Journey to the past (Maxi, August)

[MAXINE MCMANUS]

Maxi followed Maureen’s gaze to the photo album seeing a picture of their old dog and she, her sister, and Lizzy playing with her. She had been a whippet and one of the best dogs Maxi had ever encountered. But why had Maureen picked that as an interesting photo? “I know this is probably some weird long shot, and I have no idea why I thought of it…but is this dog’s name Bambi?” Maxi’s eyes widened as she stared at Maureen in shock, her mouth gaping somewhat. “Yes! Yes, her name was Bambi!” she replied excitedly, feeling her heart jump into her throat. Tears filled her eyes as she smiled from ear to ear and threw her arms around her sister. It was coming back! “You remembered! I’m so happy you remembered!” she squealed a single tear slipping onto her cheek. When she pulled back, she held onto her sister’s shoulders and smiled at her excitedly. “That means there’s hope! Your memories are there, you just need something to trigger them! Maureen that’s so great!” Once more she threw her arms around her sister and laughed a little in delight. She was so happy to have that hope!

When at last she pulled away, she was smiling brightly and she wiped the tear from her cheek. Looking back down at the book, she smiled down at the picture of Bambi. “Yeah, Bambi was a good dog. She lived to be about fifteen before she finally gave up the ghost. We had other dogs and I loved all of them, but Bambi was the best dog. I think she was everybody’s favorite. Obviously we had a thing for Bambi at the time we, or rather you, named her. We even got a cat and named him Thumper around the time we got Bambi. I think there’s a picture here somewhere…” Maxi flipped the through the pages and sure enough a couple pages later there was a picture of a sweet-faced blue-gray cat laying across their mother’s torso while she smiled at him, petting him on their couch. “There’s Thumper! He had a thing for Mom. She was his favorite person, though he was a pretty chill cat. He had to be since he was putting up with us.” Maxi grinned at her sister before she continued to flip through the book.

There were many more pictures of the Millers and the McManuses together, particularly of Maxi and Jamie. One picture showed Maxi with the veil from her First Communion and Jamie with a toilet paper bow tie, Maxi smiling sweetly and Jamie looking completely unimpressed with the mock wedding photo. In another Jamie was sticking a frog in Maureen’s face while she kissed it and Maxi appeared to be laughing with a crinkled nose. “Dad had just told us the story of the frog prince and you decided to try it out with a frog Jamie caught. You weren’t scared at all, but I wouldn’t do it. Dad took the picture and when he showed it to Mom later, she scolded him, saying you could have gotten sick. It’s always been one of my favorite pictures, though.” With another broad smile, she came to the very back of the book and the last picture showed a familiar green-eyed boy laughing and leaning down with a young Maureen attached to his back and smiling wide, her mouth open as if she was saying or yelling something. “I bet you can guess who that is!” Maxi said playfully as she looked from the photo to her sister. “There’s actually a lot of us together in this album…” She reached for a navy blue album and pulled it into her lap after she had passed the yellow one to Maureen. Maxi flipped open to the first photos but she waited patiently for Maureen to finish looking at the last picture of her and Drew before she began showing pictures of them in school with Mrs. Periwinkle. The years were floating by quicker than she had remembered them, but slow enough to savor so Maureen could get a good, long look at the life she had lost but could possibly find again.

[MAUREEN ABERDEEN]

“Yes! Yes, her name was Bambi!” Maureen was almost as surprised at the enthusiastic reply as she was by the way her sister threw her arms around her excitedly. She hadn't seen Maxi this happy, well, ever. “You remembered! I’m so happy you remembered!” she squealed and Maureen couldn't help but be infected by her laughter and she let out a genuinely happy smile. She remembered something! It was small and random, and not even a complete memory, but something had come back to her. “That means there’s hope! Your memories are there, you just need something to trigger them! Maureen that’s so great!” Despite Maxi's happiness, Maureen couldn't help but feel a little anxious about it. She didn't remember the dog or the people, but it was this feeling deep down. She knew the dog's name even though she couldn't exactly recall the dog. Would Maxi expect her to remember everything? It had been twenty five years and she still had hardly any recollection of anything at all. Maybe she just needed to be reminded? Even then, the pictures barely jogged her memory, and it was a minor detail that she had remembered. Something not even worth remembering at all! She just didn't want to instill that false sense of hope in her sister that things might become normal. Maureen knew things would never be as they once were, and she didn't want Maxi to get disappointed by that. Still, she rejoiced with Maxi, smiling and genuinely being happy that, despite its insignificance, she had recalled something from her past.

When Maxi pulled away, Maureen gave her a heartfelt smile, pleased that despite it all Maxi was truly happy. “Yeah, Bambi was a good dog. She lived to be about fifteen before she finally gave up the ghost. We had other dogs and I loved all of them, but Bambi was the best dog. I think she was everybody’s favorite. Obviously we had a thing for Bambi at the time we, or rather you, named her. We even got a cat and named him Thumper around the time we got Bambi. I think there’s a picture here somewhere…” Maybe that's why the name had stood out to her; she had named the dog. It was a fitting name, really. The dog had long narrow little legs like Bambi and there was a chance she had loved the movie before the accident, since she loved it very much now. She looked through the pictures with Maxi, but the beautiful cat named Thumper didn't stand out to her at all. She would have never guessed its name had Maxi not told her.

The other pictures melted her heart. Happy children playing together before tragedy struck. It was the calm before the storm, but it was beautiful. The picture of her kissing the frog made her face crinkle with playful disgust. "Ugh! I was a gross little girl." She teased with a laugh, knowing she wouldn't let a frog near her lips now, despite the fact she liked frogs very much. "I still like frogs, though. Just not kissing them." She giggled. The pictures continued to make her smile, and the last one in the book made her heart melt a little. “I bet you can guess who that is!” There was no denying who the boy was and Maureen gave her sister a playfully dirty look before turning back to the picture as Maxi handed her the album. “There’s actually a lot of us together in this album…” She said and Maureen peaked at the navy book before looking back at the picture of she and Drew. Finally, Maureen understood why Drew saw her as a little sister. She really was like one in that picture; climbing on him and screeching. He had the same caring look on his face as though he didn't mind the fact that a little girl was practically using him as a jungle gym. She bit her lip and then shut the book.

"We really were all like brothers and sisters, huh.." She said softly as Maxi opened the navy album and started showing her pictures of their school days. There were a lot of pictures of them doing some projects; gluing things together and showing off the things they made. There was a cute picture of Jamie and Maxi curled up together reading Huckleberry Finn and another of Maureen sitting with her arms folded and her bottom lip pouted out, One of Jamie's brothers in the background sticking his tongue out. "Mrs. Perrywinkle certainly had her hands filled with us." She laughed, and though she looked through all the pictures, nothing was jumping out at her as familiar. She bit her lip halfway through the book. "I don't know if I'm going to remember much other than what I did.. I mean.. maybe I will, I don't know but.. well, just don't expect me to, I guess." She warned, still having that sinking feeling that Maxi was expecting it and would be let down by it.

[MAXINE MCMANUS]

“We really were all like brothers and sisters, huh…” Maxi smiled warmly at her sister, nodding. Their childhood had been wonderful, filled with all the things it should have been: laughter, fights, learning, and most importantly love. There was so much love in their childhood…It was obvious in the pictures they flipped through. In almost all of them, there were big smiles and Maxi could almost remember the laughter. Sure, there were a few of the girls pouting, the boys glaring, and all of them crying, but she knew for ever tear there was a hug or a kiss to make up for it. Birthdays passed and school projects, recitals and games. Maxi smiled warmly at the picture of her and Jamie curled up reading Huckleberry Finn to each other, Maxi obviously taking her turn in the picture. She and Jamie did that often when they were young; they read books together, attached at the hip like twins. There were many of Maureen with Jamie’s sister Lizzy and of the three girls together and of Jamie, Maxi and Gus together. A few popped up of the races they had climbing the Tree of Enlightenment, her mother at the bottom of the tree yelling up at them, Maureen grinning and triumphant above all the others, Maxi swinging upside down with Gus like a pair of monkeys on the lower branches…she loved looking at these old pictures.

“I don’t know if I’m going to remember much other than what I did…I mean…maybe I will, I don’t know but…well, just don’t expect me to, I guess.” Maxi gave her sister a curious look and then smiled wide, shaking her head with a small laugh. “Of course not. I told you Maureen, I never expected you. How can I have expectations of you when I thought you were dead all these years?” She set the book down and wrapped her arms around her sister, leaning her head on her shoulder with a sweet smile. “I’m just glad to have you back, whether you remember or not.” With a big grin, she looked back up at Maureen, gazing in her matching eyes. “Besides, you’re not as different as you’d think after all these years away. And even if you were totally different, you’ll always be my sister, whether you’re Maureen McManus or Maureen Aberdeen. Don’t worry, I’m not expecting you to be who you were back then. I just want you to know where you came from, even if you can’t remember it.” She kissed her sister’s cheek and then pulled away from her entirely, scooting off the bed.

“Come on. Let’s go watch some movies! Then you can hear Mom and Dad again, see what they were like. The videos are actually pretty funny. I think there’s some footage of us shrieking…the infamous shrieking.” She giggled and waited for Maureen to follow. Maxi was happier than she had been since she was eighteen years old. This was a night she never expected to spend again. Reacquainting Maureen with who she once was made her light, and she had meant what she said: even if Maureen never remembered, Maxi wanted her to know where she had come from. She wanted her sister to know the sound of their parents’ voices, their laughter, and she wanted her to see how much they had loved her even if she couldn’t recall that love. Maxi knew they would understand, and she would too.

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