The Man Who Forgot His Wife Read Online Free Page B

3
    GARY HUGGED ME meaningfully while I just stood there, enduring the physical contact like some teenage boy cuddled by his aunt at Christmas.
    ‘Vaughan! I was so worried about you. I love you, man!’
    ‘You love me?’ I stammered. ‘So am I your …? Are we, like,
homosexuals
?’
    The meaningful embrace ended very suddenly as Gary glanced across at Bernard. ‘No, I don’t love you like
that
. I mean I love you like a brother, you know …’
    ‘You’re my brother?’
    ‘No, not literally your brother – I mean we’re like brothers, you and me. Gazoody-baby!’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Gazoody-baby! That’s what we used to say, isn’t it? Gazooooooody-baby! Remember?’ and he gave me a little playful punch on the arm which actually hurt slightly.
    This was my visitor being reserved and unassuming after he’d been given a little talk by the doctor. She had warned him on the phone that I was unlikely to know who he was, and might react nervously if he was too presumptuous or over-familiar. It was good that he had taken so much of this on board. Despite the solitude I’d felt up to this point, the sudden friendliness of this stranger felt inappropriate. Some primal defence mechanism kicked in; clearly early hunter-gatherers had learned that total strangers were only this friendly when trying to get you to come to an Alpha Course meeting.
    ‘Look, I know this is going to sound a bit rude, but I’m afraid I really don’t know who you are. Until you called me “Vaughan” I didn’t even know that was my Christian name.’
    ‘Actually it’s your surname. That’s just what everybody calls you.’
    ‘See? I didn’t know that! I don’t know anything. Do I have a mother, for example? I don’t know.’
    The man paused and placed his hand on my shoulder. ‘I’m sorry, mate. Your old mum kicked the bucket about five years ago.’
    ‘Oh, okay.’ I shrugged. ‘Well, I don’t remember her anyway …’
    And he laughed as if I was making a joke.
    ‘Yeah, the nurse said you’ve lost your memory or something? She’s hot, isn’t she? Has she seen you naked?’
    ‘Er, no.’
    ‘Well, that’s probably just as well. Do you want to go and get a pint or two? I really fancy a pickled gherkin.’
    And then I found myself emitting an unexpected laugh. It was the first time I had laughed since Day Zero, and my visitor hadn’t even been trying to be funny. Just the randomness of his thought processes felt comical and refreshing. My own personality had been a mystery to me when I walked into the hospital; the various darkened rooms just needed the right people to open the doors to show me the way around. Bernard had lit up my irritable, slightly intolerant side; Gary had shown me what made me laugh.
    ‘So, Vaughan, put some clothes on, for Christ’s sake, ’cos you can’t go to the pub in your fucking pyjamas!’
    ‘He’s not allowed to leave the hospital!’ interjected Bernard, looking a little put out by this interloper’s arrival. ‘In fact, the doctor said she wanted to be here when you two first met.’
    ‘Yeah, but I got fed up of waiting, didn’t I? I’ve been sitting out there twenty minutes. I don’t need an appointment to see my best friend!’
    I tried not to look too smugly towards Bernard at this description of myself. After a week in an institution, my friend’s disregard for rules was infectious and part of me was tempted to jump at this opportunity for a trip into the outside world. I might have remained in two minds, had Bernard not explicitly forbidden me to leave the ward.
    Walking out of the hospital with Gary felt both exhilarating and terrifying. I had almost forgotten what fresh air smelt like and here was someone who knew all the secrets of my past life. I jumped slightly at the noise of a passing motorbike and felt intimidated by the other hurrying pedestrians, who all seemed to be so sure about where they were going.
    Gary was a tall, spindly man about my age who dressed in the