"After that, I'm not very hungry Bill."

"Nor am I Becky. Why don't we just go get a bowl of soup at the diner? We should be early enough that not many are there."

Becky responded with a nod, and we walked down to the diner. We were able to get a small corner booth which gave us the illusion of some privacy. "I don't know if I really want to know what happened now Beck. What if it's something awful!"

"Bill, I think NOW you have to do something. It sounds like someone DID it to you. I mean what if they did it to others or are even still doing it!"

"Don't say that Becky. Surely not."

"Why not? If they'll do it to kids once, they will again!" Uh oh, it's sounding like Beck's going to turn this into one of her crusades.

"Beck, this is ME. What if..."

"Bill, what could they do to you today? You're an adult. Nobody can do things to you without your permission!"

"Uhuh. Well, let’s finish our soup and get home. Beck, I gotta think some more on this, okay? "

"Okay Bill, I guess I am a bit hungry now."

Later that afternoon

I walked in to talk to Becky, "You win Becky, but how do we figure out what caused the memory loss? I'm at a loss."

"Well Bill, I can think of two, okay three, ways we might go about this."

"What was the hesitation about how many ways?"

"I'll get to that. But, we can obviously talk to your mom and dad about stuff back around the time you think your memory went away. Maybe they know something they didn't say last time? Maybe they'll remember something that will trigger something for you. We can also check records of your school about then. There might be a file or something that has some hints."

"Okay, I guess those make sense. But what's the third way?"

She gave a sigh, "I don't like to say it, but if we don't get much either of those ways, we may have to go with that memory doctor."

"You're kidding aren't you?"

"No Bill, if we can find some way to make sure it's just recovering memories, we may have to!" I could see the concern in her face, but I could also see the determination. She wasn't going to let go of this idea anytime soon.

"But Beck, you were the one that was really against it!"

"I know Bill, but if it's the only way to find out. Maybe we should talk with Flo or your Dr. on Monday. Maybe one of them will have some ideas."

"Okay. Maybe anyway. Let's see if we can get anything from mom and dad first please?"

"That's fine Bill, but we need to be careful how we ask. I don't think they'd have agreed to something that would hurt you, but they might not have known it would. Maybe they noticed something."

"Kay, maybe we can go over tomorrow."

"That might work Bill. It gives us time to have a chat with Ruth. She'll be home this evening anyway; she wanted to get some things for a costume. Apparently her hall goes all out for Halloween."

"I'd completely forgotten that one of us had to go pick her up this afternoon. I'll talk to her on the way home. That way, she won't say something in front of the other two." I said, then thinking about the rest of what Becky had said, "That she wants something is no surprise, she's always been the most creative of the kids on costumes. Do you remember that dark angel costume she and one of her friends made about six years ago. They must have put hours into those wings!"

Becky laughed at that "Yes, I hope she doesn't plan to put that kinda time into one this year. She'd be better off putting the time into studying!"

"I wouldn't worry about that Beck. She's got her head firmly on her shoulders! We can just hope Craig settles down before he gets to the Uni."

"We can hope. He's better this year, and so far Ginny's taking more after Ruth than Craig."

"Yea, she adores her big sister! Well, I'd best get on the road so we can get back in time for Dinner. Ginny'll be home in a bit."

"Don't worry Bill. We'll get through this too!"

"Thanks Beck."

Getting into the car, and then on the way home from the Uni with Ruth (18).

"Is that all we need for the weekend Ruth?"

"That's it dad. It okay for me to borrow the car a couple of times this weekend to scrounge up some costume parts?"

"Sure, you mind dragging Ginny with you some? She's still not settled on a costume."

"That's okay dad, she's a good kid!"

"Ruth, I need you to put your serious hat on for a few minutes."

"What's up dad? Sounds serious!"

"I don't know how serious it is, but your mother and I wanted you aware of something going on so you didn't say something to clue in Craig or Ginny."

"Oh, well, you certainly have my interest dad!"

"You recall my memory problem don't you?"

"You mean that you're an Alien from outer space exchanged for a human whe you were around nine?"

"Yea, that's the problem. I've decided to try and do something about it. Sort of a search for my past as it were."

"That sounds fun, but why the mystery?"

"Well, you remember that my mom and dad said that my old codeine rationale for the memory loss was so much fiction don't you?"

"Uhuh. You seemed kinda shocked when your mom said she didn't know what you were talking about. Don't tell me they've changed their minds!"

"No. Not yet anyway. But, after a chat with Flo, I'm doing some things to try and work out where my memory went. She's got me seeing a shrink, if you can believe that! But that's supposed to give me a neutral person to talk to about things if memory comes back. She also sent me to see a neurologist to eliminate a physical cause to my memory loss, and that's where this chat comes from." I glanced down at my watch to see how we were doing for time.

"Don't tell me he found something!" That's my Ruth, right to the point.

"Well, sorta. He found some scar tissue at the base of my brain." I heard her catch her breath at that. "He also said that wasn't the cause! At most a side effect of whatever did the deed."

"Oh, that's good."

"Well, maybe not." I'm sure she was staring at me now.

"Dad! Don't stop now. What are you saying?"

"Well, he said the pattern of scaring could have been caused by three things. The first was removal of a tumor." I could hear the breath catch again, so I reassured her. "But he also said that was probably not the case, due to the pattern of healing around the scar tissue. Something like it not being appropriate for removal of a tumor of the size indicated by the scaring."

"Okay dad, now what are the other two?"

"Well, they're both things that someone would have had to inflict on me, shock treatments or drugs of some sort."

"Oh dad, that's horrible!"

"Your mother used some stronger terms when she read the report." I said, trying to lighten the mood in the car. I think if Flo hadn't interrupted, she'd have blistered my ears."

"Dad, you're kidding. Mom never says things like that."

"I think she was going to this time. And, I might have been right behind her. In any event, after some cooling off, we decided that it might be a good idea to find out what happened, and if possible get some of the memories back."

"Okay dad. How does that affect me?"

"Well, we figured you'd recognize that something was going on, if not this weekend then on one of your trips home or when talking with mom or me. So, we decided to let you know in advance, so you'd not ask awkward questions in front of Craig or Ginny."

"Thanks for trusting me with this dad. You know I'll help any way I can."

"I know, and tomorrow, we're going to ask you to keep Ginny with you a few hours in the afternoon. Your mom and I are going to visit my folks for a bit, to see if they can remember anything about that time that might provide us some clues!"

"Okay dad, costume shopping will chew up a bunch of that time! What about the Craigster?"

"He'll probably be off with his friends practicing. The band is playing a gig next weekend. I guess they're starting to be okay. I'm just glad they do their practicing at our place every fourth week or so." Ruth actually laughed at that one.

"Dad, they're more than okay. They probably even play some music you'd like, if you'd take the time to listen."

"I know and yea, I guess its okay. I just don't enjoy the same song over and over and over again. I know, I know. You have to practice things like that, to get it right. I just don't have to enjoy hearing it do I?"

"No dad. And don't worry about Ginny. I'll take care of the little kid."

"Thanks Ruth."