After the Dream

by Stan Mason

  ‘You can say that again!’ she retorted tartly. ‘It’s quite obvious that your work comes a long way before me.’

  He paused to reflect her words as he poured himself a drink from the cocktail cabinet. ‘How’s your memory? Has any of it come back yet?’

  ‘Nice of you to ask after all this time,’ she responded sarcastically.

  ‘I was informed of your situation by the lawyer I hired in Agadir,’ he countered sharply. ‘He sent me regular reports.’

  ‘I thought we were a married couple,’ she muttered angrily.

  ‘Of course,’ he returned with surprise in his voice. ‘We are married, with two children....Robbie and Karen.’

  ‘Then where was the other half of this marriage when I lay in stress in hospital? Where were you?’ She was going to say ‘where were you, Charles?’ but she couldn’t bring herself to speak his name.

  He sipped his drink slowly before replying. ‘I had very urgent business to deal with, Diana. The Deputy Prime Minister.............’

  ‘Deputy Prime Minister!’ she spat irately. ‘I’m your wife! The person to whom you should show love and respect...and tenderness. I’m not interested in the Deputy Prime Minister! What was so important that you couldn’t catch a plane and fly to Agadir for a day or two to spend a few hours with me in hospital? No...that was too much to expect! I mean you would have to miss work and that would be the end of the world. My God, if it wasn’t for Laura and Robbie, I’d have been in a terrible state. You have no idea what went on in Agadir, do you?’

  He seemed to be somewhat embarrassed by the tirade. ‘I’m afraid I don’t,’ he uttered almost under his breath. ‘What did happen?’

  ‘I was thrown out of the hospital and had to live in a hovel where your lawyer lived. I had nowhere else to go. It was necessary for me to leave the place of the awful conditions.’ she felt tears welling up inside her but she was determined to finish the sentence. ‘And if it hadn’t been for Laura, I’d have been out on the street in a foreign country!’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he apologised although it was quite clear that he didn’t mean it. ‘I had no idea. Admittedly, I should have come to

  see you but you know how busy...’ He tailed off at the sight of her caustic glance.

  ‘I don’t recognise you... I don’t know you... and I don’t like you,’ she told him angrily. ‘Everyone knows you’re a workaholic and if that doesn’t stop and you continue to neglect me I’m afraid we’re going to have to do something about it. We’ll have to part company. I don’t think I can stay with you on those conditions.’ She could hardly believe the words that came out of her mouth. It had to be the influence of the visionary Mohammed who had forced the position with his prediction.

  ‘Easy on, Diana,’ cautioned Templeton stunned by the attack. The last thing he wanted was an incursion into his workload. At the same time he did not wish to alienate his wife...not to the extent to which she had suggested. No one in his family had ever divorced and he was not going to be the first one to do so. ‘I think you’re bitter about being attacked in Morocco and you’re frustrated that you can’t remember anything. I’ll go along with that It will change in time. We had a good relationship in the past. We can go on from here in the future.’

  ‘Not if you don’t change your attitude to work,’ she retorted curtly. ‘You took me for granted in the past and it’s obvious I sad nothing. Well let me tell you it’s going to be different from now on.’ She paused to reflect what she had just said. How did she know that she had said nothing in the past? Was this the sign that her memory was starting to improve?

  Templeton placed the empty wine glass on the coffee table and turned to her again. ‘I only came to see how you were,’ he explained briefly. ‘I have two meeting to attend this afternoon so I must be off. How about dinner this evening? We can go to Liberty’s if you so wish.’

  ‘Liberty’s?’ Diana’s expression showed that she was confused.

  ‘It’s a high-class restaurant in town. We used to go there on special occasions.’

  She huffed and puffed for a few moments and then nodded. ‘Very well. What time will you be back?’

  ‘Say seven-thirty. I’ll pick you up then.’ He thought about kissing her and actually started to advance towards her but he had second thoughts and turned walking to the door, realising that such an action was likely to offend her in the light of what she had told him.

  Despite her onslaught, Diana was still a workaholic widow with only half a mind. Then a flash went through her mind and she could see herself standing in the church on their wedding day. Templeton looked really handsome in a tuxedo and she was wearing a beautiful white wedding dress. Life appeared to be so wonderful then but he had changed over the years. The effort he had put into his work had altered him. The image lasted for only a few seconds but it brought back a precious moment in her life.

  Chapter Eight

  Following her retreat from Morocco, Diana considered that her hair was in a terrible mess. It had thickened as Dr. Mahmoud told her it would and she couldn’t do anything with it. If she was going to dine out with her alleged husband that evening in a high-class restaurant, it was essential that she looked her best. She picked up a telephone directory to choose a hairdresser and, not having the confidence to drive her own car, she took a taxi to get there. As she entered the salon, the owner look at at her and smiled.

  ‘I haven’t made an appointment,’ began Diana apologetically.’

  ‘I hope you can fit me in.

  ‘Of course, Mrs. Templeton,’ welcomed the hairdresser warmly. ‘You’re a regular customer. We can always fit you in.’

  Diana stepped back to look at the woman but nothing registered in her mind. She was a complete stranger.

  ‘Are you all right?’ asked the hairdresser noticing the vacant expression on the customer’s face.

  ‘Yes....of course,’ replied Diana slowly, trying to get her midn into gear. She had chosen a hairdressing salon at random yet she was known here as a customer.

  The hairdresser looked at her rather strangely as she picked up a clean apron and opened it out. ‘You always call me by my first name,’ she continued ‘Sandra! Here come and sit down in this chair!’

  Diana obeyed and sat staring at herself in the mirror. She had to pull herself together and realise that everyone and everything would remain strange to her for a while. She needed to put on an act and pretend to know people. After all, she didn’t need

  to know their names or what they did in the past in order to pull it off.

  The woman in the next chair with her hair sprouting with curlers looked across at her. ‘Glory be! It’s Diana Templeton! You’re back at last. We thought we’d lost you.’

  Diana stared at her bleakly as she pulled herself together. ‘Hi!’ she muttered weakly. ‘It’s good to see you again.’ That was more like it. The secret was to bluff it out.

  ‘I heard you were attacked in Morocco,’ continued the woman with interest. ‘Tell me about it.’

  Sandra began to comb through Diana’s hair with a puzzled expression on her face. ‘Your hair has got really thick. Are you washing it with something I don’t know about.?’

  Diana shrugged her shoulders and continued with her dialogue. ‘I was mugged by a man who fired a gun at me. He blew off the back of my skull.’

  ‘I can see that,’ commented Sandra curtly. ‘The hair won’t grow back on it for a long time.’

  ‘The worst of it was that I lost my memory and had to stay in the local hospital for quite some time.’

  ‘We wondered what happened to you,’ continued the woman. ‘Well blow me down! You just don’t know what’s going to happen, do you? I said to myself, “Gloria, it’s just as well you don’t go to these strange places abroad. You never know what’s going to happen there. And I’ll tell you another thing. The
laws in those countries protect those who live there...not the tourists.’

  ‘They treated me very well,’ Diana went on as Sandra combed her hair with a puzzled expression on her face.

  ‘When are we going to meet up again for a bridge session?’ asked Gloria bluntly.

  Diana winced for a moment as she realised that the woman had been a close friend in the past although she could not recognise her. ‘Shortly,’ she uttered in a low voice. ‘Very shortly. I only arrived back from Agadir last night. I need to get over the jet-lag.’

  Gloria nodded. ‘It must have been a great ordeal. I’m glad you’re better.

  Sandra washed Diana’s hair and cut and blow-dried it. By the time she had completed the task, Gloria had gone and the salon was empty. As Diana opened her purse to pay for the hairdo Sandra touched her arm gently, lowering her voice to a whisper.

  ‘Look, Mrs. Templeton, don’t take this the wrong way. I don’t know what you’ve been eating or drinking or whether it’s something to do with your hormones but your hair and your head’s in an awful state. I think you should go and see your doctor. You have massive dandruff which you never had before and your hair has a strange thickness about it....twice as thick’

  ‘It’s the tablets I’m taking,’ stated her customer deciding not to bluff it out. ‘I take them but they don’t seem to help my memory. I don’t remember you or Gloria. It was a coincidence that I’m here today. I looked you up in the telephone directory. It was sheer luck that I’m here today.’

  ‘That’s terrible!’ cried the hairdresser showing sympathy, ‘You should have told me when you first came in.’

  ‘I’ll be okay in due course. That’s what everyone tells me,’ returned Diana mournfully.

  ‘The sooner the better,’ retorted Sandra quickly taking the money and putting it in the cash register.

  Diana left the salon looking better than when she first got there but she was concerned at Sandra’s comments and could only conclude that the ferradil-x tablets were causing further repercussions. Now the side-effects were beginning to affect her hair and her head. She wondered whether to report the change to Dr. Mahmoud but then decided against it. She would soldier on for six months until her next appointment with him. In the meantime, it would appear that she had to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

  * * *

  Just before seven-thirty that evening, Karen came to the house to see her. As she entered the lounge where Diana was sipping coffee, a vision came to her mother’s mind taking her back into the past. She could see a young girl of fourteen years of age in her school uniform holding a satchel as she waved goodbye to her. It was an image which truly represented something she remembered from way back. Diana quickly returned to the present as her daughter moved towards her.

  ‘Karen!’ she greeted even though she wasn’t certain if it was her daughter. ‘How lovely to see you!’

  The young woman leaned over to kiss her mother on the cheek and then sat down beside her to hug her warmly. ‘It’s good to see you back, Mom,’ she said with an edge of excitement in her voice. ‘How’s the memory?’

  ‘That’s what I’d like to know,’ joked her mother calmly. ‘It’s gone and I’m trying to get it back without much success. I had a flash of the front garden in Agadir but I didn’t know where it was. I just had a vision of you as a schoolgirl with your satchel and beret. It’s all so sketchy and remote.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Mom,’ returned her daughter easily. ‘Just give it a chance.’

  ‘Never mind me,’ cut in Diana. ‘How are you getting along?’

  Karen held her chin up high as if she had good news to report before pouring herself a cup of coffee. ‘I’m now the head nurse at the hospital...the youngest ever. How about that?’ she boasted immodestly.

  ‘Good for you!’ exclaimed her mother proudly. ‘I’ve done very well with you and Robbie, haven’t I? I couldn’t have two nicer intelligent children.’

  ‘We’re not children any more, Mom,’ chided her daughter casually with a smile on her face. ‘Tell me all about Morocco.’

  ‘Oh, it’s all so boring to tell,’ related Diana sadly. ‘The mugger pointed a gun at the back of my head and pulled the trigger. He blew a piece of my skull exposing a very small part of my brain and the shock caused my memory to disappear. Just like that!’ She snapped her fingers to make an impact. ‘I was in hospital and they patched up my skull with a compound called bone-paste, would you believe. Then I learned about a scientist who worked in an annex of the hospital. He gave me special tablets to help me but my memory’s still lost in the mist.’ She felt like telling her daughter the secret relayed to her by Dr. Mahmoud but stopped herself in time. There was little doubt that had she revealed it her daughter would have scoffed at the idea and ridiculed it.

  ‘That’s awful.’ Karen was appalled at the story. ‘It must have been very painful.

  ‘The pain might have been eased had your father come to visit me occasionally,’ criticised Diana mournfully. ‘As it happened, Laura came to see me all the way from Los Angeles and Robbie came.’

  ‘You mean Aunt Laura spoke to you? There was surprise in the young woman’s voice.

  ‘We made it up,’ informed her mother happily. ‘We made it up at last. She was kindness in itself. I couldn’t have done without her. I don’t know why we never spoke to each other. She said it was for nine years.’

  ‘I’m pleased for the both of you.,’ retorted Karen with delight. She paused to reflect for a moment. ‘Does this mean we can got to the United States for free holidays?’

  Diana burst into laughter and shook her head. ‘You and Robbie are the most devious pair of children I’ve ever known. That was the first thing to go through his mind.’ She exhaled deeply with an air of mock despair. ‘I really don’t know what this world’s coming to these days!’

  Both mother and daughter laughed heartily at the comment and they hugged each other again. Diana looked at her wristwatch and screwed up her face with concern. ‘You’re father’s coming to take me out to dinner but he’s late.’

  ‘Oh Dad and his work!’ muttered Karen miserably. ‘Work, work, work! That’s all he knows.’

  ‘I met a mystic in Morocco....well a man who said he could interpret dreams.’ She paused for a moment wondering whether to continue but she decided that now she had started she would reveal the details to her daughter. ‘He predicted that one day your father and I would split up mainly because he’s a workaholic and neglects me. He was quite definite about it and I think he may be right. I spoke to your father about our future earlier today but he obviously hasn’t listened.’

  Karen thought deeply about the remark. ‘Well Robbie and I are both adults now. If you make that decision we’ll stand by you. Naturally we love you both but things change for older people as life goes on and we have to recognise it.

  Diana placed her hand on Karen’s arm. ‘That’s very wise of you, darling,’ she said, marvelling at the sagacity of her daughter. ‘Indeed....I’m a workaholic widow.’

  Karen placed her hand over that of her mother in sympathy. ‘I know,. You don’t have to tell me.’

  Diana waited a further three-quarters of an hour but her husband did not show up. Karen stayed with her until the telephone rang and Templeton muttered a pointless apology. He had been held up at an important meeting and he would be further delayed at the House of Commons so he suggested that she should go to the restaurant to eat on her own. Diana was devastated to have been stood up so neglectfully and fury raged inside her. At the same time, Karen was distinctly unhappy at her father’s careless attitude and she offered to take his place and dine with her mother. It wasn’t at Liberty’s though. They went to a local modest restaurant and ordered a meal but Diana was less than hungry as a result of the situation. She felt that she was being used and it was already beginning t
o become the nightmare she had expected. Everyone around her was kind and loving with the exception of her alleged husband. He was the proverbial fly in the ointment!

  * * *

  The following morning, Templeton returned to the house to tell his wife that he would take her for dinner. He began quite boldly to say that it was necessary for them to discuss their relationship and, even though she resented at having to dine with him, she capitulated. They took a taxi to Liberty’s and entered the fine restaurant to be shown to a table at the far end of the room. They settled into their chairs and were passed menus by the waiter who hovered in the near distance hoping to be called forward for their orders.

  ‘What did you want to talk about?’ she asked impatiently.

  He took time to straighten his cuffs before replying. ‘Let me begin by saying that it’s not my intention to part from you. We spent many years together and have two excellent offspring. Dammit, we’re a family and I don’t wish that to end!’

  ‘Come to the point!’ she told him savagely still not wishing to call him by his first name. She resented the man very strongly but there was little in her power to make him simply go away. As far as she was concerned, life would never be marital with him again.....not ever!

  He inhaled before telling her what was in his mind. ‘You call me a workaholic and you’re probably right. I’m not alone in this. Many men become alcoholics, reckless gamblers, or they chase women until their old age. I’m simply one of them....a workaholic. It’s not a choice I made but a decision to further my career many years ago. Promotion doesn’t come by sitting laid back and doing nothing. One has to work for it. Now I’m finally on the cusp of breaking through. I’ve been offered the post of Deputy to the Minister of Health. All my hard work has finally paid off.’

  ‘That’s as maybe,’ she countered sharply, ‘but it’s all been at the cost of your family. What about all those school sports day and parents’ evenings when the children were at school? You were always too busy to attend them. There were so many other times that you weren’t there. We all made excuses for you. Have you ever thought of what you put us through? You’ve gone way off the chart. You’ve forgotten how to lead a normal life.’