Forgotten Times 10/17
By Debbie Eng  (wan-ping@juno.com)

*******
	Peter woke up and got up to look around at his surroundings.  On
the shelves on the walls were trophies and pictures of him with the
Blaisdell family. In them he looked younger then the reflection he saw in
the mirror now.  He looked the way he remembered being before he had
woken up at the hospital.  He smiled sadly at one of the photos.  It was
a photo of him and Kermit.  The picture had been taken of them while
sitting in front of a computer.  His left arm had been in a cast and he
was wearing sunglasses like Kermit's.  He didn't remember that day at
all.  He heard the grandfather clock downstairs chime five times.  Uh oh.
 He had to hurry and make dinner.  He had vowed to himself to do
everything he could possible to help out so that they wouldn't throw him
out.  He hurried as fast as his ribs would allow him down the stairs.

	From the kitchen window, he could see the rest of the family
talking by the pool.  He saw Annie laugh as Kelly splashed her from
inside of the pool.  Carolyn and Todd were horsing around in the shallow
end.   Kermit was still dressed in his suit and tie unlike the rest of
the family.  Peter sighed to himself as he pulled open the refrigerator
to see what they had to cook.  Carolyn and Kelly were sure lucky.  He
would do anything to be part of the Blaisdell family.  Inside the fridge
he saw the makings of chicken fried rice.  I hate rice, Peter thought, as
he looked for something else to make.  Then he thought about it.  Did he
really hate rice or did he have that idea because Mr. Anderson had not
allowed him to have it anymore because it was a main staple in the
Chinese diet?  Peter didn't know anymore.  But he wanted to find out.  He
quickly took out the things he would need.  Then he started searching for
a wok or something to cook it all in.  With his right hand, he turned on
the water and filled a pot full of water so that he could start on the
rice.  His ribs were killing him after he had finally managed to lift the
pot and get it onto the burner but he continued.

	He placed the chicken and vegetables on the chopping board.  He
looked through the drawers until he found a knife.  He leaned against the
counter for a moment to catch his breath.  He was used to cooking while
in pain, but it had never hurt this much before.  " What the hell? 
Peter!  What are you doing? "  Paul stopped yelling when he saw Peter
stiffen and murmured, " Making dinner. "

	" You are not making dinner, Peter, you can't even stand
straight, " Paul said as he helped Peter into a seat and started cleaning
up some of the water Peter had spilled while trying to transfer the full
pot with one hand.

	" I wanted to surprise all of you, " Peter said.

	" Oh yeah, we would have been surprise all right.  Surprised to
find you passed out on the floor, " Paul said.  He remembered this stage
now.  Peter had believed that he needed to buy their acceptance of him. 
He had run around doing what he could.  Only the last time he had caught
Peter, he had been cleaning.  Peter sat in his chair waiting for the
inevitable yelling and beating for making a mess.  He started the process
he used whenever he knew a beating would occur.  He blanked out what was
going on and sent his mind inside to his special secret place.

	Paul stopped his reminiscing as he saw Peter's face go blank. 
Paul silently cursed himself.  Kermit came in to get out of the hot sun
and heard him.

	" Paul? " Kermit inquired, then he saw Peter as still as a
statue.  He started some cursing of his own.  From experience, they knew
Peter would not come out until he felt safe.  Sometimes these spells
lasted for minutes, sometimes hours.

	Kermit and Paul carefully guided Peter back to the family room. 
When Peter was in this state, he was not aware of what happened to him or
his body.  They lay him down on the sofa.  They heard Annie and the
others come back in.

	" You think Peter's awake yet? " they heard Kelly ask.
	
	Then they heard Carolyn, " What in the world?  Watch out for that
wet spot, Mom, here, I'll help you around it. "

	Kelly walked in and saw them crouched at Peter's side and called
Annie.  Annie carefully made her way to Kelly, " What is it honey? "  She
sensed others in the room, " Paul? "

	Paul stood up, " Do you remember when Peter first came to live
with us?  And how he kept doing things, because he thought that if he
didn't, we would send him back?  "

	Annie nodded she remembered that time very well.  When Peter had
been trying to help, he had unintentionally moved things around so that
she no longer knew where they were, " Oh no, Peter didn't try and clean
again, did he? "

	" Cook, I'm afraid, " Paul said, " The doctor said that he should
rest.  And Peter memory or not, didn't listen.  I sort of forgot and came
down a little hard on him before.  One of his old defense mechanisms
kicked in.  He's fled into his mind into what he used to call his special
secret place. "
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