After what seemed like forever the bus finally pulled into the downtown San Diego bus terminal. Using a nearby payphone James took a cab to the storage space, which was only a few miles from where she used to live back in the days when she was single - - and a man. The place wasn't much, just a huge empty lot striped by long rectangular steel frame structures subdivided into dozens of individual units. A fence encircled the entire area and for a second James struggled to remember the passcode to the automated gate. It was a little after high noon and the sun was mercilessly beating down on the asphalt and the young woman trudging across it. James sighed in relief when she reached the small trailer used as the manager's office and, upon entering it, discovered it was air conditioned.
A young man looked up as she entered and James briefly endured the customary look up and down her body most men subjected her to, including the briefly longer prerequisite stops at her breasts and hips. The young man smiled, which didn't help him at all. He was a pierced and tattooed horror that was probably already ugly before his nose had been broken. James stepped closer and noted he was reading a book about how to get your GED. The punk leaned forward, eyes briefly locking with James' before drifting back down to her tits, "Hey there. What can I do you for?"
James rolled her eyes, told herself to be calm and patient until the medallion was in her hands, ignored the crude greeting, and said in her best breezy-but-still-business voice, "Hi, I'm Jill, Jill Dugan? I have a storage space here. Lot number 313? I'd like to get my stuff and close it down."
"Wait," the young guy said slowly, "I remember you! You were the chick that lost her mind, right?"
"Memory," Jill said a little more sharply than she had intended. Whenever she got angry the southern drawl she had inherited from Jill got worse, "I lost my memory, but it's back now, and I'd like to get on with my life."
James didn't bother explaining the memories she had recovered didn't belong to Jill in the first place nor that the life she intended to get back to involved becoming a man. Lost in her own thoughts it took her a second to realize the young man was giving her a strange look. Jill returned it with a steely eyed stare and punk-boy just shook his head and picked up a small walkie-talkie laying on the edge of the scarred up countertop.
"Boss? Jill Dugan is here to see you," the desk clerk made a wry face, "Again."
James cocked her pretty head to one side in consfusion. Again? What the hell was that supposed to mean? The little punk said it like she had just been here yesterday instead of over three months ago. After another fifteen minutes of waiting the owner of the storage place heaved his bulk into the small air conditioned office. Renting the storage space from him with the help of Jill's mother was one of the first memories of her new life post-amnesia. James wasn't sure how, but he seemed even fatter and sweatier than the last time she had seen him. Had he stared at her like she was a piece of meat last time? Or did she only notice it now that she had become accustomed to the trials of womanhood?
"Hey there, Ms. Dugan," he grinned a fleshy grin, exposing tobacco stained teeth, "Decided you still need a space after all?"
"Hmm? Oh, uh, no," James shook her head, "I'd just like to pay whatever I owe and get my stuff, please."
"What stuff?" The big man scratched his bristly gray head, "You leave something behind?"
"Well," James began hesitantly. Something was obviously not right here, "There should be furniture, a bed, a couch, and some clothes. Really, all I'm looking for is a necklace that - - "
"I gave you everything of yours we had, like, two months ago or more," the big man shrugged.
"T-two months ago?!" James shrieked the words in a near panic, "I - I've been in Alabama the past three months! What do you mean I got my stuff?"
"Look, what is this," the big man made an ugly face, "some kinda scam? Or are you just on drugs?"
"No, I'm not on drugs!" James replied testily, "I just want my stuff!"
"And I gave it to you!" The big man shot back indignantly, "What, you lost your mind again or something?"
"Memory! I lost my memory!" James said for the second time that afternoon, "Back it came back so I came here to get some things! I've been in Alabama the whole time!"
"Like hell," the man grunted, eyes narrow with suspicion, "You come back about a month after you got the space, said you wasn't gonna need it."
"I - - I did?" James whimpered. This was bad. Oh God, this was so bad. Tears were threatening and she could feel her breasts heaving as she struggled for breath.
"Yeah, yes," the man nodded, his eyes becoming kinder as he saw the genuine grief and confusion written all over the pretty face, "You really don't remember, huh?"
James sniffed and shook her head no, not trusting herself to speak. What the hell was going on? She clearly remembered renting the space with Jill's mom. The real Jill must have come home, found her stuff gone, and somehow learned about the storage space. But why hadn't she called home, talked to her mom, asked what was going on? In fact, Jill had said she was going home the day she asked him to feed her cat while she was gone. Why hadn't that occurred to her before? Reeling, she clutched one hand to the lip of the counter to steady herself.
"Look, you came in, said you'd been out of town, but you wanted your stuff back," the owner shrugged, "You'd signed a month to month lease so I had no problem with that. You loaded everything up in a U-haul and that was the last I heard of you until today."
"Did she - - did I say anything about where I was going?" James finally asked, a note of hope in her voice.
"Not really," the big man made an apologetic face, "There was some guy with you, a beaner, he did most of the heavy lifting. Ricky? Rico? Something like that."
"I see," James sadly nodded her head, trying to think of some excuse for her seemingly bizarre behavior, "I'm sorry to have bothered you. I guess I'm still having trouble with my memory. The doctors said it would be awhile before I was back to normal."
"You going to be okay?"
James sighed and turned to the door, "I'll be fine. Thanks."
Stepping back out into the blinding midday sun, James shivered in spite of the heat. She wasn't fine, mentally at least, and she was starting to think she might never be back to normal either.
