Author's Note:
The 'episodic memory' will show up in the second part of this.
Nairobi is eleven hours ahead of Santa Monica.
Santa Monica, California | Nairobi, Kenya
Sunday, February 17th 7am | 8pm (local time)
"It's nice when the time difference works in our favour .." CJ said as she stretched out on the hotel bed and hugged a pillow.
"It does."
"So what's your pick off the list for today?"
"Fantasy."
"Yours or mine?"
He was about to tell her that the bed would feel lonelier than it already did if they talked about their own fantasies - but her night was just about to start, she had a busy day ahead, and he could think of no reason to burden her with that information.
"I was thinking Gail's."
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah. We talked about this. She was a captive audience three times, I am sure she had ideas of her own."
"I thought the attention span of a goldfish was three seconds."
"Myth. Research studies have shown that goldfish have a memory that can last at least three months."
"Really?"
"They also possess the ability to differentiate between various shapes, colors and sounds."
"And you know this how?"
"Read a report by a biologist from Edinburgh."
"When do you have time to read reports about fish?"
"You think I bought you Gail without doing any research, just because Josh said you liked goldfish?"
"I never really thought about it."
"Some goldfish have been observed to perceive and remember well enough to distinguish between people. They get excited when they see them. Gail would eat right out of my fingers. Why do you think I dropped by to see her so often?"
"So all those times you showed up, it was just an excuse to see Gail .."
"Not always, no."
"Nice save."
"Anyway, fish have long-term memories that help them keep track of existing social relationships that are relatively complex."
"Did you just make that up?"
"I did not."
"You read that in the report, too?"
"In a website by some guy out of Australia."
"Now you're reading websites?"
"Hey, we're legit goldfish owners again. It seems like the right thing to do."
"You're not going to let this go, are you?"
"C'mon, we can make it a sweet little bedtime story."
"As long as I don't have to start," she said quickly.
"I'll start. I always was more romantic than you anyway."
"Part of me wants to take offence to that, Danny."
Danny laughed, then added a little more seriously "and let's keep it G-rated. A bit of kissing and what have you."
"Why?"
"I don't want to think of Gail being sexually frustrated in her bowl."
"Fish feel sexual frustration?"
"I felt great sexual frustration."
"You're projecting your feelings onto a fish?"
"We're getting off topic here."
"You started it."
"You know what, this was a stupid idea. I'll remove Gail from the list and you can pick next weekend. What time is it?"
"Just past 8pm."
"Don't you have a meeting with the people from Human Rights Watch pretty early tomorrow?"
"Not early. At one o'clock."
"Remind me what's on the agenda .."
"Election campaigning in Zimbabwe."
"Mugabe?"
"Raring to go and raring to fly."
"Won't be the last thing to come out of his mouth, I'm sure."
"Yeah."
"Listen, you should probably get a good night's sleep. I'm going to catch a few more zzzzs myself. Speak to you tomorrow?"
"Okay."
"CJ?"
"Yeah?"
"Miss you."
"Miss you, too."
She replaced the phone in its cradle, but tossed and turned for a long time until she fell asleep.
Nairobi | Santa Monica
Monday 6am | Sunday 7pm
She was halfway through replaying the conversation in her head as she showered the next morning when it occurred to her that she'd allowed Danny to steer her away from something that had been important to him.
She actually hated when he did this, and then got angry at herself for not being aware enough in the moment to recognize that he was doing it.
It had been an adjustment going from putting something off for seven years to taking the leap and transitioning into living together so soon afterwards.
She reminded herself that she was growing into the quirkiness of their brand of pillow talk - but there were moments when it felt as though her learning curve was steeper than it ought to be.
Case in point, last night.
She stepped out of the shower and checked the clock before reaching for the phone.
Her call was picked up on the first ring.
"Margaret?"
"Yes."
"Sorry to bother you at home on a Sunday night."
"What do you need?"
CJ paused for a moment and then asked, "do fish have fantasies?"
There was a longer pause on the other end than CJ had expected.
Surely she'd called the right person.
There had to be some story she could spring on her to help her out.
"Do fish have fantasies .." Margaret said slowly, clearly turning the question over in her mind.
Then she gasped.
"Margaret? "
"It wasn't Carol's idea. It was mine."
"What wasn't Carol's idea?"
"Reading to Gail."
"What? "
"That's not why you're asking about fish fantasies, is it?"
Her next call was to Carol - who didn't pick up.
It took her three tries to get through.
"Is there anything you want to tell me?" she asked, knowing full well that Margaret had already given her the heads up.
"Not really."
"You read to Gail?"
"Yes."
"That kind of story?"
"Yes."
"Why? "
"We thought she needed the excitement."
"You mean you and Margaret, right? Primary caretakers of said fish."
There was suspicious silence on the line.
"Carol? We?"
Carol cleared her throat.
"The ELS."
"ELS?"
"Erotic Literature Squad," Carol mumbled.
"There was a squad ?"
"Yes. Of Executive Assistants."
"You two and Bonnie, Ginger, Cathy, and Donna?"
"And Marni. Debbie only joined in the last eighteen months."
"The President's Debbie?"
"She walked in on us one night. We had to let her in the group."
"You read porn to my fish fifty feet from the Oval Office? "
"Danny told us in the early days it wasn't good to move the fish around, so we - "
"Hang on, are you telling me that Danny knew about this club?"
There was more suspicious silence.
"Can I plead the fifth?"
"Tell me Danny didn't know .."
"He came in to say goodbye before he left for the first time and we were .. moving Gail back to your desk from the coffee table. We didn't tell him, but I know he saw the books in everyone's hands."
CJ groaned.
"There's more .."
"What more can there possibly be?"
We may have .. um .. started to .."
"May have started to .."
"Invent our own stories after that. About you and Danny. So she wouldn't, you know, forget him. Or only remember the fights. He never knew that though. We were worried about confusing her after he left the second time and Ben seemed to be becoming a thing. So we .."
"Went back to regular porn?"
"Yes."
"Okay."
"That's it?"
"Yep."
"Sorry. Bye. Sorry"
Carol seemed relieved to be let off the hook so easily, but CJ's mind was racing at a million miles a minute as she looked at the clock.
She had a few hours to kill, and it would still be Sunday night for him when she made the call.
It gave her great pleasure that they'd be sticking with the program.
I'll give you G-rated, she thought as she flipped her laptop open and started to type.
She'd lull him into a false sense of security with an episodic memory - and then make him count the hours till she got home.