The Lost Days (17 page)

Later

Was hanging out at the minipark when this man walked past, did a double take, and said, “Ear—Moll—Earwig? What are you doing back from Zigzag?”

Man, was Schneider always such a spazzy cheerleader? All that encouragement seemed suspiciously over the top. Or maybe it’s normal for him. I really have no idea. Since I essentially just met him a minute ago.

Amnesia, Part I was bad enough, but Amnesia, Part II is full-on loathsome.

Later

Decided it was a bit too late in the day to make a social call to Schneider’s grandma, so instead I went to re-meet Jakey and apologize for not saying bye when I left to go be Molly. One nice thing about that kid is, if you ever need to apologize to him, you don’t really need to do it out loud.

I apologized out loud, anyway. I thought it was better manners.

And that’s when I heard all about Attikol’s fascination with the Magical World of Magic. Apparently he fancies himself quite the Mystical Dude, although he has absolutely no unusual talents aside from whatever a boatload of money can buy. He believes, get this, that many, many generations ago, his ancestors were robbed of their Great Mystical Power, and it is his DESTINY, handed down through a long line of rich jerks much like himself, to find and
steal back the secret source of this power. Oh, my. I have to admit that did cheer me up quite a bit. Nothing like a belly laugh at someone else’s expense to chase away the Amnesia Blues.

Then, of course, Jakey told me the sad part, which is that he hasn’t seen his mother since he was a year old, because Attikol keeps him traveling from town to town, looking for that magical something.

Um, CREEPY!

I am feeling kind of afraid of Attikol right now.

Also, poor Jakey. Eight-ninths of his life on an adventure he doesn’t want to be on. I mean, my adventure has only been twenty days long, and that’s about twenty days too long for me.

Day 21

EXCELLENT RESEARCH TODAY.

OK. I FINALLY went upstairs to visit Schneider’s grandma, the town vet. More on her later, but let me just say that she is INSANE!!! And get this, the entire attic of the El Dungeon is packed with Emma LeStrande’s belongings, which used to be all set up in the Old Museum before the Mayor started holding slide shows and personal parties in there. And Mrs. Schneider, I mean Hilda, got all agitated when she saw me at her door, and even though I really couldn’t understand a word she was saying, it was pretty obvious she wanted me to follow her up to the attic right away, which was pretty exciting in a kind of scarytale theater sort of way, like she was going to trap me in a giant birdcage, fatten me, and then eat me. So I followed her up there, and got to check out all that crazy lady’s crazy stuff—crazy Emma, not crazy Hilda—but more on that later too. Right now I gotta tell you about this book. It was lying out on display on Emma’s coffee table. It was a scrapbook of photos and news clippings going back decades. I sat down and started flipping through it and here is a list of the amazing things I have learned:

1. I look like Emma LeStrande!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
   
2. I look a LOT like Emma LeStrande!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
   
3. It is very unnerving, when you have amnesia and don’t even know your own name, to keep encountering people who look just like you. Wonder if I could get a little break from the constant doppelgänger action?
   
4. Emma founded this town about seventy years ago with the idea that it would be a getaway spot for oddball
   world travelers like herself. Her friends, in other words.
   
5. Back then, there were just two buildings in Blackrock: the El Dungeon and the bus depot.
   
6. About twenty years ago, this dude showed up, bought a plot of land from Emma, and built the junk-mail plant and City Hall, and called himself mayor. As they say, the rest is history.
   
7. As years went by and the mayor’s friends moved in,
   Emma sold everything except this building and the plot of land the minipark is on.
   
8. About 13 years ago, this building was actually wrapped in burlap, then drowned in plaster, and then painted beige. Thus its horrid shapelessness. No info on who did it, though evidence is pointing toward the mayor.
   
9. Found a photo of the El Dungeon before it was beige, and I REALLY think the beigeifying was a mistake. I mean, the building actually looked kind of good before that.
   
10. Geologists believe that biiiiiiillions of eons ago (give or take a year or so), there was an underground volcano here, and when it erupted, it made a huge crater, which over the ages developed into the bland dust bowl/dust serving tray we have here today. It also left behind some underground deposits of volcanic rock, and I’m guessing that’s where Emma got the name for her town.
    
11. No relatives are mentioned in any of the clippings.
    
12. I may or may not be related to Emma LeStrande, but either way I’m one of her people.
    
13. Emma LeStrande HAS to be a reason I’m here in Blackrock.
    

Emma’s place, pre—beige.

I WANT ACCESS TO MY MEMORIES. RIGHT NOW.

Well, my service request to the universe has been denied. Access to memories is being withheld. And yelling at the universe probably isn’t going to get me what I want. And what I want is for a solution to rise up in front of me. Like the way I look at the espresso machine and just KNOW what it needs to hum along instead of croaking and wheezing.

You know what’s crazy is that I looked at Raven last night and thought the exact same thing.

But that makes no sense at all and is probably evidence that I am losing my mind! So I’ll just shut up about that now.

Anyway, back to Mrs. Schneider. I mean Hilda. She is elderly and foreign. Also, possibly loony. From what I could understand through her very brutal accent: No glue stuck like old Emma, the fleas are very ripe today, and hogs don’t bark for nothing. I asked her if she’d stitched up any black cats’ ears lately, and found out that the spiders of dawn are gumming up the turnstiles. (Which I took for a yes.)