Chapter 15
He’s joking is my first thought.
He has to be. There’s no way he could’ve forgotten the knucklehead that stole two hundred dollars from him. Besides, even if he didn’t remember me…shouldn’t he at least acknowledge the fact that he has a gigantic wound on his head? Which I caused, just to top it all off.
Mom stares at him with a strange expression on her face. I look at her helplessly, silently begging for help. “You…don’t know who you are?” Mom asks cautiously, her eyebrow rising slowly.
He shakes his head and immediately puts both hands on his temple. “I don’t know,” he hisses, sounding frustrated with himself. “My head hurts.” He grits his teeth, pressing his hands tighter to his head.
Mom nudges me from the side. “Ronnie, come to the kitchen with me for a second,” she whispers.
I follow my mother into the kitchen, both of us wearing identical masks of horror and confusion. Sighing deeply, she says, “It has to be amnesia.”
Even though I know what it means, the word still sounds foreign to me. Like it’s something that I know about, but that I never thought I’d actually have to deal with in any near future.
“Amnesia?” I repeat, dumbfounded.
She nods, looking dead serious.
“So...so should we call the police?”
Mom shakes her head quickly. “No, I don’t think that would be a good idea right now. It would just raise a lot of suspicion, given the fact that he’s all bandaged and awake. They’ll ask why we didn’t bring him to the hospital earlier.”
I nod to myself. That does sound logical. “Then what do we do?” I whisper.
“We try to find out his identity. None of us knows who he is…right?” She looks doubtful, like she’s asking herself rather than me.
“Right…” I agree hesitantly.
We both walk out of the kitchen. The sight that meets me almost makes me drop to the floor and burst into laughter.
There they sit, looking like two happy children who’ve just found someone to play with. Katherine is busy tying a ponytail on the top of the man’s head, which seems to be no easy task because of his short hair. He’s sitting perfectly still, like the obedient man I know he’s not.
“What on earth are you doing to him?” I ask, not sure if I should smile or scowl at her.
“He loves bein’ styled, don’t ya?” she says, addressing him.
“That’s what you told me,” he answers right away. I can’t help but snicker under my breath. Considering that every time I see him, every single hair on his head is perfect, I don’t doubt that he loves being someone’s makeup doll.
Mom moves closer to the man, kneeling down in front of him. “Mr. Po – I mean Jacob. Your name is Jacob,” she tells him. I look at her questioningly, but she just nods her head reassuringly.
“Jacob?” he repeats.
“Oh, you know who he is?” asks Katherine, thus making the man even more confused.
“Of course,”Mom says, glaring at her as if saying, “just play along.” Looking directly at the man again, she says, “You’re my nephew, and Ronnie’s cousin. You’re visiting us, and you had a little accident last night while we were sleeping.”
His eyes widen. “I had an accident? What kind of an accident?”
“You – you, uh…” Mom stutters, glancing at me quickly.
