Henry arrived at the shopping mall at approximately 2:45 p.m. The mall was an old dilapidated, mass of concrete and steel, which was in several stages of decay. Few people roamed its vibrant orange-tiled floors, where a myriad of mom and pop shops still existed.
Henry walked past a row of empty lots, and wondered why he had never noticed the mall before. In his pocket was a photograph of a woman named Marla Solenski, who Henry was going to meet for the first time with great trepidation. She claimed to be his wife.
Thats a shame. A woman that beautiful being so fucked up. Henry thought.
There wasn't a rational explanation to why he would intentionally stoke the flames of an already unruly fire like he was by meeting her. The only thing he could expound was that he was there to 'help' her. He refused to believe what Janet, the office secretary, claimed. That he was only there to fuck her. Although the thought had crossed his mind.
Tragic.
Marla Solenski really did look like the kind of woman he would have married in another life. In the photograph, her sublime smile revealed a youthful innocence that was not yet bitter about world. Henry thought he saw a bit playfullness there too.
The bizarre series of events that had lead Henry to his impending encounter, gave Henry a false sense of connection with the woman. The bond was abstract when he first noticed it but became more familiar as time passed. It was the kind of bond that was reserved on for a few people in his life.
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Henry entered the food court, which was the location she had given over the phone.
She had been waiting. Over her body, she wore a trenchcoat. Her hair was covered in a scarf and her eyes were veiled by dark sunglasses. The disguise failed at hiding her sensual beauty which still radiated from beneath. Henry was hesitant to approach as he viewed her from a distance. He did not know why she was incognito, like she was hiding from someone.
She sat at a table completely still, with her hands resting on her purse. She looked straight ahead in a fashion to suggest that she was thinking about something. For a second, Henry thought that she was looking directly at him, but was unsure because of her sunglasses. Then she got up and waved. Henry waved back and walked up to greet her. He extended his hand but she gave him an enormous hug instead. He just stood there, with his arms limp.
"Henry. Henry. Henry." , she repeated his name as if the repetition was breathing life into the idea of their happy existence together. Henry felt comfortable despite the awkwardness of the situation. And somehow, he was emotionally moved by the strange young woman, who for some reason, cared tremendously for him. He could not remember the last person, besides family, that he cared for.
"Marla...", Henry wanted to talk but was dumbfounded.
Her embrace loosened with a dose of realized sobriety when she looked up and saw his distress. She wiped the tears from under her sunglasses and composed herself.
"Henry have a seat.", she gestured towards an empty chair while finding her own. Henry took the seat and, for a time, they sat in silence. As their eyes avoided contact, Henry thought about future scenarios that would be the result of the encounter. And somewhere in his mind, he knew the scenarios were wrong. And he knew the chance of fucking was out too.
"Henry." Marla said, breaking the silence. She slowly removed her sunglasses and looked into his eyes.
"Yes." There was a brief hesitation in Henry's response. He was caught off guard by the power of her gaze.
“Do you remember anything...at all... about me?”
Henry thought about it. Earlier efforts had ambiguous results. The four corners of his mind revealed nothing.
"Sorry, no." Henry said and smiled apologetically.
Marla grabbed his hand.
"Could you try harder?"
Henry nodded and tried to remember her. That was the least he could do. As he looked at her hand that held on to his, something struck him. He had seen that hand before. Where he did not know.
Fuck!
The frustration was building as he could not figure out where he had seen her hand before. He combed through his memories until eventually, with great pain, he figured it out. It was at his mother's funeral. As he remembered it, he was sitting at the front of the church, in complete grief, and there was her hand holding his like it was now.
Henry thought for a second that he was fabricating the whole thing, until she began to appear in more memories in an abstracted form. Her ‘hint’ or 'ghost' was appearing everywhere as a scrap of an image but never a whole. She was a cloudy being that lurked in the periphery, whose face was obscured by shadows. At birthday parties, bars, vacations, work,...
This is insane! Henry thought in utter disbelief. I can't tell this woman about these vague thoughts, I am here to help her.
The last thing Henry wanted to do was to hurt this woman. He was a firm believer in logic and reason, and everything that was happening was going against it.
“Sorry Marla, I don’t remember you. But I can help you find...” Henry fell silent when he saw the rejection on her face.
Marla was not happy with his response, her lower lip quivered slightly.
“Henry, I am not of the right mind. I am going to tell you my story and you can leave at any moment."
"Okay."
Marla looked away at some imaginary object, while she decided about what she was going to say. And then, after some internal conflict was resolved she began her story.
