Memos and misgivings

James is sitting down. He had to sit down. Because he had been unprepared for the news. After a few minutes, he reads through the letter once more. The feeling of something surreal will not leave him. Furthermore, he is sure there must be some sort of mistake.

With this in mind, he reads the letter very slowly the third time. It is the same. Now he feels his pulse rate climbing. Everything that had happened over the last few months races through his mind as he tries to focus on what to do next. He must talk to Anna.

Although only recently married, they are very close. It is why they chose to wed. In fact, they were only recently back from their honeymoon. James thinks about Anna, and the hopes and dreams they already share. Then he looks back at the letter, and decides he must come clean.

Memos and misgivings

The memo book lies quietly on the table. James opens it to the first page. His words are written there in his sprawling style. He stares at his most recent entry. “Become a secret agent” Then he looks at the letter from the government calling him into active service.

In all the changes of the last six months he has barely had time to think of anything. Much less the implications of the memo pad. He looks over each of the words he has written in the memo pad and wonders. Is it possible? The letter he received from the government is for a top secret service program. Not a typical call to action.

James thinks about Anna as he studies the strangeness of his plight. He isn’t sure he could explain it to her. He isn’t sure he understands it himself. Furthermore, the idea of being an actual secret agent, fills him with trepidation.

With this in mind, he decides there is really only one thing he can do. He hadn’t considered the implications, or the strangeness of this situation, when he had previously written in the Memo pad. Now, if his hunches are true, he will need to use the Memo pad to help solve a problem he created, by using the Memo pad.

Redirection

The Memo pad is full of empty pages. Not for the first time, James wonders where it came from. Who threw it away? Better yet, why? He certainly has no intention of throwing the book away. In fact, he is only just beginning to understand what it means. Not to mention its possibilities.

Therefore, he thinks it’s possible to move in another direction. He pulls the lid from the pen and carefully writes his new entry. The ink dries on the paper as he finishes the last few letters of his memos and misgivings. And then he caps the pen and closes the book.

As he places the book in his nightstand a chilling thought occurs to him. Why weren’t there any other entries in the memo book? Did someone deliberately remove the pages from the memo book before it was tossed? And if so, why?