Don Cavanaugh never liked to be told what to do.
But when a little boy gave him a note with some instructions, he couldn't help but follow through.

Mitch Gary knew that he did things in the past -not necessarily the nicest things-  that were changing the lives of people around him. He only had one problem: he couldn't remember "what" exactly he did.

Rose Lee Ann was a quiet home-stay-mom who loved being home with her husband and kids. She also loved the adrenaline of having a double life.

It was late in the evening when Don Cavanaugh made a stop at a gas station to fill up the tank of his trunk. And also his empty stomach.

It had been a long eight hours drive to get back home after a weekend visit to his ex-wife and teenage son. 

He still had a couple more hours of driving to do, so he made a short stop at the usual place: the gas station by his favorite Tex-Mex restaurant.

Suddenly, when he was getting the hose ready to put it in the gas tank, a small boy -not older than six- came running to him, and reaching his little hand out, gave Don a note. Instinctively, Don grabbed the paper. There was one simple sentence written on it: "Ask for it". He read the note and turned to the little guy, but he was already running away.

"Hey!", Don yelled at the boy, and tried to follow him, but he jumped behind some bushes and dissapeared, leaving him startled and confused.

He looked around. Nobody seemed to have noticed anything unusual.

He put the paper in the front pocket of his shirt, and finished filling up the tank. After moving the truck to a parking stall, he went inside the restaurant, and sat at a table at the back of the place. He ordered a torta de jamon con huevo, his new favourite sandwich in that old South American restaurant. 

While he was waiting for his food, he retrieved the paper from his pocket and read the short sentence once again. “Kids!” he thought to himself. Idly, his eyes began scanning the place.

The small restaurant was a stand-alone small building with big glass windows –although there wasn’t much to see outside; the highway on one side and dirt and some desertic plants on the other- and wooden walls. Inside there was a couple of pictures of gigantic cactus, and some clay decorations hanging from the ceiling and the furniture was in a smoothing orange color . It was almost full to its capacity –which was not much; maybe 20 people- and nobody seemed to pay any attention to him. There was loud mariachi music coming from the sound system on the ceiling.

When his sandwich arrived, he crumpled the paper and tossed it on the table. But something got his attention.

“Is that a folded note?” he wondered as he picked up again.

Yes, it was. Intrigued, he opened it. It was a receipt from a museum. It showed the transaction of one entry from a couple of weeks ago.

“Well,” he said to himself, “something to check out later”. So he flattened the paper with his hand and put it back in his pocket.

When he finished his meal, he exit the building and entered the “outdoor house” which actually was a big room with a row of 3 toilets, each one on its own cubicle, and the same number of sinks in front of a wall mirror. A couple of guys were chatting there.

As he went inside of one of the cubicles, he eavesdropped their conversation. Something about a boy that was taking too long to come back.

Just then, he heard a pattern of small footsteps coming closer.

“Hey!”- said guy one, in a not very friendly tone- you’re finally back!”

“What did you do with the paper?” asked guy two, anxiously.

Silence.

“Where is it!” asked again guy two, losing his temper.

“Chill Jeff!” said guy one. “You’re scaring him!”

Inside his toilet cubicle, Don began listening carefully, as the conversation seemed to be escalating the tone.

“I gave it to a man and ran away…” the boy finally answered.

Don’s heart jumped in his chest… “What??” he thought, confused.  “Are they talking about me?” “The piece of paper that a boy gave me??”

He peeked through the opening of the door, as the guy named Jeff confronted again the little guy.

Yup, that was the boy.

“You… ran away?” said Jeff, trying to keep

 calm. “And where exactly is the man with the paper?”

The boy remained silent, just staring at him.

Don tried to stay as quiet as possible to go unnoticed, while watching everything from his ‘hiding’ spot.

He saw the little boy holding the stern look of the man for few seconds. Then he turned his little face towards the toilet cubicles. As if he knew the exact cubicle where Don was hiding, his eyes locked with Don’s eyes, and slowly, with a gloom and worried expression, he lifted his arm and pointed a finger towards him.

Don’s blood froze in his veins, as his eyes opened as wide as plates.

Unable to move, he saw Jeff lifting his eyes from the boy’s to him, and with a cold smile, he walked decidedly towards him.

“React!!” Don told to himself. In the last second, he unlock the door and kicked it open, hitting Jeff on the nose. He took advantage of Jeff’s confusion, and punched him on the stomach. Jumping over him, he pushed guy one against the wall, hitting his head, as he tried to size him.

The boy retreated to a corner of the bathroom, under a sink. He was a little scared but seemed ok, so Don run outside to his truck.

As he drove away, he saw on his mirror that both guys and the boy where outside of the bathroom. The two men looked disoriented and hurt, and the little boy had a fainted smile on his face as he saw him driving away.

He sighted. “Boy, there is crazy people around here!” he said to himself as he left the place.

ROSY LEE ANN

“Type, type, type” – was all we could hear her brain dictating.

“Just type, make it non-stop, and you will see…”

And that was exactly what she did. Even though she was falling asleep on the couch, after another bad night sleep of “musical beds”, as her friend called the constant moving from one bed to the other one, helping the little ones to fall asleep.

 She wanted to believe that she had ”it” in her, and it was her duty to find it.

She had just gotten a small freelance job for a new magazine. The kind of job that would let her juggle her duties as a mom and wife, while earning some extra cash. She was on charge of the Fashion Section. The problem was, fashion had never been her strength. This was going to be a real challenge for her… “ But hey! It is never too late to enter the world of the rich and famous”, she encouraged herself. Besides, she really liked being a writer. Not exactly “this” kind of writer, but it was a beginning, nevertheless.

Along with her new job, she was also getting into a new habit…. A kind of routine before hitting the keyboard.

“My drink! I almost forget about my drink”, she told to herself, with a happiness that almost made her feel guilty.

Reaching out in her pantry, she got herself a can of “7Up”. She walked to the cupboard and got a glass. Carefully opened the can and poured into the glass, looking at the foam rising, and letting her mind wander absently.

“Now get the tequila!” the voice told her.

Where did she hear that alcohol could boost your writing skills? She was always so tempted to try the theory on herself.

“One day,” she told to the voice “I am going to listen to you and do as you say. But not today.”

…

Later in the day, at the bus stop, she ran into her old friend Alex, from Highschool. They hadn’t seen each other in some fifteen years… there was just so much that they could talk in the 20 minutes ride to her children’s school; but enough to have a life-long review of the last most important things in their lives. They talked about their youth, and their old ambitious.  About life, and children, and unfulfilled dreams.

“You are not a mom forever” Alex told her. “You are also a woman, a professional, a friend…”

She considered that for a moment.

“You have the right to fullfil your dreams… ” Alex added.

Rose Lee Ann didn’t answer.                                                                                                            

“But being a mom is all I always wanted to be” she thought to herself.  “My dreams have been fulfilled.”

But she didn’t say anything. As much as this was true, and as satisfied as she was with her life the way it was, she also knew that her friend was right… there was more in her bucket list that needed some attention.

LORIE SLINDERS

“I need more information”, Lorie told him, without taking her eyes from the computer screen in front of her, as she transcribed all his words in a file document that she had named “X-1”.

“What kind of information? – an exasperated Mitch said - I already told you everything I know…. Which is almost nothing, I know… but then, again, it is everything I know…. “

“Ok, let’s go back to the beginning, then.” She stated, authoritatively.

He sight deeply.

Where had this… new life began? When did his path crossed Lorie’s? Mitch was having a bad day. He had been having bad days for a while now. He could tell by the anger and frustration that he felt every day; but he couldn’t tell what had made him so mad. So frustrated and miserable. So needy. He couldn’t remember. His memories were as back as sitting on a chair in front of this pretty girl whose name was finally engraved in his memory. Lorie.

Facing the wall, he rolled his eyes with disdain. But she was the only one who could help him. At least the only one who had shown little interest on his story… then he couldn’t just let her go. Or was it the other way around? Somehow, it almost looked like if she was more interested in his story, than him.

Resigned, he slumped on the big brown recliner chair. The feeling of the fuzzy leather under his arms and hands made him feel better almost immediately.  She noticed his change of humor. “That was my dad’s “lazy boy” –she explained of the chair- His favorite place to sit and nap in the whole entire world.”

As she was taking a sit on the ottoman in front of him, a loud bang on the door interrupted them, making Mitch jump out of the couch almost as fast as he sat on it. Instinctively, he perched by the wall close the door, while Lorie, hesitantly, came to open it.

“A package for Mrs. Slinders!” said a happy man in a UPS uniform. “Leo” read his name tag.

Lorie breathed with relief, and taking the package, signed the form that the man extended her.

Jeff quickly checked the room with his eyes. “Nice view!” he said with a wink, and left.

When she turned to see behind her, a partially naked Mitch was standing by the window, staring at her.

Surprised, she blinked twice and shook her head. Mitch was still quietly against the wall, and behind her was the window with a lovely view of the city lights.

-----  

“What is in the package” asked Mitch, relaxing again and walking into the living room, where Lorie had taken the package.

She didn’t answer. She was trying in vain to find a return address written on the paper that was wrapped around the small box. Mitch walked to the window. It really was a lovely view of the city from the fourth floor where they were.  He opened the window and a fresh scent of early rain reached him. He leaned on the windowsill and got lost in the smell and a flash-back memory… he saw an elder lady baking bread in an old stone oven. And he saw a house…. His house, maybe?. Was he finally remembering a small part of his life? He concentrated really hard on that memory, to bring back as many details as possible. Yes, it was his house –it had to be. He could remember a place where the mornings smelled like early rain and blooming roses. A time when all he had to worry about was running behind the ball and kick it as hard as he could, and run as fast as he could, and laugh as loud as he possible could…. This memory of his old days at home made him chuckle, as a prick of nostalgia constricted his heart. What had happened that he was no longer there? When did everything changed?

Behind him, a nervous Lorie peeked inside the package, but before taking out the contents of the box, she took it away to her room and hurried to hide it inside her undergarments drawer.

Just a moment before she turned around to go back to the living room, where Mitch was having a regression moment, she heard somebody clearing their throat right behind her. Surprised, she quickly turned to the noise, to discover Mitch just centimeters away from her. The smell of his cologne was very seductive… he was very close to her and she could almost feel the warmth of his skin upon her. She flushed but composed herself quickly.

“Mitch!” she said, looking away from his eyes, and trying to evade him by walking under his arm, that he was using to support himself as he was leaning against the wall. “I thought you were admiring the view…” she added, nervously.

“I was…” he responded, intently, looking down at her as he block her way.

She couldn’t say whether the view that he was enjoying was the night falling upon the city, or her behind….. “Oh, I could kiss you right now” she thought to herself, breathing deeply and looking at his fleshy lips as he spoke.

“But I remembered that you just got a package.” He said, interrupting her day-dream.  What is in it?”

“Oh!” she said, back to reality, “I… uh… just ordered some clothes online….some….lingerie” she finalized, flushing a little and looking away.

He looked at her suspiciously, but said nothing. He withdraw his arm and let her out of her room. She walked slowly, looking at him with intense eyes, as he visually checked the room. Then, turning to her, he almost smile and indicate her to walk with a move of his head.

Outside in the living room, a light rain was starting to wet the furniture, so Lorie hurried to close the window.

Mitch came to her side and help her; just on time as a big storm was making its way into the city.

The lights flickered for a second, as a loud thunder rumbled on the now black sky.

Lorie shivered surprised, and hug herself. Mitch extended his arms and wrapped them around her. She  leaned her head on his chest, and breathed long and slow, the sweet and woody smell of his clothes,  take him in with everything that she was. She closed her eyes and let him walked her to the couch, where both sat down in silence, just listening to the music that the rain was playing against the window.

There was a second thunder, even louder than the first one, and the lights went out. Lorie lift of her face to see the window, and laughed a quiet, nervous laugh.

“The lights have never gone off on me before!”she said, raising. “I’m sure I have candles somewhere around the house.” But before she could actually get on her feet, Mitch pulled her down again, sitting her by his side. He gently pulled the hair of the back of her head, making her lift her face to meet his eyes.

“Look at me” he said, soft but firm. “And tell me”.

“Tell you what?” a surprised and almost breathless Lorie responded, his mouth just centimeters away from hers. If you can kiss me yet? she thought.

“I need to know, please…” he said, almost begging. “I need you tell me….” He interrupted himself in midsentence, and let her go. He gently pushed her to the side, and rose from his seat.

The rain had stopped, and the lights were back on.

Lorie, feeling rejected, stood up and walked to her room, without answering his question.  “Please close the door when you leave” she said, locking herself in her room. She stayed by her window until she saw him walking down the street to his car, and driving it away.

Only then, she open the lingerie draw and pulled out the small box that the man from the UPS had delivered.

There was a pile of papers inside the box. Cuts from the newspaper and some side notes. There was also a ring. And a letter. She picked up the ring and look at it for just a moment. It was bulky and heavy; maybe iron, round and smooth, with a strange hieroglyph on the top. She put in on her index finger, and proceeded to read the note.

“Lorie, you don’t know me, but after you look through all these notes and pictures, you will have a good idea of who I am, and why I am coming to you.

Yours, N.”

She sighted, putting the note back inside the box, without looking at the cut-outs from the newspaper. That did not make any sense. Not at all. There must have been a mistake… the package was surely not meant to be sent to her.

“But right now, I just don’t care if the whole entire world falls apart”. She said annoyed, sprawling on her bed.  She fell asleep almost immediately.