Brain Damaged in the Wonderful World part II

Henry sat in his cubicle pondering what he should do next. Just a few minutes earlier, he was on the phone, talking with a woman who believed she was his wife. He stared blankly at randomly pinned vacation pictures. Bewildered by the woman's story, he wondered if she was a hoax, or if she was for real. If the latter was true, then the situation had the potential for becoming dangerous.

She gave her name and number. Henry was surprised to find out that he, unconsciously, scribbled the information down on a sticky. He looked at the sloppy handwriting. It said Marla Solenski and the phone number was local.

In the phone conversation, she revealed very little about herself. All she kept saying, was how much she had missed him, and how much she could not wait for the reunion. When he asked her about where they had met, her answer was, Wholesale Pyrotechnics. The very same company that Henry presently worked.

Henry placed a call to Gina from human resources to see if it was possible to confirm her existence. Upon hearing Henry's story, she agreed to help, but said it would take an hour.

Henry opened up his web browser and began surfing to pass the time.

He happened upon the website of the 24 hour news station, GNCN. There was an article about ten marines being killed, when their humvee was attacked by insurgents. Henry thought about the shaky video footage he had seen on the television the night before, and wondered if this attack looked similar. The web page had a link to some video footage. With his internet connection just recently being upgraded to broadband service, the footage was quick to download. The footage was shot from a helicopter and it showed a black crater with smoke rising into in the desert sky.

It brought back memories of his encounter with a rocket propelled grenade back more than a decade before, during the gulf war. His theory being that it was friendly fire, but the official account being an enemy launched rpg. He rubbed his left thigh which still had a swath of metal shrapnel lodged in it.

Despite his past experience, Henry thought nothing of the new's footage. With modern day news coverage and all, it was nothing new. Not exceptional. Not emotionally stirring. Almost boring. While in his state of numbness, he realized that it was good that he was able to view the footage at all. The streaming video was a feat that could not have been performed on the old slower internet connection. He thought about his bright and shiny future with broadband internet access and smiled.



The ringing phone interupted his pleasure bathing. It was Gina from human resources. She had the results.

"What did you find Gina?"

"She actually did work here. Not that long ago either, it was like six-months ago. She worked a temp job in accounting. Has a picture with the file. You know, I could get in trouble for telling you this."

"I know Gina, but I have another favor to ask. Can I see the file?"

"Um, I guess so. Why do this all half-assed? If I am going to get fired, I am going all-the-way. Meet me at the water fountain."

"Alright, I am on my way." Henry hung up the phone and paused for a moment, while still processing the newly acquired information. He got up and began walking towards the water fountain and realized that he was walking the wrong way and corrected himself. As he walked the hall he began to image what this Marla Solenski could possibly look like, and whether or not he had seen her before. He made it to the water fountain and Gina was not there yet. Gina found him hunched over drinking water when she arrived.

As Henry drank, Gina leaned over and smacked him on his ass. Henry stood up straight and wiped the excess water from his mouth with his sleeve. "Here is the picture of your wife." Gina handed him the photograph.

Henry studied the photograph. On it was the image of an attractive young white woman with blonde hair and a slender build. The woman was familiar, although he could not place where he had seen her before. His mind shuffled through the possibilities. He thought maybe he had met her before during a night of heavy drinking at a bar, and that would explain the hazy familiarity. He thought that maybe he had caught a glance of her, while passing her in the hall sometime. The more he thought about it, the more he began thinking that perhaps he had seen her in a dream. But that would be absurd.

"No, I don't recognize her..." Henry said while handing the photograph back to Gina. "...you say she worked in accounting?"

"Yeah for about two months." Gina said, taking note on how long Henry looked at the photo. "She was a temp. When Sara returned from maternity leave, she was no longer needed."

"I see. That's interesting that she actually worked here. Is there anything else you could tell me about her?" Henry asked while he grabbed the photo for another look.

"She is 25 years old, she went to Detroit University,... just typical resume stuff."

"Wow, she is hot, don't you think. Too bad she is a nut."

"Maybe she was just fucking with you. Are you sure you don't know her?"

"No-", Henry said, while actually being undecided on whether he did or not, he continued, "- No, not really. However, she really seemed to believe that she was married to me."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

Gina rolled her eyes and gave out an audible sigh. She knew Henry, and knew what he was thinking. He was contemplating, calling this woman back to fuck her. As soon as he gets to a phone, he was going to call this mysterious young woman. And that she was going to scam him in some way. And that either she was going to get hurt or that she was going to get hurt. --

"What are you thinking about?" Henry interrupted. Gina looked up and decided to tell Henry what he needed to hear.

"I think that you are foolishly thinking with your dick." Gina replied with a matter-of-fact stare.

"You are right." Henry quipped with a hopeless grin planted on his face.

"Whatever, do whatever."

As Henry walked away, he turned around and said, "Hey Gina, don't let this get around the office. This is just between you and me."

"Sure. whatever."


Henry was not convinced that Gina was going to keep her mouth shut but there was nothing else he could do to help prevent it. Besides, his mind was firmly fixed on the image of the young woman, whose name was Marla Solenski, who happens to be a stunning beauty, and is convinced that she is married to him. He was consumed with her picture and all of the soft light bouncing around her flawless porcelin skin, her pink lips, and shiny blonde hair. 'I bet she went to that glamour shots place at the mall', he thought. His next series of thoughts were about all of the different ways that he could have possibly met her before. Afterall, she knew him, and he somewhat remembered her.

He stopped by accounting where a group of middle-aged women sat smoking and crunching numbers. They said that they remembered the young pretty woman. That she did a good job and seemed normal. They added that she was polite. When he inquired about her having a relationship, they said that she was dating someone in the company but they had no idea who.



When Henry got to his desk, he found that he could no longer do his job. He typed numbers into the spreadsheets and then lost track of where he was and started over again. His mind was not functioning properly with the distraction sitting on it. One part of him was soaring and wanted to meet her, the other part was tugging on the other's leg, trying to bring him back down to reality. And then he made his decision.

'This is ridiculous. I am being stupid, Gina was right, now is the time to end this...' Henry thought and dialed Marla's phone number to put an end to it all.

She picked up after two rings.:


"Hello?"

"Marla, this is Henry from Wholesale Pyrotechnics. I found out that you did work here, but that does not matter. I don't know if you are seeing a psychiatrist right now or what, but that is something that you should really look in to. Because I am definitely not married to you. Don't you think that I would know if I was married or not and to which woman I was married to? "

"Henry-"

"Wait, I am not finished. Although your story was very interesting, I am calling to tell you to not to bother me... anymore...." Henry's voice faded off into silence. To say that he did not want her to ever bother him again would be a lie. Appropriate maybe, but not what he wanted to say. He felt stupid and began to realize he was falling for some perverse scam. Yet he hesitated. He was unsure of the reason. He thought that maybe it was the faint familiarity. And that he was curious about who she was because of the fact that she did work there. And then he realized that the real reason was because of her picture, with her beautiful green eyes looking directly into the camera lens. It was simple carnal lust. And he was fine with that.

"Henry.", came the soothing voice from the other end. A voice that all of a sudden, sounded like a voice that he had lived with all of his life.

"Yes.", came his reply.

"We are married. You don't have to believe me, I know. It is important that we meet."

"My intellect is telling me to stay far away from you. That you are dangerous. Your story is obviously wrong. I don't even remember meeting you when you worked-."

"Henry! Why are you thinking so much? You know you are not a thinker, so stop pretending to be. What is it that you feel? I said I worked there but we did not meet there... when I worked at Wholesale Pyrotechnics, that is where I first realized that you were still..."

"What? If we did not meet here, then where did we meet?"

".... we met in Europe."




(...to be continued...)


upcoming chapters:

"my evil doppleganger killed a cop",

"worshipping a golden mechanical bull is outdated",

"i can't read",

and "these are a godless people".