Forget to Remember

although, I’m quite sure it isn’t in California. I don’t know who my parents or other relatives are. I don’t even remember whether I’m married. I didn’t have a ring on my finger.”
    “According to the doctors, there’s no evidence you’d been wearing a ring. Your attacker did a thorough job. He didn’t leave anything behind that belonged to you.”
    “Including my clothes. This hospital gown is ugly and doesn’t cover anything.” She tried to pull the flimsy cloth over her knees to demonstrate. “Those hunky paramedics who brought me here came in to see how I was doing. I wish I looked better for them.” They had seen her naked in the Dumpster—horrid and icky naked, not sexy naked. She didn’t look that much better now.
    “The only things I was wearing were these earrings.” She turned her head so Andrea could see the studs.
    “They’re pretty. They look like silver.”
    “I don’t know, but I’m not going to take them off. It’s hard to explain, but they may be my good luck charms.”
    “We need to be able to call you something.”
    “I’ve been thinking about that. I think I’d like to be called Carol Golden.”
    “Any special reason?”
    “Well, I was found at Golden Cove. And I just like the sound of the name Carol.”
    “Is there an ‘e’ on the end of Carol?”
    “No ‘e’; just ‘c-a-r-o-l.’”
    “Do you think Carol is your real name?”
    “I have no idea.”
    “At least it’s a starting point. Okay, Carol Golden it is. I’ll try and get you some clothes. I don’t think mine would fit you.”
    “No.” Oops. She had said that too quickly, with too much emphasis. “I mean, just in the short time I’ve been here, I’ve lost weight. I don’t remember what I weighed before, but they weighed me when they brought me in.”
    “Getting fed intravenously will do that to you. Maybe that’s what I need. Well, at least you’re eating now. You shouldn’t lose any more weight. Let me ask you some questions to see if you can associate with any place or have any other memories.”
    Andrea had a laptop computer with her. She took Carol to a room where she was able to get an Internet connection. They looked at maps of various parts of the country, including many of the larger cities. When Carol showed an interest in a place, Andrea went to Google Earth and they zoomed in for a closer look.
    Carol felt some affinity for the East Coast, especially Massachusetts. They looked at pictures of the Boston area, buildings and other landmarks, but those didn’t jog her memory. Andrea finally said she had to go. They went back to Carol’s room. Andrea gave Carol her card and told her to call if she needed help or remembered anything.
    Carol shook her hand. “Thank you for helping me, Andrea. I really appreciate it, even though we didn’t have any breakthroughs. Maybe you can help me do one other thing.”
    “What’s that?”
    “I’d like to talk to the man who found me…” she consulted a newspaper article, “…Rigo Ramirez.”
    “Oh, why?”
    “To thank him.”
    ***
    Rigo wasn’t a big fan of being inside hospitals, but then who was? He was overcoming this reluctance, partly because the young woman he had found asked to see him and partly because he wanted to know how she was doing.
    He left his old Toyota in the parking structure and found his way in through the main entrance. Senior ladies with recently styled coiffures sitting behind a counter in the lobby promised information for the confused visitor. He gave them a room number and one of them pointed toward the elevators.
    As he emerged at the designated floor, Rigo had to admit the place exuded cheerfulness, from the pastel walls to a nicely furnished waiting area. A nurse in uniform was talking on the phone behind a counter and barely glanced at him as he walked by. He found the room with no trouble. He stopped just before the open doorway and took a deep breath.
    He wondered how she would look. The initial newspaper and TV accounts had given him some pictures and information, but the news reports about her had slowed to a trickle in the last couple of days. He had thought about coming to the hospital but wasn’t sure he’d be welcome. Then Andrea had phoned and told him Carol, as she was calling herself, wanted to see him.
    Getting up his courage, he walked to the doorway and knocked on the door. She looked up from the chair she was sitting in and smiled.
    “You must be Rigo. Come in.”
    Rigo smiled