Can't Remember Dick part three
By Galaxy 1001D
When Mary arrived for her first day back at the university she was given a standing ovation. Her fellow professors congratulated her on her miraculous recovery and they all agreed that she looked fabulous. Mary was all smiles and blushes as she accepted kisses, handshakes, and small gifts from her friends.
She didn't tell them that she had fainted in her living room the day she was released from the hospital. It was her fault for overdoing it, but the next day she looked and felt so good that she took up jogging again. She hadn't jogged in years! Her osteoporosis wasn't bothering her either, somehow they had cured that too! Measuring herself, she had regained four inches back to her normal height. If that hospital ever needed a former patient to endorse them in a commercial, she wanted to be at the front of the line!
Although… all of her liquor was missing. All of it. None of her relatives 'fessed up to it, but she wouldn't be surprised if Nina decided to save her from herself. What about those strange people from the hospital that she imagined in her house? Were they really aliens from another planet who came here to save her from her addiction or was this a withdraw symptom that hadn't been documented yet?
Somehow she made it to the store without buying in any gin. Instead she had bought a sample of nearly every soft drink known to man so she could go through the motions until she could finally kick the habit. If she wasn't careful, she was going to rot her teeth, but strangely, even her teeth seemed stronger and whiter than they had been when she was admitted to the hospital.
Oh well, it didn't matter if the government had gone 'mad science' on her and experimented with a brand new way to restore life to the dying. She had been a 9.6 on the buzzard scale anyway and now was a new woman looking and feeling twenty years younger. It was time to stay positive! Today nothing was going to break her sunny disposition.
As she entered her office she noticed that Nina didn't have a sunny disposition. On the contrary the look on her face was kind of sour. "Good morning Nina, what's wrong?" Mary asked in concern.
"Oh Doctor Albright, when it looked like you were done for, they promised your office to someone else," her secretary moaned. "I did what I could, but the best I could do was to have the two of you share it."
"Thank God for tenure," Mary chuckled. "I've still got my parking space; I can live with sharing an office. So who's the new roomie anyway?"
"Hello everyone!" Dick beamed as he strode into the office.
"Dick Solomon," Nina said bitterly.
"Oh my God it's you!" Mary squeaked. "You're real!"
"I know," Nina nodded. "You try to block out the memory but he keeps coming back in your nightmares."
"You were at the hospital!" Mary gasped. "You were at my house!"
"So he's stalking you already huh?" Nina sighed. "I'm going out for a coffee break and letting you two hash it out," she added as she left the office.
"Who the hell are you?" Mary demanded.
"Why I thought you said you remembered me," he sighed. "I'm Dick Solomon."
"Dick Solomon!" Mary gasped. "The Dick Solomon? Not the total wackjob that I dated on and off for six years?"
"Yes! It's all coming back," he smiled and playfully punched her shoulder. "That's great! I can't wait to for us to get reacquainted!"
"No I don't remember you; Nina told me about you!"
He seemed disappointed. "Oh. But you said you remembered me."
"Yes!" Mary nodded. "You were at my house, rifling through my things like a common burglar!"
Dick's indignant sputtering was truly epic. He couldn't speak and staggered backwards as if having a heart attack. "How do you like that?" he finally managed. "You try to be nice to somebody and all you get is complaints!"
"And before that you at the hospital on the day of my miraculous recovery," Mary continued before her eyes grew wide and her voice grew quiet. "On the day of my miraculous recovery," she repeated.
"Yes?" Dick demanded as he closed in on her. "What about your miraculous recovery? Did you see Sally, Tommy, Harry and me?"
"Yes," she looked away and seemed to be in a trance.
"Oh my gosh!" he staggered backwards with his hand in his mouth. "Did you by any chance see the advanced alien technology we used to save your life?"
"What?" she looked at him in surprise. "No!"
Dick made a strange dancing motion as he sucked in a breath. He stared at her in alarm before assuming a façade of exaggerated calm. "Well good," he purred. "Because if you did you were just imagining things. Must be the drugs they used."
She stared at him. "Doctor Solomon, are you trying to say that you used advanced alien technology to save my life?"
"No!" he whined in alarm. "That's exactly what I'm trying not to say!"
"Okay then what's going on?" Mary asked him. She should have been afraid of this nutjob, but his guilty subordinate manner had given her back her old confidence. "What were you doing in my room?"
"I wasn't in your room!" he insisted. "Honestly we weren't even there!"
"Then how do you know I saw you and the others?"
"Nina told me!"
"Now why do I doubt that?" Mary asked as she advanced on the cowering giant. "Come on Solomon. Give me the truth."
"You want the TRUTH?" he roared. "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"
"What were you doing in my room?" she demanded after a pregnant pause. "Did you have something to do with my cirrhosis going into remission?"
"We didn't make it go into remission; we completely got rid of it," he snorted before jumping back in horror. "No! I swear we had nothing to do with it!" he whined. "Honest!"
"Oh my God," Mary murmured. "Did you have something to do with it?"
"Now wait give me a minute," he said as he raised a hand in surrender. "I just got back to this planet. I haven't reacquired the knack of lying just yet."
"You just got back to his planet?" Mary repeated in disbelief. "Where have you been, Mars?"
"Mars?" Dick laughed. "You think there's life on Mars? Oh Mary, that's a good one!"
"I was being sarcastic!"
"Ooh!" he muttered in apology. "Sorry. I forgot all about sarcasm. But don't worry, it's all coming back. I'll get it all back in no time," he announced pompously.
"My God Solomon just listen to yourself!"
"Sorry but it's been years since I've been on this planet," he sniffed indignantly. "I still haven't gotten used to this body…"
"Used to this body?" she sneered. "Just who do you think you are? Doctor Who?"
"No, I'm Doctor Solomon," he corrected. "But I'd prefer it if you call me Dick."
"Listen Mork or whoever you are, what's going on?" she demanded. "I thought I was losing my mind but it's true! You've been stalking me! Who are you and what to you want?"
Instead of teaching physics Dick Solomon should have been teaching drama, because his face when through the entire gamut of emotions. "I just want to start up where we left off," he finally said.
"Good," she put her hands on her hips. "Who are you and what to you want?"
"No I mean from the last time we saw each other," he clarified. "Before I left over ten years ago."
"But I can't remember you from that time!" she shook her head helplessly. "We dated on and off for six years but I just can't remember you! Oh my God! Am I blocking out a traumatic experience? Did you take advantage of me against my will?" she whispered.
"Only that one night but you insisted," he said apologetically. "You said that roleplaying would be fun."
"Ew, that sounds like me," she winced. "My God. I was a real freak wasn't I?"
"No!" he whined as he crouched on one knee and held her hand. "You're not. I swear you're not." he said in a quiet gentle voice. "You are the most wonderful, delightful person I've ever met. The reason I came back was… for you."
Mary couldn't hide her girlish smile. "Really?"
"Yes," he kissed her hand. "Really. I know my assignment here was over, but I had to come back for you Mary. You're the only woman I ever loved. You taught me what love is. How could I just go away and leave you forever like that? I had to come back to you. Imagine my horror when I discovered that you were dying! I know it's against the rules but I had to act. The world just wouldn't be the same without you. It wouldn't be worth saving then."
"Aw," Mary blushed. "I don't know why, but for some reason, I trust you. I guess I really do know you after all. Tell me, were we close?"
"Oh yes!" he said as he hugged her and pulled her up against his body. "We were quite close!"
Alarm returned to Mary's face now that Dick was smashing her up against his chest. She grimaced at the sudden intimate contact. "Then why did you leave me?" she asked him shakily.
That made him let go. "Well, erm," he coughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "That's a little hard to explain…"
"Does it have anything to do that nonsense about using alien technology to save my life?"
He cowered guiltily. "Maybe," he muttered quietly.
She stared at him for almost twenty seconds before launching into him. "Doctor Solomon, I have been very patient…"
"Dick, please," he interrupted.
She rolled her eyes. "Dick," she made a wide dismissive gesture with her arm. "I have been very patient with you but this nonsense about alien technology is unbelievable! I wouldn't believe it at all except… Look at me! Not only am I alive but I look twenty years younger!"
"I must say, you look great don't you?" he grinned.
"Yeah I do," she smiled back, "and I feel great too! But I don't want to undo it all by stressing myself to death. Come on, Dick, level with me. What's going on?"
He sat at his desk and pouted, unwilling to look at her.
She walked up to him and tried to look him in the eye. "Dick, if what you said is true, if you love me, you'll tell me what really happened."
He shook his head and kept looking away. "I don't want to scare you," he said quietly.
"Believe me Doctor Solomon we passed scaring me a long time ago," she smirked. "Come on Dick, level with me."
"You'll never believe it."
"Maybe you're right, but I don't think I'll disbelieve it either," she admitted. "Come on; tell me your ridiculous made-up story. It's worth a shot. I'm feeling gullible."
He looked at her. "Okay," he nodded. "But not here. Let's have a drink after school and talk about it."
"Not supposed to drink alcohol, remember?" she reminded him dryly. "I know thatbecause you broke into my house and made off with all my liquor," she announced through clenched teeth.
"All for the best of reasons." Somehow Dick managed to say that both bashfully and arrogantly at the same time. "I'm just trying to save you from the demon alcohol. I travelled countless parsecs to save you, so you don't expect a little B and E to stop me do you?" Okay arrogance had just trumped shame. "We didn't take any of your valuables did we?"
"No, thank goodness," she admitted. "But you can't keep breaking into people's houses like that! It freaks me out!"
"You got over it before," he shrugged.
"Oh hell," she snorted in disgust. "It's true. I really did block you out. You're just one big traumatic memory wrapped in a stress sandwich aren't you?"
"I think that's unfair," he pouted. "For all you know I saved your life."
"How!?"
"Don't ask me!" he moaned melodramatically as he turned away and hid his face in his hands. "For all you know I'm just a physics professor. That's what I have to be." He looked back at her and asked in a businesslike tone. "By the way, are you doing anything tonight?"
"What have I got myself into?" Mary asked herself.