He thought it was their first date; she knew it was their anniversary. He complimented her on her appearance and she smiled at him. He thought he was gazing at the face of an angel, so sweet and trusting she appeared to him. He had never seen such a beautiful woman and felt an instant attraction, but also a strange feeling as if he somehow knew her.

 

Joanie appeared to be in her mid-twenties, and at 30, Brad felt this was the perfect age gap. He wondered if things between them might develop into something. He hoped so.

 

"Joanie, thank you for agreeing to meet me here. I am thrilled to know you and have this first meal together. I hope it may be the first of many." Joanie smiled and looked up from her wine glass. 'Me too,' she replied with a bit of a sad smile. After a little more small-talk, the waitress arrived with their orders. The food was delicious and they managed to combine casual conversation with enjoying their dinners, which can sometimes be a bit challenging.


When they had finished their dessert, she asked him how he was feeling. “I feel great,” Brad replied, “and I have an uncanny feeling that I already know you.”

Joanie responded, “You do, because we’ve been married for three years and this is our anniversary. But you don’t remember due to a horrific accident you were in a few months ago.” With that, she began to softly cry, and Brad leaned over to wipe a tear away with his thumb.


Suddenly he realized that he had done that before, the same gesture, the same hand. Then with a blinding flash, memories flooded into his mind: meeting her, the engagement, the wedding, and their daughter, born last year. Brad grabbed at

his head and looked shocked, almost as if he were in pain. Joanie looked at him with concern and asked, “Are you all right?”


But Brad’s answer calmed her. “I’m better than I’ve been in a long time. I remember everything: Meeting you, marrying you, the birth of our daughter, and the motorcycle accident. I was a fool not to wear a helmet and thought I’d survive the fall and the slide along the pavement. But then I saw the concrete utility pole coming and couldn’t stop in time.


Joanie confirmed that his memory was accurate and said, “We thought we had lost you. I grieved for a week during your coma. But your sudden recovery surprised everyone, especially when it was obvious that you had no memory of the

accident, or of your family. She wept again, but broke into a smile very quickly. “I’m just so happy that your memories have come flooding back just now, and can’t wait to continue living our lives together with our daughter once more.”


They finished their conversation and gazed more romantically than ever into each other’s eyes, then left the restaurant. Brad had taken a taxi there, but Joanie had taken the family car and they drove home in it. The house looked a little strange to Brad, as he had been staying in an outpatient facility up until now. Now he looked in on his sleeping daughter in her room, and retired to the master bedroom with his wife.


She had already called the facility to let them know of the amazing recovery and that Brad would not be going there tonight.

The following morning, Joanie drove them to the outpatient facility where Brad picked up the remainder of his belongings and thanked the staff, even paying with his credit card to take care of the balance. He had remembered everything, down to his bank balance.


But at home, he found he could remember more things, events he didn’t recall being present for. The first was Joanie’s ex. He could picture the man’s face in his mind, yet knew he had never met him. Joanie had only briefly mentioned him, saying he had cost her a lot of money before they split up. She always frowned when thinking about him.

But Brad seemed to know what had happened, despite having never heard the story. Her ex had convinced Joanie to invest in a scheme he was working on and it would bring in a lot of money. Or so he convinced her. She had been saving for a house and gave all of her savings to him to invest. He promised her that within a few months, she could pay for that house with cash and have lots left over. So, fifty thousand dollars later, she waited. Months went by and she kept on waiting. Her boyfriend would see her less often, until he stopped seeing her at all. She called him to ask about her investment and he would always have a good story about how the returns were about to come in another week or so. But when nothing happened and she called again, the number had been disconnected. A trip to his apartment revealed that he had moved out weeks ago. She had been swindled and robbed.

Not wishing to look like a fool, she never told Brad all of this, but after his fast recovery, he somehow knew the whole story. In fact, he had a feeling that he would know what her ex looked like, and even where to find him. His name seemed to be Kent or Ken or something like that. Brad had no idea how he could possibly know this, yet it seemed certain to him.

So, one day after work, Brad paid a visit to an office across town, and spoke to a secretary and made an appointment. Days later he was ushered into an elaborate office where a young man sat at a desk, impeccably dressed in a suit and tie. Brad had come here upon a recommendation as a good firm where he could invest some money. The sign on the desk read, ‘Investments Management Expert Ken Higginsworth’ He already knew the face. This was the man who had robbed his wife, the ex she never wanted to talk about.

Brad had a ridiculously complicated scheme in mind that would provide money for Ken to invest for him, yet would actually be a trap. Before long, Ken was arrested on charges of fraud, and it was found that he had robbed dozens of people of their hard-earned savings, and most were other young women he had dated: often more than one at a time.

Joanie’s prayer of recovery was answered, but her husband had not only recovered fully, but had a much higher IQ than before, not to mention knowledge of people and events that he had never been involved with. Within months, Brad was assisting the district attorney’s office in helping to solve similar cases of fraud, the court date had come and gone, Ken was behind bars and Joanie’s money had come through the court system in the form of a bank draft.

 

Brad was making plenty of money, mostly paid by insurance companies who would have otherwise had to make payments on insured investments. He worked less, yet they lived very comfortably. He could be a dad to his little girl, spending more time at home than he was able to before the accident. He even had time to speak at high schools and colleges, reminding the students of the importance of always wearing a helmet.

 

Of course he didn’t tell them that in his case, the injury gave him a greater mind, a stronger brain. And he didn’t tell his wife how he knew about Ken. It would be his secret, along with the other secret things he somehow just knew about. In fact, he now had inside knowledge of a huge number of people and events that he wanted to expose to the authorities.

It was their fourth anniversary and so Brad took Joanie to that same restaurant they had been to the year before. Only this time, they both knew it was their anniversary. Yet, Brad always smiled when he realized he might be the only man alive who had ever enjoyed not one, but two first dates with his wife.