Argument and Memories

Tex ran over the roof of the Blue Base and leapt over the side. She landed in a crouch and dashed to the nearby cover of a rock formation. Her sudden arrival drew the attention of a very startled Caboose. She played it off. "Hi, Caboose."

Caboose stood. "Hi, Tex! How are you?"

She responded to his friendliness in kind. "I'm good. How are you?"

Caboose gestured to the rock where several pieces of printer paper were spread out. Tex noticed some red and blue scrawls on a couple of pieces of the paper, and a box of crayons next to the rock that served as Caboose's easel. "I'm good. I was just drawing." He said the word with contentment.

Tex crouched down and picked up one of Caboose's drawings. There were four misshapen people with white rectangles across their faces where their eyes should be, gaps in the crayon where the paper showed through. At the far right end of the drawing there was a blocky gray building with the Blue Team symbol on it. She scanned the people standing in a row quickly. One was drawn in dark primary blue, standing next to another person drawn in sky blue. Far away towards the base was a third person in turquoise, and standing on the sky blue person's other side was the last figure, drawn in black.

She looked up from the picture. "Is this us?"

Caboose took the picture from her gently and held it up, showing it to her. "This is me, and this is you, and in between us is Church! Yes! This is us." He added less enthusiastically, "And this is Tucker." He pointed to the figure far away from the rest.

"Why is he standing so far away?" Tex asked. She could guess, but she wanted to keep Caboose talking. She wanted to share Caboose's little hiding spot for a while.

"Because I don't like him," Caboose said.

At that moment, Church's voice rang out, echoing as if he were standing on top of the base. "Tex! Where'd you go?"

"That sounds like Church," Caboose said brightly.

"It is," Tex muttered. "I should've known he wouldn't just let it go. He never did know when to leave me alone."

That made Caboose nervous. "Do you want to be alone?"

Tex changed her demeanor to be as non-threatening as possible. "No. You're okay." She sat down. "I like it here. I want to see more of your drawings." It wasn't exactly a lie; she didn't not want to see them.

"Okay!" Caboose sat down in front of his drawing rock. He held up the other picture he'd finished. "I did this one of the Red Team. Now that I know their names, I think they are more interesting."

Church yelled again, louder than before. "Hey, Tex! I'm talking to you!"

"I think Church is talking to you," Caboose said.

"I can hear him," Tex said.

"Tex!" Church yelled.

"He seems mad," Caboose said.

"Yeah, he gets that way." Tex glanced at Caboose with a smile. "I find it's best to ignore him when he gets like this."

"Are you ignoring me?"

Caboose winced. "Are you sure that is a good thing to do?"

"Yep. I've done it before."

"Why do you always do this?" Church yelled. "I'm talking to you! The least you could do is answer!"

"He needs some time to cool down," Tex said.

"How come he is over there and you are here?" Caboose asked. He put down his picture and looked at her suspiciously.

Tex shrugged, exuding her best impression of innocence. "I don't know. Some things just happen."

Caboose wasn't fooled. Even after they'd accidentally shot up his head, he wasn't that stupid. "Did you have an argument?"

"It's really none of your business," Tex said in her professional voice.

Caboose just sat there and waited.

Tex sighed. "But yes. We did. We argue a lot."

"I noticed," Caboose said gloomily. He stood up and turned his back on his drawing supplies.

"Why does it bother you so much?" Tex asked.

"It reminds me of my parents," Caboose said.

Tex froze. She hadn't expected such a straightforward answer. "Your parents?"

"Yes. They would argue and slam doors. I did not like it."

Tex stood and scanned the area around them quickly. Finding no traces of another human being besides herself and Caboose, she allowed her guard to drop a little. She placed her hand on Caboose's shoulder. "I'm sorry your parents argued, Caboose."

Caboose turned and looked at her with an air of wide-eyed blankness. "That's okay. You are a nice lady."

She held up her hands. "But you see, there's really nothing like that between me and Church. We were never going to get married. He's not my boyfriend. We're just good friends. Or we were. Now he doesn't remember me. He thinks I'm someone else."

"Someone else?" Caboose asked.

Tex nodded. She allowed Caboose to see she was sad. "Yes."

"Who does he think you are, but that you are not?" Caboose asked.

Tex decided she would tell him. If nothing else, he was a good listener. "Allison. Her name was Allison."

"I thought your name was Tex," Caboose said.

"It is."

Caboose relaxed. "I don't see how he could get those confused. Those names aren't alike at all. I can tell them apart. Allison. Tex. See? I did it. You are Tex, and someone else is Allison."

Tex couldn't help but smile at that. "Yes. Very good."

"How come he thinks you Tex and other lady Allison are the same person?" Caboose asked.

"It's a long story."

Caboose stood there hopefully.

Tex sighed. "But I'll make it short. Allison and I are alike up to a point. You see, Church doesn't have all of his memories. If he did...he'd realize that I'm more like his sister. We were inseparable. Allison was gone a long time ago. It's just me. I'm all that's left. But Church's memories were taken away from him by a bad man. A complicated man, but ultimately, a bad one. He made a lot of bad decisions, and for the wrong reasons. So now I'm like this, and Church isn't in possession of any of his memories, so he makes up stories about us based on what he thinks he knows. He doesn't know anything. That's part of the problem."

She gave Caboose a smile bravely covering another, different emotion. "I guess I just told you why we argue, too. We argue because he doesn't remember, and I do. He thinks I'm denying him what he needs. But I don't have it. I'm not her. And she wasn't meant for him anyway."

Caboose nodded slowly. "I think I understand. You're Tex, and you're Church's sister. A bad man took all of Church's memories, so now he thinks you're his ex-girlfriend. But that is wrong, because of incense. So you tell him, 'No! I do not want to kiss you or hug you or do any of the things a girlfriend would do, because that would be bad, and wrong.' So he gets sad. Because he thinks his ex-girlfriend dumped him again."

Tex was surprised. "That's about it. Yes."

Caboose beamed. "I understand. Keep saying no, Agent Tex. Be strong. Church will remember someday." His voice dropped to a whisper. "And he will be so embarrassed."

Tex chuckled. "I hope so, Caboose." But she couldn't hold onto the levity of Caboose's innocence. Her smile dimmed. "There's nothing I want more than for Church to remember. That's the culmination of all that I've worked for."