#quistie64

And oh right, here is a little something from me to you:

*** 

“Chuck, what’s this?”

“Hmm?”

Sarah looked up from the strange cylindrical object in her hand. She had found it while digging through the box labeled “Miscellaneous”. That was strange. She didn’t remember packing it for the move.

Chuck still had his head buried in the box he was working on, so she asked him again. “Where did this come from? Did you pack it? Is it another one of your weird toys?”

She cringed as soon as the words left her mouth. She had been told on more than one occasion by Chuck that his toys weren’t toys, they were “collectibles”. She didn’t really understand what made them collectible. Why did an adult need dolls anyway? And what did anyone need with an oddly shaped white helmet that looked like it was made out of PVC? Knives, cars, clothes, those were things worth collecting. Not that she’d ever tell her husband that. Sarah had learned that mistake the first time.

There were still a lot of things she was getting used to since her memory loss, and some of her husband’s more idiosyncratic eccentricities was one of them. But that was okay, because somehow he loved her despite all the many reasons why he shouldn’t, and if the other Sarah could learn to understand (and even embrace) Chuck’s hobbies, she could to.

Chuck finally looked up from the box and turned his head. Instead of a lecture, he smiled. “Actually, that’s yours.”

Sarah blinked and looked at the object in her hand. Uncertain, she looked at her husband. “It’s not a, uh…”

Chuck’s eyes widened and he flushed a deep red. “What? No!” He shook his head and visibly composed himself. “That’s your sonic screwdriver.”

“My what?”

Chuck moved over on his knees to right in front of her. He held out his hand and she gave him the object. “I sometimes forget you don’t remember our time with the Doctor.”

Four months ago, Chuck would have never talked so candidly about her memory loss. But a lot of things had changed since then. “Why was I seeing a doctor?”

“Not a doctor, but the Doctor.”

Sarah frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“On the last day of our honeymoon, we ran into—”

“I remember our honeymoon,” Sarah said, interrupting, and had to fight off the flush that threatened to warm her face. She was very grateful she had gained those memories relatively quickly after the kiss at the beach. Even if it had made things horribly awkward between her and Chuck for a few days afterward. The things her nerd had done to her, and the things she had done to him, had made it impossible for her to look him in the eyes for a very long time. “But I don’t remember meeting any doctor.”

“I guess you wouldn’t, but it’s why you cut your hair.”

Sarah perked up and she looked at Chuck with interested eyes. She’d always wondered why she had cut her hair so short; it hadn’t been that short since she was a teenager and had spent the first half of her Freshmen year hiding in the school library. Mrs. Q had always been so nice to her, recommending books for her to read, and keeping her company during lunch.

“You see, it all started when we ran into your old high school librarian at an In-N-Out and…”

Sarah folded her legs underneath her as she listened intently to her husband as he recounted to her the story about her high school librarian, the Doctor, an In-N-Out, a chalet in Colorado, a monastery in Prague, and how she came to possess a sonic screwdriver.

She didn’t mind that she couldn’t remember. Hearing Chuck tell her the story, it was like she got to experience it all over again for the first time.

But next time, though. Next time they went with the Doctor, she was bringing a video camera.

***