Story 8

Story 8: A Little Help From Mnemosyne

A guy is sitting in his conservatory. His wife Beth hollers at him “Bill you need to get ready. Did you forget that we are having lunch with the Smiths?

“Let me finish this chapter and I’ll get ready.”

“Well don’t forget again. You know how your memory has been.”

Bill settled back into his chair and noticed an attractive woman with a full head of wavy red hair standing in front of him.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“My name is Mnemosyne. I am the Goddess of Memory. I am here to help you.”

“Help me? How?”

“Well, the Goddess of Memory is not going to help you get up fewer times at night to pee,” she said peevishly. “We are doing some experiments to see if we can be more useful to mortals.”

“Oh, you are going to help me with my memory.”

Bill asks her why his memory is bad and asks her many things that he had forgotten.

“Like I said,” Mnemosyne repeats, “I am here to help you. But you can’t tell anyone.”

Beth asks, “who were you talking to?”

Bill replies, “I wasn’t talking to anyone.”

* * * *

At the restaurant Smith stands up and offers his hand. “Good to see you, Bill. It has been a while since we had lunch together. We used to do it all the time.”

“Bill doesn’t like going out,” Beth explains. “He has been having problems with his memory. He is afraid he will embarrass himself.”

Smith reassures Bill, “We are all getting older. Don’t worry if you have a memory slip.”

Bill puts out his hand and in horror realizes that he has forgotten Smith’s first name. Then he notices an attractive woman with a full head of wavy red hair a couple of tables away. She looks familiar. She smiles and winks at him. In his head he hears a feminine voice. “I’m here to help you.”

Suddenly, Bill looks even more horrified, pulls his hand back, and runs out of the restaurant.

*  *  *  *

Memory is looking intense and says, “Mischief! Did you have anything to do with this? It has your fingerprints all over it.”

“I swear, I had nothing to do with it,” replied Mischief. “Why don’t you tell me what happened.”

“The guy I was trying to help drew a blank on a name. I boosted his memory but instead of remembering the name he remembered something he had forgotten and did not want to remember. Something about him and Smith’s wife. Then he lost it and ran out of the restaurant.”

“Why did you make him remember a thing like that?” Mischief inquired.

“I didn’t. I just boosted his memory and dislodged something from years ago.”

“I guess it happens sometimes.”

“Yes, but most of the time somebody’s fingerprints are on it. Like yours.”

“It wasn’t me. So, what is the lesson from the experiment?”

“Don’t complain about forgetting things. Just be thankful for things you have forgotten that you don’t want to remember.”

Memory thought “Mortals are so lucky. As they age their memory deteriorates. I can remember everything and cannot forget anything even if I try. Now I have one more bad memory that will last forever.”

This story is almost 600 words long. The recording is just short of 4 minutes.

Send an email to me at drjohnartz@gmail.com if you have a comment on any of my stories. And please check out my website at DrJohnArtz.com to see other things I have written.