"Oh, all right." Hannah said. She left the room. A few minutes later, Tracy came in and sat by my side.

"How are you doin’, gorgeous?"

"Oh, Adam. To think, you could have died!"

"Naw! Remember, I have children in the future!"

"Huh?"

"While I was unconscious, I remembered two of my great-grandsons coming and getting me."

"Anything else?"

"You mean anything about us?"

"Well. . .yeah."

"No." I said, coughing. "How’s the case going?"

"Well, Tricia called in. She said that there have been no strange reportings of missing secretaries."

"We must go back to that island. The clues are all there." I said, through coughs.

"You must rest. Let’s worry about that tomorrow. Rest." She said. She leaned over and pecked me on the cheek. I laid my head back and fell asleep.

The next morning, I found Tracy sleeping at my side, in a chair. I buzzed the nurse who came in. I mouthed to move her over to the couch, so she could sleep better, but she couldn’t get her off my arm. "Tracy, dear." I whispered to her.

"Yes." She mumbled.

"Why don’t you go over to the couch and rest."

"No, I must stay here with you."

"I don’t think she’s going to budge, Hannah."

"I thought this might happen." Hannah stated. "Well, here’s your medication. You should be up and out of here tomorrow."

"You’re letting me go?"

"You’ve guessed it. I think it’ll help you two if Tracy takes care of you for a bit."

"Good idea." I stated. Hannah left the medicine on the counter, while Tracy awoke.

"What time is it?" She asked, with a yawn.

"About nine. How are you doing, sleepy head?"

"Fine. What’d the nurse want?"

"She left me some medication, but I can’t quite reach it."

"Let me get it for you." She said, getting up. She got the medications, and administered the correct dosage. The day passed, and into the night. Tracy kept me occupied, playing cards, singing, and talking. I think it was her strength that I was drawing off of, and that was helping me get back on my feet. "Adam, dear?" She started.

"Yes, Tracy?"

"Do you like me?"

"I like you a whole bunch, Tracy."

"Do you love me?"

"Yes … yes, I believe I do love you Tracy."

"Then, why do I think you don’t."

"Because you haven’t had time to readjust."

"What happened?"

"You were brainwashed, and in deprogramming you, you lost some of your memory.  Don’t worry, it will come back."  I said, rubbing her head.

"Adam, I love you."  She said.

"Me too."  I replied. 

"Promise me, you’ll never leave me?"

"I promise."  With that, we fell asleep.

“Like the part you’ve got. You always like Cosmo in the movie.”

“But that’s just it. There’s no way I can imitate him!”

“You don’t have to. Be yourself.”

“Who am I, Tracy?” I paused. I thought, who am I to ask her who I am? She can’t remember who she was! She led me up on the stage. No one was around. She stood me by the piano, taking a seat at it. She started the lines I knew so well.

“Come on, Adam. Snap out of it! Why you’re Adam Schofield, aren’t you. And Adam Schofield’s a part-time actor isn’t he. Well, what’s the first thing an actor learns . . .” She continued with my solo. The end came, and she came flying into my arms, ready to be carried off stage. She jumped, and I caught her. Normally there were three to catch me, but I was the only on there.

As I stared into her eyes, I glimpsed what I had once seen before, a long time ago. That face, Tracy. I set her down, and she looked at me for a second, then came rushing toward me. Throwing her arms around me, tears in her eyes. “Oh, Adam.” She said. I put my arms around her, and we went to kiss. I stopped her, however, because of the cold.

“Tracy, is it really you?”

“Yes, I think.”

“Tracy, I’ll never let you down again.” Just then, I started coughing. I tried to catch my breath, but couldn’t. I reached for the piano, but missed it, and fell on the floor. The last thing I heard was Tracy calling for an ambulance.

A bright light shined into my eyes. I saw a foggy image of a person with a medicinal mask on. “He’s coming out of it!” The man said. “You’re going to be all right now.”

“What. . .what happened?”

“That cold of yours, topped with all that stress, made you lose consciousness. Fortunately for you, you got here in time. With all that stress, you couldn’t have fought it on your own.”

“How long am I here for?”

“It’s hard to say. At least a couple of days until you get your strength back.” I tried in vain to lift my head up. I laid it back on the pillow and rested. The doctor left the room, and in came a nurse.

“Boy, Adam, I didn’t think I’d be seeing you so soon!”

“Hannah?”

“You’ve got it. I told you that if you took this case you’d be in over your head.”

“I guess I should have listened to you after all.” I said, coughing.

“Lie still.”

“Where’s Tracy?”

“Tracy? She’s outside. She has been pacing ever since she brought you hear. Do you know you owe that girl your life?”

“I know all too well.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. Can you ask her to come in here?”

“I don’t know if that’s wise.”

“Please, Hannah, for me?”

I got out, and put my arm around Tracy’s back to enter. Once inside, I stared at my alma mater. It hadn’t changed from the few months ago when I had seen it last. It was almost if time stood still. An old college friend of mine darted out of the computer area, and bumped into me. “Oh, hi Adam.”

“Hi, Russ. What’s new?”

“Oh, nothing much. Have you seen the new MS-DOS machines?”

“No.”

“You should.” He said, telling us he had to leave. We went to the auditorium. I walked down to the front and took Tracy’s coat.

“Is she here for auditions too?” Mrs. Foster asked.

“Would you like to audition?” I asked Tracy.

“I don’t know.” Tracy replied.

“Go ahead, try it.” I responded.

“Okay.”

“Yes, she will.” I told Mrs. Foster. We all went down front, where we read lines, sang, and were all around pains. My friends from college and I joked around and got the younger director all perturbed. We left there and went home. The rest of my team was staked out at Tracy’s neighbors, but nothing happened.

“I figure, since the B&O is closing, they don’t need any more girls from this area,” said Noah, when we came back from practice.

The next morning, Tracy seemed, to me, as if she was locked inside her body, trying to get out. We went to practice again the next night. I had earned my old part of Cosmo Brown. Tracy gained the part of the girl at the party.

Two weeks later, Thursday, it was at practice when the real Tracy started her return to the real world. I had just performed my big scene. Nothing in the performance seemed to go my way. I realized I was just an outsider, but I guess I felt like I was director. I kept suggesting things to the director, which I thought were good, but turned out no good at all. On top of that, I had gotten a nasty cold. Tricia had gone out of town to check on other B&Os, Noah and Laura went on vacation, and I was feeling the pressure of the world around me.

That night, I felt like just throwing in the towel. I felt like I didn’t care. I sat down in the auditorium, in a middle seat, away from everyone. I watched Tracy perform her number, and I just sat there, tired, depressed, and broken. Longing for someone to come and ask me what was wrong, or anyone who would care to find out. We got a five minute break, for which I just sat there. Tracy and the dancing girls walked of stage, giggling. Tracy spotted me while leaving and told the others to go on without her.

She walked over to me, I had almost fallen asleep. She shook me, and I awoke with a cough. “Adam, what’s wrong?” She said, gently, putting her arm around me.

“I can’t take this. I’m sick, we’re in double rehearsals, the B&Os long gone, I haven’t solved the case.”

“Shh. Think of all the good things you’ve got.”

“Like what?”