I couldn't tell her the truth, so I just shrugged and said I didn't remember.
We rinsed in the shower together and dried each other off. After I was safely back in my bed, she went and fetched some information about menstruation that was clearly written for girls who were expecting their first period, and, as promised she brought me an entire box of pads so that I could practice with them. Making sure no one was looking, she gave me a kiss goodnight and left to attend her regular duties. I didn't realize at the time that she had come in early, on her own time, to try and help me regain my memory. Marcie was a very special person and I will always consider her my first real lover.
Julie and Linda came in earlier than their normal shifts as well, and Linda had bought me a good hairbrush. With the help of the tray mirror, they helped me to apply my own makeup. Julie had bought some basics for me to start me out right. They told me to practice and to make sure that I brushed my hair and they would be back after their first rounds.
I watched Johnny Carson on TV as I brushed my hair the required 100 times. This took some practice as well. It took both hands and some dexterity to brush both under and over my long hair, and I really didn't like the part in the middle so I decided I would start brushing it back away from my face. I was pleased to see in the mirror that this made me look more mature and even though the hair still hung around my face, the part was gone and I had some managed some lift. Julie and Linda both seemed pleased with the results when they came in and they sat on the bed with me as Johnny's last guest did his shtick.
"Did you hear about the O'Donnell boy?" Linda asked Julie during a commercial break. That got my ears perked up quick.
"Who would have thought?" said Julie. "Strong healthy looking boy like him... Mrs. MacDonald said she walked into his room and he was crying, bawling like a baby... said he wanted to confess everything and practically begging his father to forgive him."
"I was surprised that Mrs. MacDonald called his father this late at night," Linda said.
"Is this Patrick you guys are talking about?" I asked.
Linda turned to me and asked if I knew him. I just said that I had met him today and we played a few hands of cards.
"Did he seem depressed to you?" Julie asked.
"He was really bummed out about something," I said. I figured that Patricia had improvised on our plan and from the looks of things, had gotten a lot of things rolling at once. "What happened?"
"Well," said Linda, checking to see nobody else was listening in. "I guess his father said that he was coming right down and then Mrs. MacDonald arranged for him to be taken down for a psych consult. I think that Patrick and his parents have a lot to talk about tonight. He just kept going on about how stupid he'd been and that he done the one thing he never wanted to do, make his parents ashamed of him."
It took all my willpower not to grin. "Way to go Patti!" I thought to myself. Mom and Dad were good people and this late night 'breakdown' would validate Mom's belief that Pat was a good kid at heart. Dad might be skeptical, but if Patti played her hand right, even he would be won over by the change in attitude.
"I really hope it works out for them," I said, "family is so important. Friends come and go, but family is there forever."
Both Linda and Julie looked at me a bit strangely. I saw a tear in Julie's eye and Linda reached over, stroked my hair for a minute, and then gave me a kiss on the forehead. "That's right Patti," she said softly, and then she took Julie's hand. "I guess that sometimes we just forget."