Owen's Touch

by Lee Magner

  “I know what it’s like to wake up and not be able to remember the last month,” he said candidly. “I’ve done it often enough. Waking up in alleys...in strange buildings...covered with dirt...” He shook his head. “But the last time...well, I woke up in a hospital three states away from the address on the driver’s license that the police had taken off me when they pulled me out of what was left of my car. It was wrecked so bad that even the junkman had to be paid to take it away.”

  He swallowed hard at a painful memory.

  “I’m sorry,” she murmured sympathetically.

  “The woman who’d been in the car with me...she barely made it.” Kelton explained. “It was nothing less than a miracle that saved her.” He looked at her seriously. “And me.”

  She leaned toward him and comfortingly squeezed his arm.

  “Sometimes we get a second chance, don’t we?” she offered.

  The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. He nodded his head slowly.

  “Oh, yeah. We surely do. And I used up a whole raft of them before I finally hit bottom.” He sat a little straighter in the chair. “I take every day as it comes. One day at a time. And I thank the miracles that come our way. So, thank the miracle that saved your life, Mary Ann. And that saved me to be here to tell you who you are.”

  She smiled and nodded. “I’ll not forget today, Kelton,” she promised him. “It’s the first day of the rest of my life.”

  Kelton grinned, a little abashed. “Well, uh, I didn’t mean to get up on a soapbox or preach at you,” he said awkwardly.

  Buddy Lefcourt cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Well, meaning no disrespect Kelton, but, uh, maybe we could get back to talking about Jane Doe, er, Miss Mary Ann here? She didn’t get in that wreck because she’d been drinking. There wasn’t any alcohol in her body when they brought her in here that night. She didn’t smell of it, either. Course the car was burned to a cinder, so, it’s hard to know for sure, but...”

  Kelton smiled. “I’m glad she was sober. She has been ever since the first meeting she came to.” He fell silent and looked at the green-eyed woman wrapped in hospital garb.

  “Then maybe I’m winning the battle with alcohol?” She glanced at Owen, as if he might know. He shrugged, and she immediately felt ridiculous for seeking his opinion. “Well, naturally, you wouldn’t know about that, would you, Owen?”

  She gave him a tart grin, but it faded almost as soon as it had appeared.

  “I don’t feel like I’m an alcoholic,” she murmured as much to herself as to the others. “It just doesn’t seem real. I can’t imagine craving a drink or binging till I passed out in some strange place,” she said, struggling to discover the truth that lay hidden deep within her. Seeing the men’s raised eyebrows, she conceded, “Okay! I’m not in the best condition to know what I have or have not done.”

  “Right,” Owen murmured.

  She grimaced and gave him a look of annoyance. “I thought you were here for moral support!”

  “Yes. But support has to be based on the truth,” he argued. “Reality is the best starting point when you’ve got a problem to solve.”

  Well, he was right about that, darn it. She sighed. It was irritating that he was, for some reason.

  She stared into his eyes, and for a moment the others faded away. There were just the two of them. Heat flowed into her heart and spread outward in all directions. Suddenly it was very warm in the room. She became uncomfortably aware that she was wearing only a thin cotton hospital gown and an equally unsubstantial cloth robe.

  Her cheeks reddened and she hastily dragged her gaze away from Owen, struggling to reassemble her mysteriously shattered composure.

  “So where does Mary Ann live?” asked Sergeant Lefcourt, briskly taking charge of the situation and pressing on with the police work. He stuck the tip of his pencil on the pad of paper, ready to jot down an address.

  “Someplace east of West Virginia and west of Washington, D.C., I think,” Kelton guessed.

  “That covers a lot of square miles,” Lefcourt argued with dismay. “How about narrowing that down? Didn’t you have an address for your group members? A mailing address? An emergency contact person? Next of kin? Something? Anything?”

  “No. We posted meeting announcements in the church and in the local paper and with a regional information and referral service. AA is an anonymous group, Sergeant,” Kelton reminded him, annoyed at having to point out something so obvious. “You know about Alcoholics Anonymous, don’t you?”

  “Sure,” Lefcourt replied. “But I’m conducting an investigation here. I’ve gotta ask the questions. I can’t assume anything.”

  “I guess not. I’m sorry, Sergeant,” Kelton apologized stiffly. “Well, go ahead, then. What else do you want to ask?”

  Lefcourt narrowed his eyes and stared at Kelton for a long moment, as if X-raying his brain for any hidden motives for obscuring the truth.

  “Kelton, just think for a minute,” Lefcourt said. “Do you know anything that could help us figure out where she might have been living? Did she mention anything about her travels?”

  “Well, I’d say she probably lives east of the Shenandoah Valley and west of the capital,” Kelton said thoughtfully. “She was pretty familiar with some places around Dulles airport and Leesburg,” Kelton said. “Someone in the group was talking about a new office building there, and she got quite excited talking about the architecture.” He grinned at her. “She got real detailed about the glass and the designs and all. Then she just stopped talking about it. I guess she realized she was giving away some things about herself that she wasn’t ready to share yet.”

  Kelton had shifted his attention from the lawman to her.

  The sergeant drew him back. “So how far away would you say she lived?”

  “Well, she needed about three and a half hours to get back home after meetings, especially in bad weather. I remember because once we had a bad storm blow through all of a sudden, and she kept checking her watch, fretting over whether to leave early or not. We talked about how long the drive was and whether it was safe or not to take the turns in a hard rain. The mountains are slow going in some places...especially in foul weather, you know.”

  “Yeah. We know,” Lefcourt said dryly.

  The lawman tapped his pencil on the small notebook in his hand.

  “You said she mentioned Dulles airport? Did she mention any other places? Streets? People? An employer?”

  “Not that I remember.”

  “How’d she hear about your group?” Owen asked, puzzled. “And why’d she come so far to a meeting? If you’re right, she traveled a long way to attend meetings. If she really didn’t know anyone around there, why would she do that?”

  Kelton shrugged. “I’m not sure why she came so far out of her way to come to an AA meeting. Could have been embarrassed, I guess. Some people don’t want to be seen going into AA meetings. Afraid someone they know might see them. It’s unfortunate. Keeps a lot of people away who could really use the support. After all, it’s an illness. Not a character defect,” Kelton muttered.

  “How’d she find you?” Owen repeated.

  “I think she said she heard about it through some phone-referral program. But I’m not too sure. You know, we just care that people come. We aren’t too choosy about how they arrived at that choice,” Kelton explained dryly.

  Owen looked at Mary Ann. She seemed as unconvinced as he felt. If they knew why she picked that place, they might have a clue to finding her identity, he thought. But it didn’t appear that they would be getting any more information on that score out of Kelton. If he knew anything else, he simply was withholding it, Owen decided. Although, Owen was inclined to believe that Kelton was telling them all that he knew.

  “Did anyone ever come with her to the meetings?” asked Lefcourt.

  “No.”

  “Did she do anything besides sit in the meeting?”

  “Like what, Sergeant?”

  “Oh...eat
nearby, go to a gas station near the church, stop at a local convenience-type store, take up with anyone in particular in the group afterward?”

  Kelton thought for a while. “Well...she did use the pay phone in the church hall. Just about every time she came.”

  “Do you know who she was calling?”

  “I didn’t listen in,” Kelton said sourly.

  “Nobody’s saying you did. But anything you can recall could help her a lot.”

  Kelton frowned and thought hard.

  “Was I happy when I was on the phone?” she asked anxiously. “Or sad? Angry?”

  “You seemed kind of worried. Preoccupied, I guess. Like there was something going on that you couldn’t do anything about but that really mattered to you,” Kelton said.

  “Did I mention a name...of a person or a place?” she pressed him.

  “No...” Suddenly his expression brightened a little. “I do remember something,” he exclaimed hopefully. “I was getting a cup of coffee from the church kitchen and I walked down the hall just as you were saying something about some bird...now, what kind of bird was it?” He scratched his head. “Firebird? No. Bird of paradise? No, that’s not it, either. Something to do with some old myth.”

  They all leaned a little toward Kelton, as if collectively willing his memory to produce the details.

  Kelton frowned and thought hard, but eventually he had to shake his head regretfully.

  “I’m sorry. That’s all that I can remember. It’s kind of a jumble now. It’s been a few months since that happened, you know,” he said in his own defense. “And I had the flu that night,” he added. “I had taken some medicine and was a little woozy.” He stiffened when he saw Sergeant Lefcourt’s cynical look. “I hadn’t been drinking! I was light-headed from not eating and from taking some cold medicine! And that’s the God’s honest truth!” Kelton exclaimed irritably.

  “All right, all right!” Lefcourt said He held up his hand to stern the tide of Kelton’s indignant protestations. “Don’t get touchy, Kelton. I’m a cop. Remember? I get paid to think of alternative reasons and to assume that everyone might be, let’s say, shading the truth to put themselves in the most favorable light.”

  Kelton grumbled.

  “Well, I think I need to talk to some of the other folks at that AA meeting,” Lefcourt continued. “And I’d like to copy down that pay-phone number. Never know when it might come in handy.” He grimaced. “I can’t get to it soon, though. I’ve got some other things I’ve got to handle the next few days. Maybe someone in that county can help me out with the legwork.” He smiled sheepishly at Mary Ann. “I hope this helps jog your memory some,” he said. “And if you want to keep talking, why, go on ahead. I’ve got to get over to the county morgue and check on an accidental drowning. They called me about it just as I was on my way over here with Kelton.”

  “Go on, Sergeant. I appreciate all your help,” she said sincerely.

  “I just wish we could have come up with a last name, as well as a first name, ma’am.”

  She smiled. “Hey...I’m ahead of where I was when I woke up this morning,” she stated.

  “Yeah. Well...you take care, Miss Mary Ann. I’ll be in touch.”

  The lawman left. Behind them they sat in uneasy silence.

  Owen sent her a questioning look.

  She guessed his thoughts before he could voice them.

  “Yes. I’d like you to stay while Kelton tells me everything I ever said, as close as he can remember it,” she said firmly.

  He grinned. “Well, for a lady who can’t tell me a thing about her past, you do a hell of an impressive job at telling me what’s going through my mind at the present.”

  She laughed. Then she turned to the man seated next to her bed.

  “Well, Kelton, when I spilled my guts at these meetings, exactly what did I say?” she asked, bracing herself for all manner of hair-raising tales.

  Kelton chuckled. “You needn’t look like you’re about to be martyred,” he reassured her. “You said the usual things... especially at the first meeting. That you weren’t sure you had a problem, but that you were afraid you might.”

  “Did she ever mention a husband?” Owen asked curiously.

  “No.”

  “Boyfriend?”

  “Uh, no.”

  “Did I wear any jewelry?” she asked. “Rings?”

  Kelton chuckled again. “To tell you the truth, I don’t pay much attention to the jewelry people wear. Maybe a really expensive watch...or a big gaudy ring. Nothing else, though.”

  “Never mind,” she said, brushing aside her disappointment. “So, what kind of things did I talk about?”

  “Oh...you asked questions, mostly. Not the first time...but later, when you came back.”

  “When she came back?” Owen asked, frowning.

  “Well...she came and then we didn’t see her for nearly a couple months. When she came back, she looked healthier, better rested. And better fed. You know, alcoholics have a lot of problems with malnutrition...drinking kind of interferes with getting three good meals a day.”

  Owen looked at Mary Ann. She didn’t look malnourished. Even after the accident, she looked basically healthy beneath the bruises and scrapes.

  “So maybe I went to a health spa or something?” she suggested.

  “I dunno. But you seemed like a much stronger person. The first time, you’d been so fragile and so scared... Hell, none of the regulars expected to see you come back. You were like a little rabbit, shaking near to death in fear. You never did explain what was eating at you that first time. Later, you kept asking for people to explain how an alcoholic can shake free of the booze. What their friends and family could do to help.”

  “Are you sure I wasn’t there asking for help for someone else?” Mary Ann asked in consternation.

  “Well...if it hadn’t been for that first visit, I’d say you might be right. I did wonder if I should send you over to the AlAnon meeting next door...where the family members, spouses and such, share with each other. But I remember that first visit. You looked...well, like you’d had a few the day before. You still looked hungover. Hair kinda unkempt. You looked real thin, like you’d been drinking instead of eating. And you stood up and said you were struggling with a problem and were hoping to find some strength in this program to help you through it.”

  When he fell silent, the quiet was profound.

  “I guess I have a drinking problem, then,” Mary Ann said slowly. “What other kind of problem would you drive a couple of hours to an AA meeting in the mountains for?”

  Kelton stayed for an hour, but he really had very little more to add. If he’d known he was going to have to remember so much about her, he swore he would have paid much closer attention to everything she’d said and done.

  As he left, he handed her a card with his phone number and first name on it. On the reverse he’d written the name and address of the church and the day and time of the AA meetings there.

  “Come back and see us when you’re better,” he said. “And take it one day at a time,” he suggested with a wry smile.

  “Thanks, Kelton,” she said, squeezing his outstretched hand briefly with hers. “Thanks so much for answering that police ad, and for driving down here to see me.”

  “Others have done much more for me over the years,” he replied seriously. “I figured it was my turn to try and do someone else the same kind of good turn. I just hope you find out who you are and where you live. There’s something good waiting for you. You just have that kind of air about you.”

  As if feeling he’d overstepped the bounds by saying that much, he awkwardly turned toward the door. Nodding at Owen and then at her, he hurried away.

  She wrapped her arms around her chest and gave Owen an amused look.

  “I don’t quite know where that leaves me,” she admitted with a sigh.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I still don’t know who I am. They...want to discharge me.�
�� She took a deep breath. “I’m afraid to look at the hospital bill,” she said. She laughed shakily. “I’ll probably relapse when I see how much all this cost,” she said, waving at the single room and the equipment, most of which had been removed since she was much better.

  Owen frowned. “You can’t worry about that right now,” he urged. “I think the hospital can wait awhile. I doubt that their solvency rests on your writing a check or filling out an insurance form in the next twenty-four hours.”

  “Maybe not,” she said with a shrug. “I hate...not being able to take care of myself.” She chewed on her lip. “What kind of job do you suppose I have? I mean...assuming I’m not staying home taking care of a handful of children, I must be working at a job. Even if I am raising kids, I could be holding down a full-time job....”

  “And when you remember, you may find that paying the bills won’t be a problem,” he suggested. “So instead of worrying about that, let’s concentrate on figuring out exactly where you were coming from that night. Maybe if you return to some of your old hangouts, you’ll recognize something...remember an address... a phone number...a name.”

  “Or...maybe someone will recognize me,” she said thoughtfully.

  She raised her eyes to his.

  “Maybe,” he agreed.

  Chapter 6

  The hospital social worker had managed to find some clothes for her.

  Mary Ann, still uncomfortable with that newly acquired name, was now also uneasy in the ill-fitting, donated clothing she was wearing. In one hand, she carried a paper bag full of her own clothes, still dirty and torn from the accident. In her other hand, she clutched a thick envelope containing the multipage bill for her stay at Cleary Hospital. They had saved her life, for which she was deeply grateful. However, when she saw how much it had cost to care for her, she thought she might spend the rest of that life paying them back for the favor.

  “Now I know how a bag lady feels,” she murmured to herself. She had no idendfication, no keys, no decent clothes and no place to go. No job and no immediate prospects for one. “Well...things could be worse,” she told herself optimistically. Although right off the top of her head, she couldn’t imagine how.