He asks for my name.

When we arrive at Denny's, the guy I'm with requests the table at the far end of the restaurant. I'm curious of why he requests this but I ignore it. He walks me, hand on my shoulder, to the table. The waiter comes up and asks for the kind of drinks we want. He asks for coffee but I ask for pink lemonade. The waiter gives us our menus and leaves.

"I didn't get you name," out of nowhere he asks.

"My name...oh, it's Marianne. Marianne Carpo."

"Marianne, that a pretty name. Short but sweet. Nice to meet you Marianne, I'm Robert."

"Nice to meet you Robert," I say. Usually I don't care what his name is but for some reason, his name of Robert makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

The waiter comes back to see if we are going to order anything.

"Oh, I'll have the shrimp basket with seasoned fries and a french toast to go with it."

"And I'll have the breakfast burger with seasoned fries."

"Is that it for you two?"

"Yes, thank you," Robert says.

Ten minutes later the food comes in and we devour them, cleaning our plates.

"So what your story Robert?" I try to venture into his personal life.

"My story?"

"Yeah. Like why you are here smelly like garbage all up in my room screaming and shit."

"What are trying to say?"

"I just want to know what you're all about. It is unusual to find a guy here to find a bed for free."

"You want to know about me, is that it?" I nod, "Well I'll tell, but you gotta promise you won't tell, okay."

I nod again, "Okay."

"Well, first things first. Your car."

"My car? What's this gotta do about my car?"

"Isn't it weird for a girl like you to be driving around in a big Plymouth, so loud like one with a HEMI?"

"I don't think it's weird, just improbable, okay?"

"Well my friend had a Cuda once, y'know. Rusty paintjob, hecka scratches, dents, but the same loud roar of the engine."

The waiter comes back with the check and Robert immediately pays with a $100 dollar bill. "Keep the change."

He grabs me forcefully and pulls me out of the restaurant, in a subtle way.

"Your friend?"

"That's why I'm here Marianne. I'm looking for my friend," he keeps going. By now he has pulled me behind the retaurant where no one could see us. "He went missing a week ago and people say he went missing around here. I saw your car and I thought he was here. When I found out you were driving it, I wanted to ask for your name to see if it connected."

"What connected?"

"Do you know the name of my friend Marianne, do you?" he pushes me against the wall of the restaurant and I feel like he is going to hurt me. I whimper a little by his forceful actions.

"No I don't!"

"Wrong answer," as he says this, he slaps me with the back of his hand. "I know you know Allen Macintosh, Marianne. You drive a car just like the one he drives. Nobody around here has a Plymouth Barracuda with a HEMI!"

At the very moment his palm meets with my cheek, and my hair flies everywhere, my inner conscious or my mind get jolt and flashes of memories of a guy named Allen flash before my eyes all up to the point to where his rusty Barracuda overheats and he gets hit by a dart. In this little vision-dream, I am in a third person view and I see the person who shoots the dart, but he is just a dark figure in the distance. I then connect the person Allen with me and I realize that I did recognize that secretary on TV. I recognized the name of Robert's friend and the picture they shown on TV. Allen Macintosh is Marianne Carpo. Allen Macintosh's mind is in Marianne Carpobody. Come to think of it, I think my old body was transformed in this Marianne body.

All the rest of the words coming from Robert's mouth is drowned out by the heavy throbing on my head and the heavy realization of me. I try to calm Robert down but the only words that come out are, "I know!"