Harold

His head was muddled and it was dark. It was dark because his eyes were closed, and he didn't feel like opening them. His head hurt. He considered that briefly, then became aware that his skin also hurt. Soon, he added his gut and his kidney to the list, and thought it might be more productive to make a list of what didn't hurt. No, that produced nothing.

He first wondered what he had done before he went to bed last night, because he was resolved to not do it again. He tried to stop thinking about anything, because it hurt to think.

Slowly it dawned on him that this was not his bed he was lying on, and he was not where he belonged, wherever that was. He thought there had been an obese woman, or was it a man who was obese? Anyway, he had some recollection of looking for something in the city. He grudgingly squinted through one eye. Nothing he saw made sense; not the chocolate brown walls or the compass or the bar stool. He closed his eye and moaned doubtfully.

Just then, he heard the door open. He reopened his eye to see a tattooed man carrying a stethoscope walk into the room. The man laid the stethoscope on the small table beside the door and peered at him. "Whoopee, looks like Mister Fink is coming back to life."

He suppressed another moan and asked, "Where am I? And who are you?"

"Inconceivable, two questions at once. Sorry, you're over your limit. I'll answer one. You can call me Harold.

That was all he wanted to try to absorb at the moment anyway, so he closed his eye again and tried to expectorate. He immediately opened both eyes and asked, "What am I here for? Can I have something to drink?"

"Tailfeathers, your questions always come in pairs?" Harold walked to the refrigerator and got a glass of apple juice. "Maybe this will put a little life in you. How are you feeling after your accident?"

"What accident?" he replied daringly, feeling a bit more athletic.

"Well, it wasn't the University of Arizona that sent you here," Harold replied vacantly.

"And this doesn't look like a hospital. By the way, where's the bathroom? Who are you working for?" He did need the bathroom, but he also wanted to scope the place out a bit. He wasn't forgetting the stethoscope on the table next to Harold.

"There you go again. That's two questions. The bathroom's over there," he said, gesturing with his head.

Sitting up slowly and gingerly, he looked around the room. The bathroom door was to his left. The other door was in front of him, beside Harold who had sat in a chair next to the small table. There were no windows, and just the bed, the table, the refrigerator, and a bar stool in the room. There was a notebook on the bar stool.

"If you're thinking about picking up that notebook, just be aware that it's exclusively for my use," Harold chimed fiercely.

He wasn't thinking about taking the notebook at the moment. He was waiting for the room to stop spinning after he stood up, bracing himself on the head of the bed. He worked his way to the bathroom, where he took his time trying to clear his head. He splashed some water on his face, then cantered back to the bed and sat down. His cheek was beginning to jump.

"If it's not too much trouble, how about you call me a cab now?"

This seemed to genuinely amuse Harold. He laughed out loud, then questioned "You won't be needing a cab to get where you're going."

Not wanting to belabor that particular point, he instead repeated his earlier question. "Who are you working for?"

"So let's you tell me who you're working for, and why you were snooping around like a dingo back there in the movie theater." Harold rapped his fingers on the table beside the stethoscope.

"I was looking for my friend. Who hit me?"

"You tripped on a cigarette. You took a bad fall. Who is this friend you were looking for?"

"Nicki Wall," he lied. "Who do you work for, and why are you keeping me here?"

"Nobody's keeping you here. That would be way too much trouble. Who wants to deal with a gregarious guest? We just wanted to chat while we help you get back on your feet."

"Okay, we chatted and I'm on my feet," (barely, he thought to himself), "so I'll just be hobbling on. Nice talking to you, Harold."

Although his cheek was still jumping, he started moving toward the door, his eyes on the stethoscope. Harold stood up and opened the door for him in an oddly hairy manner. Ignoring Harold's monstrous leer, he temperamentally slithered out of the room.

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