The nurses were coming around checking on the kids in the ward. Temperatures were being taken, some kids moved back to their rooms to have dressings and such replaced and it would be supper before too long.
"Listen up," I said. "You don't know it yet, but you're in a shit pile of trouble. Have my folks shown up at all?"
"Nobody has been here to see me except the doctors."
"Okay, then that part hasn't changed. Unless we can straighten up this mess, you won't see them until the day you get discharged. That gives us time to set things right. Ann was here this morning, so I don't think I'll see your folks again until tomorrow. As of right now, stop pouting and be extra polite with the nurses. They think your whole memory loss is just a tactic to save your ass from the mess I put you in. Stop acting up and try to meet me here after supper."
He looked at me with a glimmer of hope.
"By the time the night is over, we'll get you caught up to date on your new life and find a way out of what happened to me next. But I can't keep on calling you Patti or Patricia. One slipup and it'll just cause more trouble if anybody overhears it. We need code names; you know, nick names to call each other."
"Why?"
"Because we don't know each other, Einstein!" I said. "Ann made it pretty clear that I could use makeup if I went real easy with it, but stuck to her guns about the dating rule you mentioned. I shouldn't even be talking to you, much less know all that I do about you. She'd shit and I'd probably get locked away until I turn 16."
"Yeah, okay, that makes sense. We'll be getting out of here, hopefully sooner than later, and you'll want to know if you get a message that it's from me."
"Exactly! I think I'll just keep calling you Einstein."
"Why do you keep calling me names like that? First you called me Sherlock and now you seem stuck on Einstein." The girl in him was coming out again.
"Because you're such a fucking genius," I said.
"Yeah," he snapped at me. "Obviously I was smarter than you. I didn't get here courtesy of the cops!"
Ouch... that stung!
"And, knowing what I know about the future, maybe I can do something good with this life."
Hmmm... I hadn't thought of that.
A nurse was walking in our direction, so we pulled apart and I said, "Catch you later Einstein!"
They checked my stitches, changed the dressing, and then I got my first real solid meal.
My breakfast that morning had been something that they called scrambled eggs. No toast, no coffee, and no bacon. But there were the two cartons of milk and some kind of juice. They were starting me out easy. Lunch had been just slightly better. A limp salad with what I think was French dressing, and more milk. I looked forward to supper.
It was by far the worst hamburger I had ever eaten, and it was the best. After three days of milk and juice and Jell-O, at least this was something that needed chewing power. Not much though, just a single bland rubbery patty and a scoop of instant mashed potatoes and some thoroughly limp green beans. To say they added gravy to the mix would be an insult to gravy everywhere, but I ate it all anyway, watching the news as I chewed. I really needed to rediscover this time period. The history books covering this era hadn't been written yet.
Then it struck me. If the history books hadn't been written yet, then neither had the books on Patrick O'Donnell or Patricia Johnson. I had a chance to change the rest of my former life. I explained it all to Einstein after the trays were removed from our rooms and we were allowed out again. The youngest kids were kept in their rooms, and the older ones were watching "Happy Days" on the TV in the common room.