Still With Me by Thierry Cohen Read Free Book Online Page A

no big deal. If it’s like last time, tomorrow you’ll get your memory back and…all will be forgotten.”
    “Very funny.”
    “Worth saying, though, that it’s a question of time. Right now you’re having a bad dream. Tomorrow you’ll wake up and it’ll all be over. Everything will be fine.”
    “Except I won’t remember this conversation, and my symptoms could come back at any moment.”
    “Eventually we’ll figure out what…what’s wrong.”
    “It’s hard waking up like this. I’ve lost all sense of who I am. It’s like someone cut me up into little pieces and scattered them all over the place. I can find some of the pieces, but they don’t fit the puzzle like they should.”
    “You lost me,” Pierre said.
    “I don’t recognize myself in the man you describe, the one who’s with you most days. I love my parents. I’m not mean-spirited. At most I’m a little lost. And I don’t have the temperament for sales. I’m more of an artist. I don’t even like alcohol. So how can I rebuild my life when the piecesdon’t look anything like me? I mean, tell me, Pierre, how do you see me?”
    Pierre laughed a little, embarrassed. “You’re a first-class bastard. Worse: a drunk, a shithead, a whiner, and I could go on…” He put a hand on Jeremy’s shoulder. “But you’re a good person. You’re my friend.”
    “That’s not saying much,” Jeremy joked. “Tell me honestly how you see me every other day of the year.”
    “Are you being serious?” Pierre asked incredulously. “You’re determined, strong-willed. A sensualist. You love life, and you know how to enjoy it like no one else I know. You like nice restaurants, fancy wine, aged whiskey, lively conversations, politics, your job, soccer, parties with friends, vacations, nice cars. You don’t like assholes, braggarts, your colleagues at work, board games, vegetarian food, religion, religious people, or anything that makes you feel like you’re wasting your time or that gets in the way of enjoying life.”
    “What you’re saying…I don’t recognize myself at all,” Jeremy confided, more than a little stunned. “And Victoria?”
    “Victoria? She’s the one who saves you every day. She’s your guardian angel, your guiding light.”
    “But…How do I behave toward her? Do I love her?”
     
    The question took Pierre by surprise. He scratched his head and furrowed his brow. “You’re asking me? Hard to say. She’s one of your only solid foundations. You know it, and you’re grateful to her.”
    “That’s not the answer I expected.”
    At that moment, Victoria entered the room. “It’s done. I got the impression he didn’t mind. He was in the middle of a round of golf. He suggested you take time to get well. What are you two talking about?”
    “Jeremy. His personality. And you. His way of loving you,” Pierre answered, laughing. “I’m talking to a crazy person.”
    “Oh yeah? So how do you love me?” Victoria asked, sitting on Jeremy’s knees.
    “Like a crazy person. Pierre’s exactly right.” Jeremy let his gaze wander over Victoria’s face, so near, and he was suddenly aware of his luck.
    She squeezed his hand. “Jeremy, I’m worried about you. I think we should see a specialist.”
    “Don’t worry. Pierre’s right. Tomorrow, I’ll get my memory back. And if not, I promise I’ll go to the hospital.”
     
    “Unless you forget your promise from the day before,” Pierre quipped.
    “You’ll be there to remind me,” said Jeremy.
    “What if you go take a nap?” Pierre suggested. “It’ll be good for you.”
    At the thought of going to bed, Jeremy felt a ball of anxiety form in his stomach. He used humor to block the images taking shape in his mind. “I want to lie down and relax but not to sleep. What if I make another jump into the future? Five years, ten years, fifty years. I open my eyes and there, horror of horrors, I see a pair of dentures in a cup, and Victoria’s there drooling beside