Outsourced ficlet: "A year gone."
.
Title: A year gone.
(crossposted to my AO3 account)
Warning: my grasp of the British dialects (even RP) is scattershot on a good day, and my grasp of Indian accents is barely that good; this story has not been checked for Americanisms, though I tried to keep them to a minimum.
Summary: Todd's POV when he learns that he can't remember a whole year. Or some of the year's changes.
Rating: PG-13
Note:
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story.
Notes:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Todd?" Tonya asks me.
"Hm?" I ask as I wake up with my face on the cafeteria table.
"Are you okay?" Asha asks. Something tells me this isn't one of those happy dreams I used to have. So I open my eyes and sit up.
Asha and Tonya are here, sitting on opposite sides of me.
"I dozed off?" I ask. When in doubt, assume something that won't cause a problem.
"Just for a few seconds," Tonya said. "Now come on, Todd, you said you wanted our opinion on an idea you had."
"I did? Well that makes sense, because...what was my idea?"
"Your anniversary present," Asha said.
I suppose that makes sense. "To mark my having been here a whole," and I check my watch.
Which totally has the wrong date on it. "Okay, which one of you messed with my watch?"
"Neither," Tonya says.
"Because according to this, its the third of March, 2012," I say.
"Because it is," Asha says.
I stand up. "No. A few days, that's one thing - you can prank someone into thinking they
lost a few days. A week at most."
"So you don't remember the past - what, the last few months?" Tonya asks.
"Very funny, you guys. Ha ha. Laugh's on me, I know."
"This isn't a joke," Asha says. While that's exactly what someone would say if this was a joke, I get the feeling she's dead serious.
Story of my life.
I push the cafeteria chair in to the table, and I feel something on my finger. I look down, and there's a ring on my ring finger. The ring finger of my left hand.
"Gonna take a wild guess," Tonya says, "and you don't remember getting that."
I nod mutely.
"Do you remember dating?" Asha asks.
Before I can open my mouth, Tonya tells me, "We don't count."
"Then no," I say.
Tonya looks at Asha and Asha looks back, and they both look pretty worried.
"What?" I ask them.
"It's something of a long story," Asha says.
"A whole year, from what I've pieced together so far. Was I transferred, is that it? Am I visiting India for nostalgia's sake?"
"No," Tonya says. "But you've been annoyingly chipper for over five months now."
"He was just happy," Asha tells her.
"Great," I say. "With who? Did I know her before...no, that didn't come out right."
"You've known her for as long as you knew me, Todd," Asha says.
"So its someone I made a complete fool of myself in front of."
Asha's very quiet. Finally, she says, "That would have been difficult, given our country's population."
I deserved that. "Well, thank you for the lunch, ladies," even though I don't remember eating, my plate was empty when I woke up. "But I've got to get back to work - same office?"
Asha nods.
I walk off, and Tonya catches up to me.
"You really shouldn't be rushing back to work," Tonya says. "What with the memory loss and all."
"Best thing for me, actually," I say. "It should start to come back to me, once I'm surrounded by more familiar faces."
"Oh it'll certainly be that," she mutters, slapping me on the shoulders. Walking back to her offices.
I walk the rest of the way to the office, and it doesn't look appreciably different. Its a good thing that everyone is still here, right? Well, some of them seem to still be out on lunch, but other than that.
Rajiv corners me at the door.
"Look, I -" I start to say.
"Vimi would like to have the two of you for dinner tonight," Rajiv tells me.
"Two...?"
Rajiv fixes me with of of those 'how can you be so stupid and still able to breathe' looks. Some things don't change, it seems. Good to know. "Your wife, of course," Rajiv
says. "Yes, yes, I promise to be polite to her, sir."
"I know you would, Rajiv. Of course we'll be there." Just as soon as I remember who 'we' are.
"Good."
"There's just one - Gupta?" I ask, seeing who's come over.
"Yes, I had a question about - Asha?" Gupta asks.
When I turn back around, Asha's just smiling. But when my back was turned, you were mouthing something and pointing, weren't you? "If there's something somebody wants to tell me, don't let me stop you," I tell them.
"You're married," Manmeet says.
"Thank you, Manmeet. I kinda already figured that part out. Do you know who I'm married to?"
He nods.
"But you're not going to tell me?"
"You really can't remember?" I get the feeling either Asha told you, or you clued in without
her.
"You know you can't hit on her just because I have amnesia."
"Dude, I didn't hit on her before you married her. Why would I start now?"
Okay, I can probably cross a few names off the list of potential brides, thanks to that.
I sit down, and Rajiv's at my elbow. "Yes?" I ask.
"You cannot remember?" he asks. "Anything?"
"Just the past year's a blank," I tell him and anybody who wants to know. "If I really
missed anything, I hope somebody lets me know. Because I don't know - anything."
This must be serious - Rajiv didn't even quip 'that much has always been obvious' even though I left myself wide open.
"You may want to check your mail," Gupta says.
Manmeet nods.
I turn off my computer's screensaver, type in my password, and, right there as my screen background, is a photo of the two of us smiling and laughing and having a good time together. I don't remember it. It looks familiar, and it feels familiar, it feels right, but when did I marry -
"Madhuri?" I ask.
"Yes?" she answers me, standing right behind me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the end
Title: A year gone.
(crossposted to my AO3 account)
Warning: my grasp of the British dialects (even RP) is scattershot on a good day, and my grasp of Indian accents is barely that good; this story has not been checked for Americanisms, though I tried to keep them to a minimum.
Summary: Todd's POV when he learns that he can't remember a whole year. Or some of the year's changes.
Rating: PG-13
Note:
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story.
Notes:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Todd?" Tonya asks me.
"Hm?" I ask as I wake up with my face on the cafeteria table.
"Are you okay?" Asha asks. Something tells me this isn't one of those happy dreams I used to have. So I open my eyes and sit up.
Asha and Tonya are here, sitting on opposite sides of me.
"I dozed off?" I ask. When in doubt, assume something that won't cause a problem.
"Just for a few seconds," Tonya said. "Now come on, Todd, you said you wanted our opinion on an idea you had."
"I did? Well that makes sense, because...what was my idea?"
"Your anniversary present," Asha said.
I suppose that makes sense. "To mark my having been here a whole," and I check my watch.
Which totally has the wrong date on it. "Okay, which one of you messed with my watch?"
"Neither," Tonya says.
"Because according to this, its the third of March, 2012," I say.
"Because it is," Asha says.
I stand up. "No. A few days, that's one thing - you can prank someone into thinking they
lost a few days. A week at most."
"So you don't remember the past - what, the last few months?" Tonya asks.
"Very funny, you guys. Ha ha. Laugh's on me, I know."
"This isn't a joke," Asha says. While that's exactly what someone would say if this was a joke, I get the feeling she's dead serious.
Story of my life.
I push the cafeteria chair in to the table, and I feel something on my finger. I look down, and there's a ring on my ring finger. The ring finger of my left hand.
"Gonna take a wild guess," Tonya says, "and you don't remember getting that."
I nod mutely.
"Do you remember dating?" Asha asks.
Before I can open my mouth, Tonya tells me, "We don't count."
"Then no," I say.
Tonya looks at Asha and Asha looks back, and they both look pretty worried.
"What?" I ask them.
"It's something of a long story," Asha says.
"A whole year, from what I've pieced together so far. Was I transferred, is that it? Am I visiting India for nostalgia's sake?"
"No," Tonya says. "But you've been annoyingly chipper for over five months now."
"He was just happy," Asha tells her.
"Great," I say. "With who? Did I know her before...no, that didn't come out right."
"You've known her for as long as you knew me, Todd," Asha says.
"So its someone I made a complete fool of myself in front of."
Asha's very quiet. Finally, she says, "That would have been difficult, given our country's population."
I deserved that. "Well, thank you for the lunch, ladies," even though I don't remember eating, my plate was empty when I woke up. "But I've got to get back to work - same office?"
Asha nods.
I walk off, and Tonya catches up to me.
"You really shouldn't be rushing back to work," Tonya says. "What with the memory loss and all."
"Best thing for me, actually," I say. "It should start to come back to me, once I'm surrounded by more familiar faces."
"Oh it'll certainly be that," she mutters, slapping me on the shoulders. Walking back to her offices.
I walk the rest of the way to the office, and it doesn't look appreciably different. Its a good thing that everyone is still here, right? Well, some of them seem to still be out on lunch, but other than that.
Rajiv corners me at the door.
"Look, I -" I start to say.
"Vimi would like to have the two of you for dinner tonight," Rajiv tells me.
"Two...?"
Rajiv fixes me with of of those 'how can you be so stupid and still able to breathe' looks. Some things don't change, it seems. Good to know. "Your wife, of course," Rajiv
says. "Yes, yes, I promise to be polite to her, sir."
"I know you would, Rajiv. Of course we'll be there." Just as soon as I remember who 'we' are.
"Good."
"There's just one - Gupta?" I ask, seeing who's come over.
"Yes, I had a question about - Asha?" Gupta asks.
When I turn back around, Asha's just smiling. But when my back was turned, you were mouthing something and pointing, weren't you? "If there's something somebody wants to tell me, don't let me stop you," I tell them.
"You're married," Manmeet says.
"Thank you, Manmeet. I kinda already figured that part out. Do you know who I'm married to?"
He nods.
"But you're not going to tell me?"
"You really can't remember?" I get the feeling either Asha told you, or you clued in without
her.
"You know you can't hit on her just because I have amnesia."
"Dude, I didn't hit on her before you married her. Why would I start now?"
Okay, I can probably cross a few names off the list of potential brides, thanks to that.
I sit down, and Rajiv's at my elbow. "Yes?" I ask.
"You cannot remember?" he asks. "Anything?"
"Just the past year's a blank," I tell him and anybody who wants to know. "If I really
missed anything, I hope somebody lets me know. Because I don't know - anything."
This must be serious - Rajiv didn't even quip 'that much has always been obvious' even though I left myself wide open.
"You may want to check your mail," Gupta says.
Manmeet nods.
I turn off my computer's screensaver, type in my password, and, right there as my screen background, is a photo of the two of us smiling and laughing and having a good time together. I don't remember it. It looks familiar, and it feels familiar, it feels right, but when did I marry -
"Madhuri?" I ask.
"Yes?" she answers me, standing right behind me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the end