Remember Me?

"Have we met before?" I was tempted to provide a more aggressive response, but I opted for restraint, in order to allow this goofy looking stranger to explain himself.

He wore a gray boler hat, a rumpled dark suit, and carried an umbrella, which he used to touch my ribcage, getting my attention. He looked like a crazy version of “Steed” from “The Avengers”. His small, misshapen body, was out of place, among the prairie exhibition crowd, who were enjoying the fair.

“Sure we have. December 12, 1969 – 2:21 PM. You drove your dad’s car into my parking lot.”

I probed my memory. Something about his statement rang true. Something about his twisted face evoked a distant memory. Yes, the parking attendant at the Bessborough Hotel. My dad told me about him before we even entered the parking lot.

“He’s a funny little guy, not all there. But he has a memory like a steel trap.” Dad informed me. “I have only seen him twice before, but he remembers everything.” I took this as idle conversation.

I drove, on that cold winter’s day, and dad sat in the passenger seat. I approached the booth at the entrance to the parking lot, and the strange looking attendant glanced right past me, and glared at my dad.

“Well hello. I haven’t seen you since August 21, 1968, 10:12 AM.” He formed a smile, as he spoke at, not to, my dad. We drove in, parked and I never saw this little guy again – until now. Years later.

A two minute encounter was burned into his memory – I was one of his pieces of “data”. A crazy guy who could barely tie his own shoes. What other treasures were hidden away in his data storage unit atop his strange frame.

(296 words)

June 9, 2009 entry to:

896794

Daily Flash Fiction Challenge  [13+] Enter your story of 300 words or less. Note new starting time! by arakun the twisted raccoon