Thirteen Minutes

His new life began with an arched eyebrow.

“Well,” the woman drew out the word till it sounded like it had five syllables. She tilted her head to the side. “This is unexpected. Are you alright?”

Was he alright? He was on the floor. A comfy floor. One that wasn’t making his back hurt. The ceiling was very nice- creamy with a fancy light hanging in the center of a gold leaf medallion. “I think so?” He said.

“Good. Glad to hear that.” The woman bobbed her head. “I’ll just be on my way then.”

He sat up. “One thing though…”

She paused, half-turned towards the door. “Yes?”

“Who are you?”

She smiled. “Raz.”

“Oh.” He paused. “Can you answer one more question?”

She nodded. “Of course.”

“Who am I?” He stared at her as her eyes flared wide and her hand came up to her mouth as she sucked in a little breath.

“Oh. I see. Well, maybe.” She came back and knelt next to him. “Noggin’s been cleared out huh?”

He frowned.

Raz tapped her temple. “The mind.” Her eyebrow squished together. “I wonder…” She didn’t finish her sentence. “Well, I suppose you best come with me.” She offered her hand.

He stared at it before taking it. They stood together. A luggage rack was propped up against one wall.  A notepad with a fancy logo sat on the nightstand. Was he in a hotel? But if he was, why didn’t he see a suitcase? Or a toiletry bag? Why was there no sign that someone was renting the room? “Do you know why I’m here?”

She pursed her lips together. “I’m afraid not. I just got here.” Her hand waved behind her. He frowned at the vent cover on the floor and the opening that Raz had seemingly come through. Why hadn’t she used the door?

“Let’s check to see if you have an ID. Might give us a clue. Unless it was the TA that dropped you here but they know I don’t accept adults, only displaced children and they do tend to drop them at the house not in a hotel room.”

He blinked at the rush of information. She smiled back at him as she began to check the navy blue coat he was wearing- why did it have so many pockets? “At least I’m pretty sure I’ve told them,” Raz continued. “But you know time travelers…” She gave a shake of her head. “They never can keep their time lines straight.” Her nose wrinkled. “Bit annoying actually. You will never get a birthday gift on time from them. Always late or really early. Ah…” From an inside pocket she pulled a leather wallet.

Shouldn’t there be some flash of recognition? Some part of him that said yes that was his? A memory associated with it. Had he bought it himself? Had it been a gift? If so, who had given it to him? Someone important?

Raz yanked a card from the wallet. It was thin, white, and plastic. She looked at it and then at him. Back at the picture and then at him again, finally saying. “Stubble works for you Mr. Ralf Saunders.”

His hand went to his chin where there was indeed stubble. He rubbed his face. Maybe a day’s growth? Her next words registered. Ralf Saunders. He rolled the name around his head. It didn’t stir anything. Didn’t bring to mind an oft-told story of just how his parents (he presumed he had some somewhere) had chosen his name. Didn’t bring to mind anyone ever calling him that. His name could have easily been John Smith or Melvin Theodore Anders and his feelings for it would be the same. Nothing.

“Well, shall we be off?” She looked at him expectantly.

“Off?” He asked, still focused on his supposed name though he had no reason to suspect it was anything else.

“Yes, off.” Raz pulled out a pocket watch and showed him the time. “We have thirteen minutes.”

“To do what?”

“Not be late. Leslie hates it when anyone is late.” He double blinked at her. She smiled sympathetically. “I realize you’ve had a shock to the system, but the best thing to do is carry on. Things have a way of working out when one does.” She gestured towards the door. “So?”

Ralf nodded. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do- or at least anything he remembered.

“Excellent.” Raz pocketed her watch and threaded her arm through his. “I was in need of a distraction and you will do perfectly.” Her eyes lit up with excitement as she led him through the door.

Adrenaline zinged through him, making his blood sing even as his heart remained at a steady beat. Why did he feel excited instead of anxious? He should be anxious shouldn’t he? “What are we doing?”

Raz pushed the call button for the elevator. “A bit of reclaiming.”

The elevator dinged as it arrived and the doors slid open. Raz stepped inside. He followed. “You mean stealing?” He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“Ouch.” Raz’s hand shot to her heart. “That truly hurts. I’ve never stolen anything in my life. Relocated, reclaimed, and restored yes. But steal, no.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“You didn’t Mr. Saunders. Well, at least not so badly that I won’t forgive you. Especially considering,” she tapped her forehead.

He smiled, feeling inordinately pleased with that. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. “Well then, shall we?” He offered her his arm. His sleeve pulled up and for the first time he noticed a long white scar going up his wrist. How…? There wasn’t much time to consider it though for Raz took his arm. “Let’s.” She agreed.

Together they stepped off the elevator.

***

His first impression of the hotel lobby was that it was big. And had a lot of columns. The second thing he noticed was the people.

There were a lot of people.

Guests circled around a pond- an actual pond- in the center of the room. Was that standard for hotels or was this one special? Reflected in the water was the light from the giant wedding cake chandelier. His eyes narrowed. Was it just him or was the chandelier swaying a bit more than it should?

Raz lifted an eyebrow as she looked up. “Well,” She said. “That’s interesting.”

They joined the flow of guests. Ralf eyed a lady’s jewelry that would be better suited to staying in a safe then being showed off; then at a man’s ridiculously large cowboy hat and expensive leather boots.

“Ah. There we are.”

Ralf tried to catch a glimpse of what had caught Raz’s attention. She looked up at him. “I don’t suppose you know the mint trick?” She pulled out a tin of mints and gave them a shake. Ralf shook his head. Raz sighed. “Pity. That would have made things easier. Oh well. Nothing like on the job training. On the count of five you are going to fall down. One.”

“What? Why?”

“Two.” She looked around casually. “Because I need a distraction. So fall down, then shake or have a hard time breathing. Three.”

Ralf opened his mouth but Raz held up a finger. “No time for questions. Just get creative but make sure you don’t talk.”

He gaped at her, contemplating for a moment walking out of the door and out of this situation and never looking back. He had an ID. Surely he could discover something about who he was and return to whatever life he had been living.

“Four.”

Or…his brain suggested. Or he could help Raz. Play along. Help her out. He knew what he should do. The answer was obvious. But the spark in Raz’s eyes, the adrenaline coursing through his veins shoved the obvious answer out the proverbial door.

“Five.” Raz said.

Ralf grabbed his chest and hit the floor. Without missing a beat, Raz screamed. “Honey! Your meds!” She started patting down her jacket. “I forgot them! Hang on sweetie. I’ll find them!” She ran off as guests stared wide eyed while others rushed forward, kneeling next to him. Someone called for medical aid.

Through a gap in their legs, he saw Raz disappear behind a column and then reappear next to the dullest looking woman he had ever seen. Everything about her said ‘bored with life’.

“Everything’s going to be okay sir,” a woman said next to him. “Medical help is on the way.”

His eyes flicked to her as he took a shallow, wheezing breath. When he looked back to Raz, she was gone, though the dull woman hadn’t moved. Ralf took another wheezing breath.

Where are you Raz? He wondered. His heart began to do a jig in his chest. Where was she? Had she abandoned him? Left him here to face questions alone? How could he get off the floor and out of here? Should he just make a dash for it? Would people be too shocked to try and stop him? Why had he agreed to this?

“It’s okay honey!” Raz called out, skidding to a stop and dropping to her knees. “I’ve got them. You’re going to be okay.” Her hand trembled as she shoved a white pill into his mouth.

Mint flavor exploded on his tongue. The mint trick. Ralf filed it way for later. One never knew when such a tactic might come in handy.

Raz laid a hand on his shoulder. “Slow breaths honey.”

Ralf began to slow his breathing, taking deeper and longer breaths.

“There you go.” Raz took his hand and squeezed it. “I knew you would be okay.”

“Medical help is…” a hotel worker started to say when there was a crack that echoed throughout the room. Everyone looked up as the chandelier fell towards the pond. Screams filled the lobby as people pushed against each other, trying to get away. Water exploded in every direction, soaking guests.

In the moments that followed crying replaced screams, and shouts for help and for everyone to remain calm filled the room. The medical help that had been summoned for him turned to the other guests.

“Well, isn’t that fortunate,” Raz whispered looking at the mess. With attention off them, she helped him to his feet. “Walk slowly,” she said quietly. He nodded and they walked towards the elevators with no one the wiser.

“Did you...?” He tilted his head towards the chaos behind them.

“I imagine whoever is behind it was trying to steal what I reclaimed.” She patted the inside of her coat pocket. The elevator dinged its arrival. “Come on. We have less than two minutes to get to the roof.”

They stepped onto the elevator. “The roof?” Wouldn’t it make more sense to head for the alleyway and then cut across to a street?”

“Of course the roof.” Raz said giving him a “really” look. “Where else would a plane land?”

An airport, Ralf wanted to say. An empty field. A highway if it was an emergency. Anywhere else besides a roof. He knew the hotel was massive but was the roof truly large enough to accommodate an airplane?

As if she could read his mind, Raz said, “You’ll see.”

“So you’re taking me with you?” He meant it to sound confident but his words came out unsure. Who was this woman who just picked up strangers and dragged them along on whatever had just happened…a reclaiming?

“Of course. You did make an excellent distraction.” She winked. “And besides. I’m curious about you.”

“You know what they say about curiosity.”

“Yes. It’s how things get discovered.” Raz sounded so matter-of-fact that anyone would be hard-pressed to argue.

Ralf laughed. “You’re a strange one aren’t you?”

“Says the man with amnesia.”

“Fair enough.”

The elevator stopped and the doors slid open on the top floor. “Come on.” Raz said. “Stairs are this way.”

Ralf followed her down the hallway, through a doorway that surely should have been locked for security reasons but wasn’t, up a flight of stairs and through a secondary door onto the roof. He blinked against the brightness of the sun. As his eyes got used to the light, he gaped. As promised, a plane was sitting there. It was smaller than he had been imagining. And it was raspberry colored.

A pilot sat in the cockpit. She looked down at her wrist. “You’re on time.”

“Oh please Leslie, I’m never late.”

The pilot snorted and then seemed to notice him. “Who’s he?”

“The newest Raspberry.”

“I’m a what?” Ralf asked. A raspberry was a fruit and the color of this plane. He didn’t think he was either.

The girl sniffed. “We’ll see.”

“I’m sure we will.” Raz climbed into the plane. “Come on Ralf. Let’s go home.”

Home? Ralf didn’t realize he had spoken aloud until Raz smiled softly at him. She nodded. “I have a good feeling about your Ralf.”

Had a good feeling about him? They’d known each other for just over thirteen minutes. She didn’t know anything about him. He didn’t know anything about himself! But here she was inviting him to board a raspberry colored plane and go home. Ralf stared at her.

“That and you like to annoy Mrs. Grant,” Leslie said.

“Well,” Raz drew out the word. “There is always that.” She grinned. “So Ralf, you comin’?” she held out her hand.

Ralf looked at her a moment longer and saw only sincerity in her eyes. He took her hand. “I’m coming.”

***

He never regretted that choice. How could he when it gave him a family like no other? And though there were times when he wondered how he gotten the scars on his arms or where he had learned to pick locks or cook the perfect soufflé (one that even Mrs. Grant couldn’t find anything to complain about), Ralf knew that knowing those things paled in comparison to being able to have the life he did.

Who he was before didn’t matter. He knew who he was now. He was Ralf Raspberry and he didn’t need or want to be anyone else.