Music in the Night (Logan 4)

"This is Mark and Arthur," she said, referring to the two boys playing chess. "You two remember Laura, don't you?" she asked. They looked up at me and then back at their chessboard with hardly a smile of greeting. It was as if nothing more than a breeze had blown by them.

"You already know Megan Paxton and Edith Sanders," she said, referring to Lulu. "This is Mary Beth Lewis and Lawrence Taylor," she added.

Mary Beth gave me a warm smile of welcome. Lawrence glanced at me quickly and then looked down.

"I'll leave Laura with you so you can all get to know each other better," she told them with a mechanical smile. "If you need anything, ask Miss Cranshaw," she told me and nodded at the attendant sitting in the corner and reading a magazine.

Miss Cranshaw gazed our way for a moment and then folded the magazine and sat back to watch us. I thought it was because of the look Mrs. Kleckner had given her. She didn't look much younger than Mrs. Kleckner. In fact, she could easily be older, I thought.

Mrs. Kleckner left us.

"Sit here," Mary Beth said, moving over on the sofa to make a place for me. Lawrence looked up, but quickly shifted his eyes from mine.

"Have you remembered your full name yet?" Mary Beth asked.

"It's Laura Logan," I said.

"How come you didn't know your own name?" Lulu asked, perking up.

"She's got amnesia, stupid," Megan said. "Why do you think she's here? For the food? Or for the stimulating company?"

"Oh," Lulu said, turning to me meekly. "I'm sorry. Does it hurt?"

"Not the way you think. It is painful not to be able to remember anything though," I said. Lawrence gazed at me and smiled softly before looking out the window.

"Do you know why you have amnesia?" Mary Beth asked.

"If she knew why, she wouldn't be here," Megan answered for me.

"She's right. I don't know," I said. "All I know is it's because of something terrible that happened to me."

"If that was the case, most everyone in this place would have amnesia," Megan quipped.

"What can you remember about yourself?" Lawrence asked and then pressed his lips together as if the words had escaped before he could stop them. He had thick eyebrows and dark eyes that flashed with interest before shifting away.

"Not very much, really. Actually," I said, looking at all of them, "nothing."

"Nothing?" Mary Beth cried. She started to smile.

"I didn't really remember my full name. Doctor Southerby told me," I said.

Mary Beth stopped smiling. She formed a big 0 with her lips. It looked like she had blown a bubble.

"He wouldn't tell me what had happened to me either. He wants me to remember on my own."

"It's classic," Megan said as if she were a doctor herself. "Once I heard her story, I knew she had suffered some terrible experience, and as a result, her mind's gone completely bonkers. Remember that girl they moved to the Tower," she continued, "the one who tried to cut her wrists with the broken plate? Every day she couldn't remember what she had done or said the day before. It was as if her mind erased itself every morning and started over. Remember? What was her name?" she asked Lawrence. "You tried to talk to her all the time."

He turned beet red.

"I didn't try to talk to her all the time," he said, flashing a look at me.

"Fine. You didn't. It was all in my imagination. What was her name?" Megan demanded.

"Lydia," he said quickly. "Lydia Becker."

"Right. Lydia Becker. Every day we each had to introduce ourselves to her again. It was as if she had just arrived, Remember, Mary Beth?"

"Yes."