Chapter 37

Royce and I were having lunch on the patio of the Marina's Clubhouse. It wasn't nearly as fancy as it sounded. The facility was owned by the city, and the clubhouse was actually the office, It's function was to collect the owner's fees to launch their boats. Also the fishermen paid a fee to fish in the reservoir. If there had been a charge for eating Dog House hot dogs, I would not have been on the patio. Actually I was surprised that there was not a fee of some kind.

"Well you have been out thirty days, how do you think it is going?" Royce asked over his hot dog.

"How is what part of it going?" I asked.

"Well how is your memory?" he asked.

"About the same, you know that. I have to admit, there has been some slight improvement. The main thing I notice, is that I don't need to write a note on my hand to remind me to check the file every morning. I also know where I keep the coffee now. I don't have to search for it as I did when I first came out of the hospital. So here is what I think so far," I said. "I think things I do everyday tend to stay with me. What would happen if I didn't make coffee for a month is anybody's guess."

"Well the thing about waking up and knowing that you have to check the file is a huge improvement in my book. Do you know where you are when you wake up?" he asked.

"Yes, but I still have no idea how I got there. I mean did I go out the night before and kill kittens before you rescued me. For that I have to check the journal," I explained.

"Well you might never get it all back, but every little bit helps. Maybe it's like building a brick walkway. You have to do it one brick at a time." he suggested.

"Well aren't you Mary Sunshine today?" I asked. I had no idea where the Mary Sunshine came from, but I knew that it was appropriate. Many times what I said was not appropriate at all.

"Be positive that's what I have learned," Royce said.

"Good for you. So what is on the afternoon schedule?" I asked. Royce and Sam kept me on track. I had too many things to try to work on and I had no memory of my next move most of the time.

"You are closing a loan for a couple who are expanding their thrift store at 2PM. After that you are pretty much free to do anything you want," Royce said.

"Didn't you tell me this morning you had a meeting with your P.O. today?" I asked,

"It's not a scheduled thing, I just have to go by and tell him everything is the same," he said.

"Would you like for me to go along and tell him what a hell of a job you are doing?" I asked.

"Coming from the woman who took a cop for a drive in the river, it might not help much," he suggested.

"Let me kill one fucking cop and I never hear the end of it," I said in my fake whiny voice.

"So okay you leave me at the office and head on to your meeting with the P.O." I had a feeling there was more to it than a parole officer hearing. Royce often left me at the office while he went out to do something on his own. Since life without Royce was almost unimaginable, I let him have all the time off he wanted.

I had resurrected the electric tricycle I had purchased months ago. When I made the purchase I just planned to go green a little. By the time I had thirty days out of the hospital, I realized that the trike was my best bet for transportation. I could con Royce or one of the kids into a ride, if I needed to go somewhere the trike wouldn't handle. My life was pretty well in hand, when the couple came into my office after lunch for their loan closing.

The man was at least fifty years old maybe even sixty. The woman was in her early thirties. I would have been upset, if I had remembered that Jeff's new wife was a beauty shop blond of about the same age. I didn't have his new wife in my gallery of photos, which I reviewed everyday. One thing I found interesting, was that from waking until I went to sleep the same night, nothing I saw of heard was forgotten. It was just overnight when I lost it all.

The couple was Jason and Marie Williams, I found by reading the documents which had been prepared by Sam. "So Mr and Mrs Williams you are planning to expand your business." I found that from the summary Sam always prepared for me. It was done so that it appeared to the client as if I did the work myself.

"Yes," the older man said. "We are planning to double our space and double our inventory. You will have to come see us sometime."

"Yes you will," the blond said flashing me a different kind of smile.

"Sure, I love to shop," I said.

"I bet that isn't all you love," the man said getting into his wife's game.

"I love lots of things. Some are more fun that others, but most things can be fun on some level." I replied.

"Thy most certainly can," the little blond said. I call her little because she was petite. She couldn't have been even five feet tall. She was gorgeous but she most likely would not age well. Little old ladies just can't seem to pull it off like average sized ones. None of that mattered at the moment because she was still a beauty.

"So Ms. Avery are you open minded?" The gorgeous blond asked.

"Everyone likes to think they are open minded," I suggested.

She looked at her husband and he nodded. "We have friends over on Saturday nights, would you like to be one of our friends?" Jason asked me, but he was looking at Marie for her approval.