Einstein and me wheeled ourselves to an empty card table and pretended to be playing two-handed euchre.
"First of all," I started, "your full name is now and from here on in will be Patrick Charles O'Donnell. Your middle name was your mother's father. Her maiden name is Morgan, her first name is Henrietta, but everyone calls her Rita. Your father's name is Tom."
Einstein repeated this information, memorizing it. I continued filling in the details, my birthday, aunts and uncles and surviving grandparents and as much family history as I could fill in.
"You weren't a bad kid, just not very motivated. Actually you were a bit of a lazy slob but your mother kept hoping you'd grow up and take responsibility. Your Dad's a machinist, and you and him used to be pretty close, fishing trips and stuff like that but your preference for TV ended all that by the time you were ten. He tolerates you, but doesn't really think that you'll ever amount to much. It's going to be hard, but you're going to have to convince him that you've really changed. Your Mom doesn't work and has the most hope for you. That's all going to change because of what you did on the weekend."
"What did YOU do?" Einstein asked reminding me it was my fault.
"I busted some windows at my former grade school," I explained. "That's how come you've got a busted knee. Don't worry though. It heals just fine. It popped when you... I jumped off a garage roof trying to outrun the cops."
"So that's why the cops keep checking in on me," he said. "Why'd you do it?"
"Christ, I don't know. Just generally pissed off with life I think. I was just getting to that stage where I thought it was cool to be a rebel."
"But you got caught."
"Yeah, the cops brought me in here. They didn't catch me at the scene but saw me running when they pulled in to the parking lot and they gave chase. When I did it, I was just plain stupid, but then I copped an attitude and even Mom gave up on me. I could tell you all the horrible stuff I did after that, but it hasn't happened yet, so you get to start fresh."
"Gee, thanks. No clean slate for me I guess," Einstein said.
"Hey, quit bitching. It's not that big a deal. It wasn't really bad until later. Right now is the point where my life started going downhill. You have a chance to make things better."
"And how do I get out of this mess?"
Then I explained my plan. First of all, Patrick had to ask to talk to a doctor. He would explain that he had been upset because he was starting High School and the kids he had grown up with, well, most of them were going to other schools. Patrick was going to a school for those less academically qualified. He was to say he hated himself for having passed up the opportunity when it was available and was out one night and just lost it. This was something that would be acceptable in 1974. Then the hard part; Patrick had to tell the doctor that he had been playing stupid since that night because he didn't know how to explain to his parents how sorry he was that he had blown it. He was really to play up the fact that he knew he could do better but that he had disappointed his mother and father and now he might go to jail and he just didn't know what to do. He really wanted to prove to his dad that he could make something of himself if given a second chance. He'd do anything for a second chance.
"This time you can really cry," I added.
Einstein seemed to think about it for a while. "Yeah, I think that would work. But what school are you supposed to be going to?"
I filled Patricia in on all the details of where I had lived, the name of the school I had just finished and tried my best to remember all the details of my room and life back then.
"It's going to be hard to pull off," he said.
"Just keep your head down as if really ashamed and that way, if you stumble over things, you'll be able to recover."
"No brothers or sisters?"
"Nope, Mom couldn't have any more after me."
"I was an only child as well," Einstein said, and then went on to tell me about my new life.
It was 9:30 when we had finished swapping information and I thought my brain had fried. But I was pretty sure that I could convince Mike and Ann and, more importantly, the doctor, that I had recovered most of my memory. And I found out that I had a best friend, someone who I had been close to since we started kindergarten: Cathy.
Regretfully, there was no one I had been close to that Patricia could rely on to help her adjust to being me. Maybe that was just as well. The fewer people who knew the new Patrick O'Donnell, the fewer questions there would be.
It seemed that only a twist of fate had sent Cathy to a different High School than Patricia, which is why she had felt so alone and abandoned after the first few months of starting the next step in her education. Cathy had been allowed to date at an earlier age and by the time this year was over, Cathy and Patricia would have gone their separate ways, Cathy being more 'in love' with her flavor of the month while Patti ended up alone. The rude and nasty comments about her lack of bust and her height had just made her more withdrawn.
"So, you ask the head nurse tonight if you can see a counselor," I said. "That will get the ball rolling. But how are we going to keep in touch? I don't know how much longer they will keep me here once I've 'recovered' my memory."
"If things work out, and you're not here when I get discharged, I'll know where to find you," Patrick said. "Remember, I know more about you than you do!"
"Yeah, and I also know more about you. If we need each other, I'm sure we'll find a way to get together."
We laughed at that and cussed the fact that cell phones weren't invented yet. Patricia had hoped to see her real parents one more time before she or I had to leave the hospital, but who ever was pulling the strings on this game wasn't going to let that happen.
As we parted for the night, she said to me, "I hope you remember something about Catholics. Mom and Dad still go to church every Sunday."
Fuck! Just what I don't need.