day better for you. You are doing well enough now that we can release you tomorrow. You’ll be able to go home and finish your recovery there. You’ll have to check in with your local hospital once or twice a week, but maybe being home again will jar that memory of yours. At the very least, you’ll be home with your family again.”

“That’s great news,” Steve said, looking up at his wife.

“The kids will be so happy to have their Dad back home!” Linda said, excitedly.

“I thought that might make your day,” Dr Kensington said.

“It did. I can hardly wait to get home and see what ‘home’ is like. It’s either going to make all this make sense or it’s going to be just as confusing there as it is here. Either way, I don’t see how it could be any worse!” Steve said.