The Reunion

Tegan awoke the next morning to the sounds of birds chirping outside the open bedroom window. As she slowly pulled herself out of bed, she remembered the research she’d done the night before. She used the bathroom and fetched her coffee before settling down at her computer to check for a reply from Liam. Happy to see that there was one, she clicked the mouse and opened the message. He said that he had posted the details she remembered about the woman on the reunion site to which she had just been granted access. After thanking him, she went to the reunion site and found his message. To her surprise, there were already a few replies. One person suggested it may’ve been a nurse, a unit head, or the assistant director’s wife, but Tegan didn’t get the impression the woman had been married—or that she’d been a nurse. Another suggestion was that the dog may’ve belonged to a caretaker, but again, this differed from what Tegan believed. The dog had seemed to belong to this woman. Nonetheless, Tegan ran the name on a search site. Ironically, she got a hit on a woman from her hometown. The only problem was that the woman was now sixty-seven, which would’ve put her at thirty-two back in 1974. This seemed a bit old to Tegan. She was pretty sure the woman had been in her late teens to early twenties. She could’ve been in her mid-twenties, but Tegan didn’t think she’d been any older. She expressed this theory to Liam, then went about her daily routine. A few hours later, Liam replied, saying he agreed that sixty-seven seemed too old. Was she sure she was at the camp in 1974? Yes, I’m sure,was Tegan’s automatic mental response. Hey, wait a minute! Was she sure? Tegan thought back to that conversation with her mother, telling her she’d been nine years old the first time she went to camp. Had she really said that? Could her mother have been mistaken if she had? She checked the message board on the reunion site again and found some guy telling Liam that he’d questioned a woman named Maddy, a nurse who would have been twenty-five at the time, and she did not recall ever knowing Tegan. Also, Maddy was very petite and only stood four feet ten inches, if she were lucky. Had the woman been that short? She didn’t think so. She herself was barely five feet tall, and she’d reached her full height at a relatively young age. Whoever the woman had been, she was significantly taller. She suddenly remembered trying to convince the camp counselors she was bionic, along with the other kids. Had The Bionic Woman been around in 1974, or could they have been pretending to be like The Six Million Dollar Man? The Bionic Woman, she answered to herself. Why would a bunch of girls pretend to be a bionic guy? Tegan looked up when The Bionic Woman first aired. Shit. The show ran from 1976 to 1978. Next, she messaged Liam and told him that after looking up the show’s air dates, she now thought it could’ve been the summer of ’76, ’77, or ’78, with ’76 being the most likely. A reply came back not long afterward, saying that that would make the search easier and that in a few weeks she should have her answer. And so she waited for what seemed like an eternity. Then, a few weeks later, Liam delivered the bad news. Of the eight possibilities, including ones from 1974, they could only contact three of them, all of whom denied any memory of her. The other five remained out of reach, unable to be found and contacted. With disappointment heavy in her heart, Tegan sat down and studied the names of the five people who remained elusive.

Judy Goldberg Ellie Jacobs Amy Weinstein Pat Zimmerman Samantha Stein

None of them meant anything to her. She sighed and placed her head in her hands. So close. Closer than ever. Yet she still didn’t know who the mystery woman of Camp Nadina, who had cared about her so much, had been. It seemed likely that if she hadn’t gotten a name through Liam, with all the connections he had, she would almost certainly take her question to the grave with her. “So I’ll live another forty years or so wondering who the hell she was, then I’ll get to thank her in the afterlife,” she told herself. But did she believe that? She hoped that would be the case, but she wouldn’t know until she died—and she wasn’t planning on that anytime soon. She lay in bed before falling asleep and struggled to recall more details about her time back at camp, but nothing else came to her. With the woman’s identity still unknown, life went on, and she gradually pushed the mystery woman to the back of her mind as she had for decades. She immersed herself in her usual world of online work, errands, housecleaning, cooking, and exercise. Her friend Calista, whom she’d met upon moving to the area, was going through a bitter divorce. Hanging out with her at her place and trying to comfort and cheer her up helped take her mind off the frustration that came with failing to find and contact the angel of Camp Nadina. “I gotta get outta this place. Let’s just drive to wherever,” Calista said one hot summer day. “OK,” said Tegan as she followed the freckly redhead to her compact car. “Surprise me with a destination.” They buckled their seatbelts, and then her friend, still sniffling from crying, hesitated at the wheel. “Do you have any suggestions?” Tegan thought about it. “Actually, I do, but I don’t know if you’re going to like it.” “Just tell me. Anything is fine. Anything but sitting around and going crazy, wishing that what once was could ever be again.” “I don’t think I want to live alone anymore, so let’s go to the pet store on the main highway. You know, that little one in that shopping center with all the colorful flowers around it?” Calista nodded. “I know the one.” They drove to the store, which was just minutes away. “What do you want? A bird? Fish?” “Better than that,” Tegan said with a grin. “Give me a hint.” “They’re furry and very intelligent.” “Oh no! It’s not what I think it is, is it?” Tegan laughed. “I think so, but trust me, they really do make wonderful pets. And cute ones, too.” Calista wrinkled her nose. “They look mean and ugly.” Yet a half hour later, Tegan was placing the brown baby rat in the wire cage she’d also purchased, a smile of satisfaction on her face as she latched the door and stood upright. “I’ll start training her soon enough, and you’ll be amazed.” Calista still didn’t seem impressed. “Well, she does seem pretty friendly for a rodent,” she at least admitted. After her friend left, Tegan turned to the little brown rat peering up at her curiously and said, “We’ll get to know each other more just as soon as I check my email.” She sat down at her desk and accessed her email account. And squealed with delight a moment later.