The line went dead, and I couldn’t blame him. I tried another few combinations, added a two, a three, a four and a five to the end of each new sequence. One woman answered in a language I didn’t understand, another told me to piss off, one call had an automated message stating the number had been disconnected, and the last one went to a voice mail belonging to someone whose name didn’t elicit the smallest flicker of recognition.

I hung up. And gave up. This was stupid. The possibilities were endless, and soon not only would my patience run out, but my money, too. I forced myself to keep going, added a six and a seven, both unsuccessful, but when I punched in an eight, a woman picked up.

“Hello?” she said, and my lips froze together, making me incapable of saying anything, even when she repeated herself twice over. “All right, dipshit.” There was more than a little irritation in her voice now. “I’m sick of these stupid-ass robocalls. Get lost.”

The tone. The voice. The combination stirred something inside me, faint and wispy like morning mist you could no longer see, but which had been there moments ago. “Hello?” I whispered. “I know this’ll sound strange, but—”

“Ash?”

My heart sank to my stolen shoes. “No. My name is—”

“Where are you?” Her voice went up three notches, making her sound on the verge of panic and almost as desperate as I felt. “Ash? Ash! Talk to me.”

My head buzzed with so much noise I could barely hear. Why was she calling me that? My name was Brad. It said so on my watch.

“Ash,” she said, her voice a little quieter this time, and I could have sworn she was fighting to hold back tears. “Please, tell me where you are.”

This was hopeless. The woman was confused. She’d mistaken me for someone else. My name was Brad. Brad. When she spoke again, demanding to know for a third time where I was, I decided if I couldn’t handle my own problems, there was no way I could deal with hers, too. Hand shaking, I let the receiver dangle before making up my mind and thrusting it into the cradle.

I paused for a second. The woman had sounded so certain about my name, but it couldn’t be. It said Brad on my watch, and for the past day, this had been my one anchor in a world full of crazy. I wouldn’t let her mistake unmoor me; if I did, I’d have nothing left. Coming to Maine hadn’t yet produced the epiphany I’d hoped for. If anything, it had made me more confused.