Chapter 52

When I got to her house at six, I found Shawn excited to see my trike. At seven years old of course he wanted to ride it. I had to explain that he was a hair too young. "You have to shave to ride a trike with a motor, It's the law," I explained rather glibly.

"So what do you shave?" he asked innocently.

"Shawn, you know women shave their legs and under their arms. You have seen me do that," Wilma said. sure I wanted to ask if that was all she shaved but I kept quiet.

"You will have to wait until you shave your face the way grown up men do. Then I will let you take it around the block." I said

"Do you promise?" he asked.

"I promise. So what's for dinner?" I asked.

"Lasagna," Shown informed me. "Do you like lasagna?"

"To be honest, I think so. Your mom and I have had dinner before and she knows most of what I like to eat. I am going to trust her on this one." I replied.

"Mom told me that sometimes you forget things. She said you were a hero and got hurt saving someone's life." Shawn said.

"To be honest Shawn, that is one of the things I forgot," I replied.

"Well, I don't think you have to remember, as long as we do," he said all serious.

"That sounds good, you can be my memory. If I ask you, do I like lasagna. Next time you can tell me whether I do or not." I suggested.

"I can do that," he said. "We are also going to have that fancy toast stuff."

"Cool," I said with no idea what he was talking about.

"Here this is for you, do not open it until you get home," Wilma said handing me the white envelope. It was the right size for a check to be inside, so I assumed that the size of the check was her party answer.

"Good, I love a mystery," I said to her smiling. "So you came home and slaved over a hot stove. How long are we going have to wait for dinner?" I asked worrying a little about the ride home in the dark.

"It's made in the crock pot, so it has been cooking since I came home for lunch. It is done now, and I'm about to put the garlic toast into the oven. So go fix yourself some iced tea and have a seat at the table." she demanded.

The dinner was excellent. Not only that I found the conversation with Wilma and Shawn to be fun and informative. I wouldn't remember it the next day, but it was still fun and informative as it happened.

When I left at 8 pm, Shawn and Wilma both came out to watch me ride away. I enjoyed showing off for them. I suppose there was at least a little bit of exhibitionist as well as voyeur in me. The ride home too about twenty minutes putting me in my condo a little after 8:30PM. It took a few minutes to secure the trike in the storage area of the building.

When I finally got to my apartment, I put some of my slightly old coffee into the Microwave. Since I was curious, but also cautious, I made a big deal out of opening the envelope. The check inside was for five hundred dollars and a hand written not which said. "I will pick you up sometime after 8PM on Saturday night.

I awoke on the next Friday morning with no memory of Thursday at all. It wasn't unusual for that to be the case. A real memory of the day before would have been unusual. My schedule advised me that I would be headed to the office to stir the mash. Since I didn't have to look up mash or my office, I considered it a good day. I did look up breakfast to find out what I usually did for breakfast. I decided to do something different that morning.

I remembered what pancakes were and knew that I liked them. What I had to look up was where to get good ones. Since I didn't have a note in my life file, I went to the Internet. I found a local chain with only three locations. It was highly rated, but not so high as to frighten me away. I also found a map to the place, so that I knew where to head. I had a great short term memory which held up a until I went to sleep, so I didn't bother with GPS on the trike.

I found 'Texas Mike's Pancake House' without any problem. It was also inside my power zone.

"What can I get you?" the young black waitress asked.

"I would like a big stack of pancakes with greasy sausage," I informed her.

"You want the five cake stack or more than that?" she asked.

"Let's start with the five stack and see how it goes," I suggested.

I got through half the of the five stack before I realized, I had over estimated my ability to eat in that kind of volume. I returned home to be miserable for a couple of hours. I long stay in the bathroom solved most of my problems. I hadn't had more than a teaspoon of sugar a day for many months. That morning I had about a pound, I think.

It took till noon for me to be sure that I was back to normal. That being the case I planned my trip to the office. It was after 1PM before I got the trike out for a second try at the office. I managed it and even managed to stir both buckets of mash before I headed back to the condo. Once I got home I didn't leave again that day. I was too afraid of an emergency bathroom need, and no place to find one.

I made a note under breakfast in the computer file. 'Do not eat pancakes and greasy sausage ever again.' It seemed like the right thing to do. After that message I fell into bed and then to sleep. As usual, if I dreamed, I didn't remember it.