Dream // Van McCann

7. You're a Fucking Genius

A waitress came to our table to take our order. She was kind and accommodating but the fact that she was faceless creeped me out. We frantically looked at the menu but then remembered it was gibberish.

"I'll have that," I said, pointing to the strawberry milkshake. I pushed the menu towards Roman and the waitress looked at him which instantly made him nervous.

"I'll have one of those as well, thank you." Roman handed her the menu and she walked away. "How do you know she's alive?"

"She wrote me a letter that was dated past the day she supposedly died. It was a case of mistaken identity. Someone really did die that day but the public wanted it to be her."

"But how can that happen? I thought medical examiners need to positively identify the body by DNA or dental records."

"Fuck if I knew. She was a media sensation. Everyone wanted it to be her and the investigators told them what they wanted to hear."

"And how do you feel about it? Are you happy she's alive?"

He stared at me curiously, gauging my reaction. He didn't mean anything by his question. I came to him for closure, wanting to find her house and the cliff she jumped off of and he wanted to help me. And now that I know she's alive, I should be happy but I can't be. Not until this mess is fixed.

"I'm happy she's alive but not with the way she cheated death."

"Are you going to talk to her?" he asked. I smiled at his question.

"I sent her a letter a week ago. Do you think she'll respond?" Roman smiled back.

"Only time will tell."

-

My eyes fluttered open and I sat up, taking my mask and probes off. I turned to Roman who was doing the same. Before we woke up, I filled him in on what happened in Portugal and everything began to make sense to him. And then at the end, I asked him not to tell anyone as I wasn't sure she was really alive.

The nice thing was that he said he'd ask his mother-in-law about the people living in the house just to see if she knew something we didn't. She'll probably be suspicious about his sudden interest in the house. First, he asked for the address and now he'll ask about the people who live there. My hope is that she's seen them recently.

I told Roman he could go home but he lingered around to help me clean up. He helped me put away the probes and anesthesia while I saved the experiment, and then he told me he'll see me next week. We said goodbye and stared at each other for a moment. He nodded his head which meant he'll remember to ask his mother-in-law and for a brief moment, I felt hopeful about the situation I was in. It's the worst waiting for someone to reply. There's nothing you can do but wait.

Not in the mood to work, I opened a new report and began typing in the details of Roman's dream in bullet points so I'll remember what to write tomorrow. My motivation to do work was totally shot and it never recovered since I came back from Portugal. My mind was always somewhere else.

When I came home, I could smell whatever Florence was cooking in the hallway which reminded me of how hungry I was. I unlocked the door and kicked off my boots and stood there in the hallway, watching her. She never hears me come home because she's always blasting music. Said the music makes cooking more fun and I'm surprised my neighbor hasn't complained yet, though I don't doubt Florence can charm her way out of trouble. Florence turned around and jumped when she saw me.

"You've got to stop doing that," she complained, turning the volume down. She was wearing an old T shirt with her hair in a pile on top of her head. I removed my bag and set it on the couch and shrugged off my jacket.