Once upon a time in a tiny town called Dallas in the puny state of Texas, some not so small shenanigans occurred.
The red Texas dirt dust blew up in his face. There was no life around him besides the lame crab grass and the scattered Magnolia trees that shaded the cows. He stared at them. They mooed back. What was he doing there?...Where was there? There was warm but isolated, no other person for miles. He knew because he could see for miles. Not even a farmhouse for the stupid cows, only the storm clouds on the horizon. Texas storm clouds. His attention turned inward. He felt his head; Maybe he’s hit it on something…no. He examined his arms, legs, hands, body. He was fine. He just couldn’t quite…remember himself.
His name. Where he was from. Was he from here? Did he grow up with the cows? No, he had clothes and shoes and there were contacts in his eyes; Prescription -1.35. Somehow he knew that. That and he liked strawberries, hated Chinese food and could plan an instrument. All of that but…no name. He must be a person…some person. And there must be people searching for him.
The thunderclouds crackled in the distance. For some reason the thunder gave his stomach that sinking feeling. A cow moved. A drop fell. A though occurred: How long had he been there? Water fell from the sky. He remembered he liked the rain, then—
A face. A girl. She smiled at him, brown eyes shining and blinking away the rain drops falling in her face.
“Have you ever—”
Moooo…He opened his eyes. He was laying on his back, facing the blinking stars. With no other lights around it was possible to see through the galaxies. It was splendid and he remembered he’d done this before. Stargazed…with someone. He moved. He was laying halfway in a puddle of muddy red water. A cow, a mama cow with a calf stood on the other side hovering at the edge. He quickly got up, half soaked from the waist down. The cow bellowed out another moo and he flashed—
A girl. A different girl, long blond hair and freckles. She drank from a drinking fountain and maybe didn’t notice he was starring. Then she did and she smiled. Flirtatious.
“What?” She giggled—
He fumbled backwards and back into a tree and sank to the ground. He was breathing hard and his heart was racing. A different girl? Who was the first girl? The brunette. They both grinned at him in the same way. His sisters? Cousins, maybe? Possibly girlfriends? They were both really cute. Then he remembered he liked brunettes more and younger better than older. This recollection made him double take himself. He had preferences? Uh…why?
The stars shone happily. They winked at him. He stayed under his tree and fretted until his subconscious won over and he slipped away from the bad smell of manure and muddy rain.
He dreamt of a hundred more girls and multiple flashes of other people. When he awoke he was even more unsettled than when he realized he didn’t know who he was! Screw that concept! He didn’t want to know! What kind of a person was he? The morning sun stared at him. His stomach erupted in a growl. He remembered he liked cheerios and donuts and coffee and red bull—
Speaking of bull, one was starring at him. It was huge and black with horns longer than his arm span. It snorted and flicked his ears…a plastic ID tag swung around. It was blue and when he, the human, jumped up to see, saw it read ‘321, Dallas, TX’.
He remembered he didn’t live in Texas. The bull skirted away from him and towards the heard and towards the—
He sight brought unmanly tears to his eyes. A truck filled with hay. He identified it as a ’07 Ford F-150. He remembered he knew cars…a little. He ran to the truck and practically scared the poor farmer to death. The man was ancient with a tanned face and piercing eyes. The boy spouted his story in all but one breath. When he did breath the man said,
“Well, what’s your name son?”
“I don’t know!” the boy cried. The old man turned and ruffled around in his truck for a moment before coming back and giving something to the boy.
“Now, tell me your name boy.” It was a mirror.
The boy stared. The man waited, and that’s all that separated them from being a boy and a man. The boys hands trembled, as he stared himself in the eyes and an overwhelming sense of shame fell over him. He didn’t want to—but automatically he knew.
“There is no one coming for me.”