Archibald Dungary lived in a dull apartment, on a dull street, in a dull life. But when he awoke one Wednesday morning, he had a feeling that today would be different. Although his breakfast went as it usually did, hard toast and cold eggs, Archibald was still left with a feeling of hopefulness.

He stepped out onto his stoop, locked the gray door behind him and hastily made his way down the street. Briefcase in one hand, brown bagged lunch of chicken salad sandwich in the other, Mr. Dungary weaved through bikes, children, dogs, and other obstacles. When he passed the newsstand, he diverted his eyes, as usual. But today, he couldn’t help noticing a woman in the headlines of the papers. Thick ringlets of soft, blond hair fell from her head. She had gentle, green eyes. But he soon turned his attention elsewhere, and marched on to his destination.

A small bookstore located between a grocer and a flower shop was his destination. Well, it was his place of work. He had bought the store about ten years ago, and Archibald had since devoted all of his time to it. Dusting the shelves, displaying new books, neatly stacking others, the store filled all of his time. But Archibald was alright with that. After all, what else would he be doing with his spare time?

After helping a few customers, he glanced at the clock and noticed it was noon. He retrieved his bag lunch from his desk and placed a note on the door. It was his daily tradition to walk to a nearby park and eat his lunch there, every day on the same bench, feeding his bread scraps to the geese afterwards. He noticed there was more traffic than usual, but proceeded on as usual. “There must be an event going on downtown”, Archibald thought. He waited patiently on the sidewalk, until the man on the sign lit up. As he strolled across, a large truck noticed the crosswalk just seconds too late. As the driver slammed on the brakes, he yelled for Archibald to move out of the way. Too much inside his own head, Archibald did not hear. As the truck came thundering toward him, he looked up just in time to see what was about to hit him.

Screams, footsteps, sirens. That was all he could hear as he lay sprawled out on the ground. His head to hurt too badly to even open his eyes. He was placed on a board and put into an ambulance.

When he finally opened his eyes, he saw a short, brown haired man standing over him. “God?”, Archibald whispered.

“Dr. Bly, Nick Bly”, the man said as he snickered. “Relax, you’ve been unconscious for a few hours. A little confusion is more than understandable. What’s your name?”

After thinking about this for a moment, Archibald replied, “Well, I’m not exactly sure.”

“Do you know what happened to you?”

“No, where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital. You were hit by a truck while crossing the street. You had no identification on you, so we’ve spent the last few days trying to figure out who you were.”, Dr. Bly explained. “Do you remember where you were coming from or were headed?”

“No, I really don’t.”

“It’s alright. Don’t talk anymore, close your eyes and get some rest.”

The later, a nurse alerted Dr. Bly that she thought she recognized the man. “That’s Archibald Ellison,” she explained, “He’s in town with his wife, Margaret, for the premiere of her new movie tonight.” Archibald woke as the squeaky door opened. Dr. Bly entered and asked if his name was Archibald Ellison was his name. 

“Well, Archibald does sound familiar, but I’m not very sure about the Ellison part. But I suppose that is my name.”

“Very well then,” Dr. Bly remarked, “We will notify your wife immediately.”

“Wife?” Archibald whispered to himself. There’s no way that he was married. Surely he would of remembered that. Then again, he would of thought that he could remember his name, but that 

didn’t happen, either. 

After learning that the John Doe had now been identified as Margaret Ellison’s husband, the hospitals administration immediately moved the man into the nicest room in the hospital.

A few hours later, Margaret Ellison stopped at the front desk of the hospital.

“I’m here to see my husband, Archibald.”, She said with a turned up nose.

“Room number twelve.”, was the reply. “Through the double doors and to the left.”

As Margaret walked, her long skirt flowed and her curls bounced with every step. She swung open the door and made a dramatic entrance.

“Archibald, honey, are you alright? What happened?”, she said when she saw the state he was in. “You’re certainly in no shape to walk me down the red carpet tonight. I’ll just have to go by myself.”, Margaret said with a sigh.

“You’re my wife?”, Archibald cried out in disbelief. 

“Of course, Sweetie. Of course I’m your wife. What did you think?”

Archibald was very puzzled by this. “I suppose I should rest. I still don't have my memory back and I'm quite tired”, his explained to his new found wife.

“Very well, Darling. I'll leave you be.”, she responded. Margaret turned and slinked away, her white curls bouncing.

Archibald knew he had seen her face before, but he could not place it. He wondered if she could perhaps of been in his bookstore before. “Never.”, he thought to himself, “She is not the type to buy anything more than a fashion magazine.” Still confused as ever, he rolled over and fell asleep.

Once out of the hospital, Margaret found the nearest pay phone and dialed her assistant, Renee. 

“Hello?”

“It's me, Renee.”, Margaret stated cold and plainly.

“Oh, Mrs. Ellison, where are you? I sent the limo to your hotel this morning, but the driver said you were not there.”

“Where I am is of no importance right now. What is important is that I need you to call Officer Kay immediately. I found Archibald, so tell him to call off the search.”

“Why Mrs. Ellison, that is wonderful. Where was he? What happened? My friend's husband wandered off the other day and she found him with-” Renee was bluntly interrupted by Margaret clearing her throat.

“Save your breath, Renee. And don't trouble me with questions. He, he fell and hit his head or something. Lost his memory.”

“That's just awful. I do hope he's alright. Please tell him I hope he-”

“Of course, dear. Goodbye now. Just send the limo to the hospital and I'll see you soon.”, Margaret slammed down the phone and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. As she waited, a few people in the crowd recognized her and asked for autographs. “Can't you see I'm busy?”, she growled at them. Margaret stood there, pondering what to do next about her current situation.

A few days later, Archibald was ready to leave the hospital. He hadn't regained much of his memory, but Doctor Kay assured him that would come with time.

“Goodbye, Mr. Ellison!”, the nurses called out to him as he walked through the white double doors. A limo had just pulled up. The open window revealed two women inside. Archibald recognized the first, Margaret, but could not identify the other woman in the car.

“Hello, Archibald!”, the woman called out. “Your wife told me of your memory loss. So I'm sure you don't remember me, but that's quite alright. I'm Renee, your wife's assistant.”, the woman said cheerfully.

“Hello.”, Archibald stammered timidly. He was very unsure of his surroundings.

Just then, Renee was thinking to herself how Archibald's appearance seemed to of changed. He had the same eyes, the same forehead, the same mouth. But his nose was more curved than before. “I'm probably just imagining it.”, Renee assured herself, “I never even saw him that much. Besides, he might of broken it when he fell.” However she was not fully content with this answer. She would have to do some investigating later. 

As the limo sped along, Archibald could tell that Margaret was avoiding his glance. “Now is as good a time as any to get some answers.”, he thought to himself. 

“Have we always lived in this town?”, Archibald asked.

“Oh, or course not. This dreary town? Heavens no.”, she responded with her nose turned high, “My producer decided this would be a good place for the movie premiere. That's why we're here. But we'll be returning to the Hamptons tomorrow.”

Archibald nodded, now more confused than before he had asked his question. But since he still did not remember anything from his previous life, he decided to ask a few more questions. Enough to get some clarification, but few enough to not be bothersome. Margaret did not seem like the type of person that he would want to bother.

“How long have we been married?”, he asked, hoping that this time she might turn around to look at him.

“Seven years, dear.”, she said as she tossed her head back to look at him. “Which is quite impressive for a couple as high profile as us. The media has always been quite impressed with that.”

“The media?”, Archibald thought to himself. “Surely, if I were ever to marry, it wouldn't be to someone like this.” He just knew that there was something not right about this. He tried to think of the things he knew for sure, of the things he hadn't forgotten. He made a list in his head:

1. My name is Archibald.

2. I am a very practical, no-nonsense sort of man.

3. I prefer to be alone.

4. I am not entirely to friendly.

5. I quite fond of chicken salad sandwiches.

After pondering these things for quite some time, Archibald was sure of only one thing; he had no clue as to how he had ended up with Margaret. He decided that maybe one more question would do the trick. 

“Margaret?”, he asked meekly, “How did we meet? Where did we meet?”

Margaret finally turned around to face him. “You see, darling, I was in the middle of a divorce from my first husband. You were my lawyer. After you convinced him to give me the mansion, I couldn't resist being completely charmed by you. ”

“Umm, alright. Do we have any kids?”, Archibald inquired, disgusted by her last response. 

“Oh, Honey. You're so funny. No, of course not. Why, with all of the parties I attend and all the trips for my films, when would I ever have time to raise a child?”  

Still unsatisfied, Archibald decided to remain silent for the rest of the ride. Once at the hotel, Archibald was led up to a room in the penthouse suite. After insisting that he was still tired from the accident, Margaret left him alone for the night. Archibald pondered what had happened to the man he supposedly was as he drifted off to sleep.

"Rise and shine, Sweetheart. I've got a party to go to tonight,so if we want to get home in time, we need to leave now. I've already packed up your things.", Margaret said as she flickered the lights to wake him.
"Oh, no.", Archibald thought as he peeled open his eyes, "To make matters worse, she's a morning person."
When she had finally forced him out of bed, Archibald noticed several leather cases on the ground.
"I'm going to slip into the shower for a minute, the driver will be up soon to collect our bags. Keep an ear out for him.", Margaret instructed.

When she had left the room, Archibald zipped open one of the leather bags. Inside he could see silk, cashmere, linen and wool. He had never dreamed of owning anything like these. He selected a casual gray suit from the bag and put it on. It was a little big, but otherwise fit well. Archibald continued to search through the bag, hoping to find a piece of the man he supposedly was. He retrieved a small piece of plastic from the bag and pulled it out. It was a drivers license, registered to Archibald Ellison, 6' 2", 175 pounds. He had a round face, calm eyes and a broad forehead. "He could practically be my twin, if it weren't for the nose.", Archibald thought. By then, he could hear Margaret getting out of the shower. Archibald zipped up the bag and returned it to the pile.

The ride home to the Hamptons was a very quiet one. Margaret barely said a word to him the entire time, despite the questions and comments he made. When lunchtime neared, the limo pulled into the parking lot of an upscale grill. Once seated, Margaret ordered a small salad.
"There's a nice rib eye on the menu, Archibald, why don't you order that.", Margaret suggested.
"No thank you, I'll just have a chicken salad sandwich.", Archibald replied.
"But honey, I didn't think you liked chicken salad. And rib eyes are your favorite."
"No!" His yell echoed through the restaurant. "You don't know me. Therefore, you don't know what I like. You don't even know who I am. I don't know why you want me, why you took me. Why don't you explain it to me?", Archibald said harshly, now out of breath.
"Sweetie, you're just upset because you lost your memory. Calm down. I'm sure that once we get home and you rest some, you'll be feeling a lot better. Just give it some more time."
Archibald knew that there was no use fighting with her. That wouldn't get him any answers and it wouldn't get him anywhere. He placed his hands in his lap and remained silent for the rest of the meal.

Hours later, rod iron gates became visible as the limo tuned down a long driveway.
"Look, darling, we're almost home.", Margaret said very excitedly.
Archibald looked up to see a large mansion beyond the gates. It was a pale blue, with fountains in the front.
"Darling, I'm so sorry but I that party to get to a a few hours, so I must get ready. You still look quite sickly, so I suppose I'll let you entertain yourself for the evening. Is that alright?", Margaret said, her green eyes showing fake sorrow.
"Of course,", Archibald replied, "I understand. Go have fun." He was excited by the opportunity of doing some sleuthing.

Later that evening, after Margaret had left for her event, Archibald began to sneak around the house, opening closets and desk drawers to try to understand why it was that he was brought here. Although he did not have his memory fully back, he had long been sure that this was not his life. One door he opened led to a small study. There were maps on the wall, a globe on the desk was sitting on a pile of travel books. Archibald picked up one travel guide to Brazil. Many pages were dog-eared and folded over. A black pen had circled and underlined different attractions.