Finding Dylan

Chapter 5

Dylan's hospital room had many visitors the next day. There were doctors and nurses. Quentin and Tristan. Kyle and Logan came by with Dylan's stepbrother Peyton. They brought pictures of people in their family so it would be less overwhelming when Dylan met them, which Tanner had planned for the next day. And a psychologist came to talk to them – mostly Tanner – about some of the issues Tanner raised with Dr. Thompson. Her name was Dr. Rosenberg.

*

"It's always hard when a loved one suffers a memory loss, especially when it's someone so close and when the loss is as severe as what Dylan experienced. It can seem like your partner lost a great deal of what makes him who he is."

"Actually I think things are pretty good between me and Dylan now. Some things are different, especially for him with not remembering our history, but I don't think it's a problem. I'm crazy about him! I was just telling him last night I'm falling in love with this version of him."

"That's great that your feelings haven't changed, and that's an interesting way to describe it. What do you think are the main differences between the two versions?"

"Well, new Dylan is a little bit dumber, a little gayer and a little happier, but I think he's the same guy I've always loved."

"Let's unpack that. What do you mean by dumber?"

"Well, he's actually smarter in some ways. But mainly I just mean the obvious that he doesn't know the language very well and doesn't know how to read or do basic math. The old, I mean classic, Dylan was always smarter than we gave him credit for. He had a stutter and a lot of people thought of him as dumb because of that. I know it really means his brain was moving faster than his mouth, but still. Dylan was never going to be a Rhodes scholar. I mean, neither am I, and it's not like my grades were that much better than his. But I've always thought of myself as smarter than him. And so I'm used to it. It was a little more extreme the first day I found him when I was having to teach him things like he was a toddler, but now that we're past that, it's starting to feel more familiar. He learns so fast and he seems to process information quickly. I don't think it'll take more than a few weeks for him to get caught up on 18 years of education."

"OK. What do you mean by gayer?"

"He's a lot less inhibited about his sexuality now. It used to be so hard to get him to tell me what he wants. He was really shy, especially about sex. Classic Dylan would rather wait for me to figure out what he was thinking than tell me. And New Dylan just comes out and says it. 'I want penis.' And several times a day."

"Tanner has huge penis!" Dylan was glad to have found an opening to contribute to the conversation.

"Wow, you must be a lucky boy to have such a well endowed boyfriend."

"Tanner best boyfriend. Dylan love Tanner forever."

"That's wonderful."

"See what I mean?"

"I think so. Classic Dylan had a lifetime of experiences that taught him that sex, especially same-sex activity, was something shameful. How long ago did he come out of the closet?"

"Just a few months actually. We've been in a relationship for a lot longer than that, but he was really reluctant to admit that he's gay."

"Was he ever bullied for his sexuality?"

"Yes. In middle school we both had it pretty bad, and high school too. I hated it, that was why I switched to online school after sophomore year. Dylan did his senior year also."

"So he felt like he had to hide who he was from his peers. And New Dylan doesn't remember any of that. He has a healthy, open attitude toward sex. It looks like you've raised him right. No one he's met the past week has given him any reason to feel ashamed about it."