brain sometimes does what it wants. Okay? Now we can get into some deep medical conversation here. We can talk about lobes, nerves, anything you’d like. In my opinion, we need to just give this a little time. The good news is that it appears Winter has all her motor functions. As far as the memory goes… we’ll have to wait and see. I’m sorry.”
“The amount of money this is costing me, you better come up with something better than that,” Dad yelled.
The doctor then stormed out of the room.
The nurse moved toward Dad and touched his arm. “Jack, please… you know everyone is doing their best here.”
I watched the way she touched his arm.
And then Dad touched the nurse’s face.
“You’ve been amazing, Leslie,” he whispered.
He then leaned in and kissed her forehead.
I gasped.
I guess they forgot I had no memory… because this is weird.
So the nurse is Leslie. And Leslie and Dad are…
Leslie broke away from Dad.
“Why don’t you go make a few calls, Jack?” Leslie offered. “I’ll stay with Winter. I’m sure her friends are going to be thrilled she’s awake.”
Friends?
Dad looked at me. He smiled. “No worries, my sweet Winter, you’re going to be okay. If I have to spend the rest of my life going over every moment, memory, picture… I will.”
I had the sudden urge to cry.
Dad loved me. I could see it. But I couldn’t feel it.
How strange…
Dad left the hospital room and I moved a little in my bed.
Everything hurt.
“Let me help,” Leslie said.
She rushed to my side and I sat up a little more.
I looked at her. “So he’s my father…”
“Yes,” Leslie said. “He’s been here the whole time. He talked to you. He watched TV with you. You have a good father, Winter.”
I reached with my left hand and touched Leslie’s hand.
“He’s my father. He kissed you. So you’re… Mom?”
Another wave of emotion attacked me.
Leslie pulled her hand away.
She shook her head.
Leslie wasn’t my mother.
But she was dating my father.
Which meant my parents were split up. Or maybe my mother was dead.
I had no idea.
I had no idea about anything.
The rest of the day was spent trying to figure stuff out.
Apparently I was really lucky.
Something happened with my SUV - Tank - and I went off the road going at full speed. The vehicle was completely destroyed and I was found outside the SUV, a bloody mess. The back of my head was shaved in an area where I had to have staples put in.
It was very weird because I knew what all of that meant.
But to look at someone, it meant nothing.
Leslie helped me from the hospital bed just before dark and I walked to the window in a lot of pain, but I wanted to see the sunset.
I knew what a sunset was.
I knew the planets.
My favorite was Jupiter.
Leslie asked me why and I told her because of the red spot.
She touched my back and told me I was doing great.
Dad paced the hospital room too much. He looked afraid to come near me, which made me feel bad that I couldn’t remember him.
I watched the sun go down as day became night.
Leslie hugged me and said she would see me tomorrow as her shift was over.
She and Dad kissed goodbye and did the whole touching of each other’s hands thing… where you touch as long as you could before you had no choice but to break your hands apart.
They really liked each other.
When Leslie left the room, Dad looked at me.
“How long have you two been together?” I asked.
“A year.”
“How did you meet?”
“I sort of blew myself up.”
“What?”
Dad frowned. “You don’t remember it. It was your favorite story to tell. I was working with a circuit on something I was inventing and-”
“Inventing?”
“Yes, Winter. I’m an inventor. Engineer. Inventor. I don’t know what you want to call it.”
“You yelled at the doctor about money… does that mean…”
Dad smiled. “I guess if I have to say this in a certain way… I’m filthy rich. You will remember it someday but there are late night informercials that sell all kinds of products. A lot of those I’ve invented. That’s what I do. I’ve always done it. But to get back to your original question, I was working on something and it exploded in my hands. I burned my hands and arms, and parts of my face. Leslie was the nurse who took care of me. When I asked her how ugly my face looked, she told me I was the most