What Alice Forgot Read Free Page A

kneeling on the floor next to Alice, patting her distractedly on the shoulder. Then she stopped patting. “Oh, my. Why do you get all the fun?”
    Alice twisted her head and saw two handsome men in blue overalls striding toward them, carrying first aid equipment. Embarrassed, she struggled to sit up.
    â€œStay there, honey,” called out the taller one.
    â€œHe looks just like George Clooney,” breathed Jane in her ear. He did, too. Alice couldn’t help but feel cheerier. It seemed she’d woken up in an episode of ER .
    â€œHey, there.” George Clooney squatted down next to them, big hands resting between his knees. “What’s your name?”
    â€œJane,” said Jane. “Oh. Her name is Alice.”
    â€œWhat’s your full name, Alice?” George gently took her wrist and pushed two fingers against her pulse.
    â€œAlice Mary Love.”
    â€œHad a bit of a fall did you, Alice?”
    â€œApparently I did. I don’t remember it.” Alice felt teary and special, as she generally did when she talked to any health professional, even a chemist. She blamed her mother for making too much of a fuss over her when she was sick as a child. She and Elisabeth were both terrible hypochondriacs.
    â€œDo you know where you are?” asked George.
    â€œNot really,” said Alice. “Apparently I’m in a gym .”
    â€œShe fell off her bike during the spin class.” Jane adjusted her bra strap beneath her top. “I saw it happen. I’m pretty sure she fainted. Her head smashed against the handlebars of the bike next to her. She’s been unconscious for about ten minutes.”
    Spin Crazy Girl reappeared, ponytail swinging, and Alice stared up at her smooth long legs and hard flat stomach. It looked like a pretend stomach. “She can’t have had her feet strapped to the pedals properly. I do make a point of reminding everyone about that at the beginning of the class. It’s a safety issue,” said Spin Crazy Girl to George Clooney in the confidential tone of one professional talking to another. “Also, I really don’t recommend spin classes to pregnant women. I did ask if anyone was pregnant.”
    â€œDon’t worry, we’ll sue if necessary,” said Jane quietly to Alice.
    â€œHow many weeks are you, Alice?” asked George.
    Alice went to answer and to her surprise found a blank space in her head.
    â€œThirteen,” she said, after a second. “I mean, fourteen. Fourteen weeks.” They’d had the twelve-week ultrasound at least two weeks ago. The Sultana had done a peculiar little jump, like a disco dance move, as if someone had poked it in the back, and afterward Nick and Alice had kept trying to replicate the movement for people. Everyone had been polite and said it was remarkable.
    She put a hand to her stomach again and for the first time she noticed what she was wearing. Sneakers and white socks. Black shorts and a yellow sleeveless top with a shiny gold-foil sticker stuck to her top. It seemed to be a picture of a dinosaur with a balloon coming out of its mouth saying, “ROCK ON.” Rock on?
    â€œWhere did these clothes come from?” she asked Jane accusingly. “These aren’t my clothes.”
    Jane raised a meaningful eyebrow at George.
    â€œThere’s a dinosaur stuck to my shirt,” said Alice, awestruck.
    â€œWhat day of the week is it today, Alice?” asked George.
    â€œFriday,” answered Alice. She was cheating, because Jane had told her they were doing a “Friday spin class.” Whatever that was.
    â€œRemember what you had for breakfast?” George gently examined the side of her head while he talked. The other paramedic strapped a blood-pressure monitor to her upper arm and pumped it up.
    â€œPeanut butter on toast?”
    That was what she generally had for breakfast. It seemed a safe bet.
    â€œHe doesn’t actually know what