Page 170 of Tiger's Quest
Ren shrugged. “I’ve never seen the young lady until she, or I guess Kishan, stood outside my cage and rescued me.”
“Right! A cage. A cage is where I first met you. Remember? You were at the circus. You were a performing tiger, and I drew your picture and read to you. I helped free you.”
“I remember being at the circus, but you were never there. I recall freeing myself.”
“No. Youcouldn’t. If you could have freed yourself then why didn’t you do it centuries before?”
He furrowed his handsome brow. “I don’t know. All I remember is stepping out of the cage, calling Kadam, and then him coming back to take me home to India.”
Mr. Kadam interrupted, “Do you remember going to Phet in the jungle? Arguing with me about taking Miss Kelsey with you?”
“I remember arguing with you, but not about her. I was arguing about going to see Phet. You didn’t want me to waste my time, but I felt there was no other way.”
Upset and emotional, I said, “What about Kishkindha? I was with you there too.”
“I remember being alone.”
“How can that be?” I asked. “You remember Mr. Kadam? Kishan? Nilima?”
“Yes.”
“So it’s just me?”
“It would seem so.”
“What about the Valentine’s dance, the fight with Li, chocolate peanut butter cookies, watching movies, making popcorn, Oregon, college classes, going to Tillamook? Is all of that just . . . gone?”
“Not exactly. I remember fighting with Li, eating cookies, Tillamook, movies, and Oregon, but I don’t remember you.”
“So you just happened to go to Oregon for no reason?”
“No. I was going to college.”
“And what were you doing in your free time? Who were you with?”
He frowned as if concentrating. “No one at first, and then I was with Kishan.”
“Do you remember fighting with Kishan?”
“Yes.”
“What were you fighting about?”
“I can’t remember. Oh wait! Cookies. We fought over cookies.”
Tears filled my eyes. “This is a cruel joke. How could this have happened?”
Mr. Kadam stood and patted my back. “I’m not sure. Perhaps it is just a temporary memory loss.”
“I don’t think so,” I snuffled angrily. “It’s too specific. It’s only me he doesn’t remember. Lokesh did this.”
“I suspect you are right, but let’s not lose all hope. Let’s give him enough time to recover from his injuries before we become too worried. He needs to rest, and we’ll try to expose him to things that will jar his memory. Meanwhile, I will contact Phet to see if he might have an herbal remedy to help with this.”
Ren held up a hand. “Before you all subject me to tests and herbs and trips down memory lane, I’d just like to have a little time to myself.”
With that, he left the room. More tears came to my eyes.
I stammered, “I think I’d like a little time alone too,” and hobbled away. When I made it to the stairs, after painfully slow progress, I paused. I gripped the banister hard, my vision blurred with tears. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to bury my wet face in Kishan’s chest, sobbing. I knew it wasn’t fair to seek comfort from Kishan and cry over his brother, but I couldn’t help myself.
