VERY SHORT STORY: HOLDING HANDS
My wife caught me holding another woman’s hand. I still can’t remember where I found it.
ALPHABET SOUP: THE LOST CHAPTER
First a little background on the “lost” chapter. I have been writing for many years and I have grown accustomed to rejection letters. I sent Alphabet Soup to World Castle Publishing.
Because I really believed in the story, I was not ready put it aside when I received the expected letter. While I was waiting for the rejection (that thankfully never did come) I proceeded to add a chapter to my manuscript hoping that it would catch the eye of the next publisher. When WCF sent me an email offering to publish my book, I abandoned the idea of submitting the manuscript with the added chapter.
But…I had already written the chapter and I liked what it did for the story. So what should I do with the orphaned chapter? My decision was to place it on my webpage for anyone to read and decide for themselves if it should have been included. It is a little rough because it has not had the benefit of my editor’s red pencil (or the electronic equivalent.) I am certain that she would point out all my errors and insist that I correct my mistakes.
To place this chapter in the proper order I suppose it should be titled Chapter Zero. Without further preamble, I present the Lost Chapter of Alphabet Soup:
Chapter Zero
Captain Davenport rested his elbows atop his desk. His hands were clasped with just the index fingers extended. Upon those index fingers rested his cleanly shaven chin. The office door was locked and the only other occupant was Master Sergeant Erwin. On the phone, Erwin had insisted that there was an urgent problem but now he sat silently, waiting. Finally, Davenport asked, “You said that there was a problem. What kind of problem?”
“I think that one of my team members isn’t following the script anymore. He is remembering things that he shouldn’t remember.”
“The script isn’t like that. We don’t take an eraser to someone’s brain and just drop in an entire new set of memories. We provide them with a script and that script is a framework that supports the new memories. We give them a framework with all the important events and the patient’s past experiences and his imagination fill in the details. Details get lost over time but the script blends in and becomes indistinguishable from real memories. I’m sure that he is still on script and that you have just misinterpreted some of the details.”
“Yesterday, he asked me what I knew about Senator Gorham. Senator Gorham was specifically excluded from the script.”
Davenport peered over his spectacles. “Gorham? Wasn’t that the man who had the unfortunate accident in Biloxi?”
“Yeah, that’s the man who had the unfortunate accident. I think Sergeant Ireland is beginning to remember what happened while he was in Biloxi.”
“Maybe–Maybe not. The procedure is still experimental. The drug is an amnesiac that interferes with the formation of long term memories. If the framework collapses, it might just leave a blank slate for the period of time that it replaced, and that shouldn’t be a problem. Think about it–even if you lost an entire week from six months ago, would you really miss it? Would you even know that it was gone?”
“You said that it might leave a blank slate. What is the other possibility?”
“The drug is an amnesiac; it doesn’t actually erase memory. It is possible that if the framework collapses, the original true memories will fill the void.”
“He can’t be allowed to remember what happened in Biloxi. Can’t you just fix him again?”
Davenport shook his head. “Six months ago, we were working with memories that were less than a week old, but if those memories are still there, they will have a much greater persistence.”
“What do you do about greater persistence?”
“I could try a higher dosage of the drug but I don’t think I should risk it.”
Erwin glared at the captain. “You don’t think you should risk it? If you had taken care of this six months ago, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
“I wanted to make conservative use of the drug. I was trying not to erase too many memories.”
“Be less conservative; I don’t want him remembering that mission.”
“I can’t possibly erase something that happened six months ago; six weeks might be a possibility.”
“Six weeks doesn’t help. I need the entire week in Biloxi erased.”
“Get him to Wilford Hall and I will be able to determine if he is actually beginning to remember. Maybe he read an article about Senator Gorham; this may have nothing to do with that week in Biloxi. But if he does remember Biloxi, I will do what I can to install another script. I’ll have to be careful, though; I don’t want to cause permanent brain damage.”
“Do what you have to do to remove those memories–permanently. If you have to turn him into a vegetable, that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
“You’re willing to take the risk? It’s his life that we’re talking about.”
“And those are your experimental drugs. If you lose your commission because of this, do you really think that you will ever get to practice medicine as a civilian? Just fix the damn problem.”
“What about the other two team members?”
“I’m keeping an eye on them. Mastromonico has been acting a little strange but I haven’t noticed any changes in Hill.”
“Well, keep Ireland away from them. If his framework collapses and he starts talking, he could cause their frameworks to collapse also.”
Erwin arose wearily from his chair. “Damn it! I’m getting too old for this. Twenty years ago, if you couldn’t complete your mission, you were expendable. Now they just get a young doctor, who is barely out of high school, to fill you full of experimental drugs.
To read more: Go to the BOOKS page and Click FREE PREVIEW under ALPHABET SOUP.