Saint-Jolivet of Pendleton

He thanked Heaven for sending him a man who could be his number one follower, and possibly, his friend.

It was getting late.

"Maybe you should go back home and think things over. In any case, your wife must be waiting for you."

"My wife? I don't have a wife."

"Then why are you wearing a wedding ring?"

"Because I'm married."

"And you don't have a wife?"

"No, I don't have a wife. Why on Earth would you want me to have a wife?"

Jolivet's face tensed. He had just identified the person who had accompanied Pendleton when the unfortunate accident had happened outside the restaurant. Pendleton still did not understand. He was married. He did not have a wife, but he was married and he had the papers to prove it.

He did not know how it had come to be and was not worried about it. He had never had a wife and his friends, including the wedding witnesses, could confirm it if need be. He froze again. He had a wife? His brain was refusing to register the fact. He was put in a situation similar to an amnesia victim to whom it is revealed he has a life outside the hospital.

Really, thought Jolivet, this invention is quite hazardous. He took Pendleton by the arm. The latter was still in shock and let himself be quietly seated on a public bench. Jolivet did not know what to do or say, but he was confident that time would arrange things for the better.

Copyright © 2002 by Christian-Eric Falardeau