New Life : A Second Chance

"Okay, there\'s going to be a twist to this speed dating," Ellen declared.

"What? No! Really?!" Kyle said in an exaggerated tone, his face full of disbelief as he put a hand on his chest.

Ellen gave him an equally surprised look, saying, "I know, right? Totally shocking!"

She then gave a silly smile while looking left and right, laughing a bit and then continued, "You know the game, \'Know or Go?\'"

"No?" Kyle replied, but said it in such a way as if he was saying yes.

"So you do know?" Ellen asked.

"No," Kyle said with a smirk.

"So are you saying no, or know?" Ellen asked then flung her cue cards in the air, "You know what? He can go forever with that, can\'t he?"

The audience laughed.

"Anyway, for those who are not familiar with this game, it\'s simple. We have this high podium with a trapdoor. I will ask three questions each about the girls in the speed date and if you get it wrong, I press a button to open the trap door and you\'ll fall down," Ellen said.

"That\'s all?" Kyle asked.

"Well, for you, it\'ll be a bit different," Ellen said with a mischievous smile.

She pointed to one part of the stage, where there were two huge curtains around something. Kyle assumed it was the high podium. One curtain fell, and it was as he suspected.

"That is Keanu\'s podium," Ellen said, then the other curtain fell, "While that one is yours."

"ELLEN!" Kyle said, jumping up, "That\'s not fair!!"

Ellen blinked innocently at him, then said very seriously, "But Keanu is a veteran actor. You don\'t expect me to dunk him now, do you?"

Yes, ladies and gentlemen.

Kyle\'s podium had been modified into a dunking booth. While Keanu\'s podium\'s lower half was covered, it was not so for Kyle\'s. One could see that there was a pool of water right underneath the trapdoor of the podium.

Kyle sighed and shook his head, then looked at Ellen and said, "You\'re really hazing the newbie here, aren\'t you?"

She just looked at him with an innocent smile on her face.

? Speed Dating ?

There were ten girls in all for each of them, and they had one minute to ask questions and get to know each other. They weren\'t allowed to jot down the answers but there were stage crew members doing so behind Kyle and Keanu.

Kyle took the game seriously.

He had a photographic memory, not eidetic memory. Although both terms were often used interchangeably, there were slight (but extremely important) distinctions. Both did deal with being able to visualise what they had seen like an almost faithful mental image snapshot or photograph.

However, an eidetic memory can include auditory memories as well as various sensory aspects which are related or associated with a visual image.*

Kyle\'s photographic memory, on the other hand, was the ability to recall pages of text, numbers, or similar, in great detail. In other words, he absorbed the knowledge. He did have that \'visualisation\' skill on any past memories (which he figured was a mutation of the photographic memory due to his reincarnation) but he would be in a state similar to when one is daydreaming.

His mind detaches and delves into the memories that he wants to see and recall, but he can\'t function normally. So that was not something he could do at the Ellen Show!

So there was a huge chance that he would actually fail in this, more so because he was getting nervous and the pressure from his surroundings. Didn\'t help that the girls would be gushing over him while he had to maintain a friendly, yet distant stance.

The girls were starting to look the same (all gaping mouths, tweeting birds and squealing screams) so he started to get things mixed up. By the time the ten minutes were up, Kyle knew he was screwed.

He looked over at Keanu who was just smiling away happily.

Well, yeah. He didn\'t have to fear getting dunked now, did he?

? Know or Go ?

Keanu and Kyle were standing atop their own high podium, facing Ellen who was in front of a rostrum or sorts that had a control panel.

Kyle had changed into T-shirt and shorts, courtesy of Ellen. After all, he couldn\'t get his clothes wet now, could he?

"Keanu," Ellen began, looking at her cue card, "What is the name of the third girl?"

"Abigail," Keanu answered confidently.

"Correct! Kyle," Ellen said, "What is the fifth girl\'s favourite food?"

"Spaghetti!" Kyle answered, able to remember this since it was his favourite food as well.

Ellen looked disappointed.

"Keanu, what is the name of the girl with a short, dark bob hairstyle?" Ellen asked.

Keanu thought for a bit, wringing his hands while he said, "I know this one ... it\'s ... it\'s ... Karen!!"

"Correct! Kyle," Ellen turned towards Kyle, "What\'s the name of the girl that said \'I love you\' four times to you?"

Kyle glared at Ellen. That was an unfair question! Most of them declared it to him and he didn\'t count them!

"They all did!" he said with a huff, closing his eyes and putting his hands close to his chest.

Ellen laughed, pressed the button and Kyle fell through, getting drenched.

The height of the fall wasn\'t much, and there was plenty of water to cushion it. Kyle started treading the water and blew his hair above his face, "You were just waiting to do that, weren\'t you?"

Ellen raised her eyebrows, grinned and turned to the audience. The end music started playing, with Ellen giving the final words and Kyle. Well, Kyle decided to just stay in the water until the show was over. After all, once he got out, the wet clothes would stick to his body like a second skin.

No way was he going to show that on nationwide television.

After all, he wasn\'t wearing underwear ...