What Alice Forgot Read Free Page B

you had for breakfast,” said Jane. “He’s trying to see if you remember what you had for breakfast.”
    The blood-pressure monitor squeezed hard around Alice’s arm.
    George sat back on his haunches and said, “Humor me, Alice, and tell me the name of our illustrious prime minister.”
    â€œJohn Howard,” answered Alice obediently. She hoped there wouldn’t be any more questions about politics. It wasn’t her forte. She could never get appalled enough.
    Jane made a strange explosive sound of derision and mirth.
    â€œOh. Ah. But he’s still the prime minister, isn’t he?” Alice was mortified. People were going to tease her about this for years to come. Oh, Alice , you don’t know the prime minister! Had she missed an election? “But I’m sure he’s the prime minister.”
    â€œAnd what year is it?” George didn’t seem too concerned.
    â€œIt’s 1998,” Alice answered promptly. She felt confident about that one. The baby would be born next year, in 1999.
    Jane pressed her hand over her mouth. George went to speak, but Jane interrupted him. She put her hand on Alice’s shoulder and stared at her intently. Her eyes were wide with excitement. Tiny balls of mascara hovered on the ends of her eyelashes. The combination of her lavender deodorant and garlic breath was quite overpowering.
    â€œHow old are you, Alice?”
    â€œI’m twenty-nine, Jane .” Alice was irritated by Jane’s dramatic tone. What was she getting at? “Same age as you.”
    Jane sat back up and looked at George Clooney triumphantly.
    She said, “I just got an invitation to her fortieth birthday.”
    That was the day Alice Mary Love went to the gym and carelessly misplaced a decade of her life.

Chapter 2

    J ane said of course she would have come to the hospital with her but she had to be in court at two o’clock.
    â€œWhat are you going to court for?” asked Alice, who was perfectly happy not to have Jane come to the hospital. That was quite enough of Jane for one day. “An invitation to her fortieth birthday.” What exactly did she mean by that?
    Jane smiled oddly and didn’t answer Alice’s question about court. “I’ll call someone to be there at the hospital waiting for you.”
    â€œNot someone.” Alice watched the paramedics set up a stretcher for her. It looked a bit flimsy. “Nick.”
    â€œYes, of course , I’ll call Nick .” Jane enunciated her words carefully, as if she were acting in a children’s pantomime.
    â€œActually, I’m sure I can walk,” Alice said to George Clooney. She never liked the idea of being lifted by people, even Nick, who was pretty strong. She worried about her weight. What if the paramedics grunted and grimaced like furniture removalists when they lifted the stretcher? “I feel fine. Just my head.”
    â€œYou’re suffering from a pretty serious concussion there,” said George. “We can’t muck around with head injuries.”
    â€œCome on now, our favorite part of the job is carrying attractive women around on stretchers,” said the other paramedic. “Don’t deprive us.”
    â€œYes, don’t deprive them, Alice,” said Jane. “Your brain is damaged. You think you’re twenty-nine.”
    What did that mean, exactly?
    Alice lay back and allowed the two men to efficiently lift her onto the stretcher. As her head rolled to one side, the pain made her dizzy.
    â€œOh, here’s her bag.” Jane picked up a rucksack from the side of the room and squashed it next to Alice.
    â€œThat’s not mine,” said Alice.
    â€œYes it is.”
    Alice stared at the red canvas bag. There was a row of three shiny dinosaur stickers like the one on her shirt stuck across the top flap. She wondered if she was about to be sick.
    The two paramedics lifted up the stretcher. They