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This writing was accepted for publication in the 96 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book... “I Pull the Strings” Down in the Dirt (v121) (the Jan./Feb. 2014 Issue) You can also order this 6"x9" issue as a paperback book:

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Welcome Home

James Warner

    The voice on the other end of the line was crying, “I just don’t understand, Jared,” she choked on her tears as she tried to make sense of the situation, “Why would he have been driving? And so late at night. He’s been close to totally blind for years.” “I’m sorry, Catharine, I’ll be home as quick as possible,” I promised her.
    “It’s nearly midnight, how are you stuck in traffic?” she questioned through a sob. “There was an accident that shut down two lanes, shouldn’t be much longer now though,” the mention of a car accident stirred a sharp inhale that was audible over the phone. “Just hurry, please,” she hung up the phone without a response.
    Twenty minutes later I rolled into the drive way of a white stuccoed bungalow hoping that I had the right house, but with little certainty. I tried to picture the home that the young couple had invited me over to when they had first moved in a few summers ago, but even then my sight was beginning to fail me.
    I examined with scrutiny the greenness of the lawn and the vitality of the shrubbery-my lawn and my shrubbery- before stepping towards the front door and extending an arm to knock. I caught myself before the fist made contact with the door and a rush of foolishness fell over me. I patted my pockets for a moment until I found his house keys-my house keys. I inserted the key into the lock, but the door was already open. Katharine sat in a love seat adjacent to the door, bent over with her elbows on her knees and her slender hands hiding the gentle freckles of her face. Her face rose as I entered the room and the blueness of her eyes behind the streaking mascara running down her face failed to fill me with sympathy, but instead desire. Her pain filled me with a pride that I never thought I would be certain of. I had dreamed of it, but until I saw the image of her morning the sudden death of her long time mentor, it had all simply been the fantasy of one lonely old man.
    Katharine had walked over to me in my moment of reflection and began guided my arms into an embrace around her. Her unfamiliar touch startled me out of my thoughts and sent goose bumps across my skin. She noticed my reaction, but did not mention it. My palms sweat as they glided across the smooth pale skin of Katharine’s exposed shoulder. Her unfamiliar touch held firmly against the body that she had become so familiar with over the last five years. I still don’t understand why she had stayed with him for so long. He had been so immature, so obnoxious to her but also distant at the same time. I knew that Catharine had been the one to make the mortgage payments, even her engagement ring had been bought with the salary that I paid her. A lot had changed since my wife had passed away-my first wife, I reminded myself. It felt odd thinking of her that way. I would always love her, but the way I felt about this young woman in my arms was something I had never experienced before in eighty-eight years of life.
    “Patrick hasn’t been able to drive since even before we began to study the possibilities of memory implantation, what the hell was he doing cruising around in the middle of the night?” she questioned, not expecting an answer. “He cared about you deeply, you know that, right?” I asked while staring into her eyes, unwaveringly. The strength of my gaze made her feel uncomfortable. “I suppose,” she responded, “I don’t think he had very many people left that he was still close with. His wife passed away shortly after they married, so he never had children,” she said in a matter of fact voice that stung me even though I wasn’t quite sure why.
    “He made me his emergency contact,” she continued, “how sad that he would choose a co-worker,” her words laced with pity. “Just a co-worker?” the label twisted me like a wet shirt being rung, “You’ve worked together for over fifteen years. All those late nights in the lab together. None of that meant anything to you?” I was grasping at hope now, certainly she felt the same way, she just wasn’t ready to admit it yet. “Jared, what the fuck are you getting at? He was my boss and more than fifty years older than me. Not one single time did anything happen between us. I can’t believe you would think that I’d ever cheat on you,” fresh tears were forming under her eyes as a new form of hurt settled into her chest.
    I softy grabbed her face with my hands so that our eyes met just a few inches apart. “Katharine, you are a beautiful, honest woman, and I know that you would never cheat, even if you wanted to. That’s why I did this,” I started to explain, “I know you’ve always wanted to be with me, but my age,” I paused and looked at my firm, strong body with pride that forced a smile over my lips. “Jared, I don’t care if you bought a new shirt, I can’t deal with you right now. Patrick’s been dead for less than two hours and you’re already back into your own little world,” my hands trailed her skin until there was nothing but air as she left the room.
    “The procedure was a complete success,” I explained to her, “No side effects, no complications, minimal discomfort. And now look at me, here I am. We can be together now. Nobody ever has to know the truth. It can be just the two of us. The rest of our lives together, the wedding date is already set. If, I’m not mistaken we honeymoon in Cancun? Not my first choice, but it matters little to me. And children, I remember you telling me that he never wanted them. I lived life into old age without children once; I’d hate to do it again. We have the rest of our lives together, Katharine” I promised her, the euphoria dripping through my words.
    Katharine had remained frozen in place with her back to me in silence until the whisper of “Patrick always called me Katharine, I’ve never heard you call me anything other than ‘Kathy,” escaped her.
    “Ahhhh, now you understand,” I grinned. “I cracked the problem,” I explained, “The ability to transfer memories from one person to another has now been entirely solved. I told Jared to come to the lab to meet you this afternoon. The procedure went by without a hitch. Every last memory of mine stored in his cranium, all of his memories squeezed out and squished. My mind in that old withered body would have been redundant and depressing to look at, nothing a midnight drive through canyon country couldn’t fix though. So here I stand now. The man that you’ve been ashamed to love for so long in the body of the man that never deserved to be with you. Come to me.” Katharine swayed in place for a moment before crumpling to the ground.

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