Memory Block

MEMORY BLOCK

By

© 2018 Michael J. Herman

Have you ever had trouble remembering something important? Have you ever lost your memory, completely, or known someone who has? Have you ever tried to help someone remember something and they just couldn’t find the memory? It’s not a good thing to lose one’s memory. Some Social Scientists assert without memory there is no identity.

Imagine being able to give people long lost memories without medication, without surgery, and without intrusive technologies. In the future, medicine will rely more on external energy manipulation than anything internal.

It’s not enough to help out around the house once a week when home from school, Ty Sampson really wanted to make the lives of the people he loved better. His singular focus for years has been to get through college and then medical school so he could somehow have an impact that matters.

But his life seemed so small. School, the night job at the software company writing code for medical instruments that interface with computers, and sleep were his daily routine.

He barely had a social life. Some of his mates insisted his work was a bad thing and he had to find a way to find balance. “Imbalance is a bad things” offered his mother.

“Dr. Tyreese Sampson. I like the sound of that!” he’d say every day as he’d look in the mirror and tie his tie. “Someday Mister, you’re going to do something great!” Then off to work he’d go and sit at a computer terminal for 6 hours. Then off for a couple hours per day of research in his meager lab.

It seems like the pressure never lessened. Even when with the few mates he had, Tyreese felt there was always more that needed to be done. Being of profound service is what drove his hyper intensive research.

When not overwhelmed with school, Ty used to muse of marrying Brittany, his longtime girlfriend. But she’s been bed ridden and suffers almost constant mental anguish resulting from a violent attack. The memories of the event are so vivid they block her from fully recovering.

It’s hard to determine which hurts more, the physical pain of her injuries — or the emotional anguish and haunting memories of the attacks that caused her injuries in the first place.

Recent research shows that often, the emotional memories of lives prior to trauma is more devastating than the actual injuries. Sometimes late at night, Brittany would lurch from nightmares reliving the attacks.

But on a particular day, while visiting Brittany, Ty brought his new experimental medical laser device to update Brittany on his research. As he presented the tool and showed its features, Brittany squirmed and twisted in efforts to find a tolerable position.

“Hey Brit” started Ty, “how about some nice music? I added some awesome new artists to my music cloud. Have a listen. The first one is a Brazilian Jazz/Samba combo I discovered. They’re amazing!”

Tyreese placed the headphones over Brittany’s ears.

For a moment it was difficult for Brit to adjust. The pain seemed to surge and then drop, then surge and then drop again. Ty could see the toll it took displayed on her face. The music had an obvious calming and even enlightening effect on Brittany.

As he reached for a cup of cool water on her bedside the water spilled and he jumped to grab the glass pitcher before it fell and broke.

As he did, the laser beam spun around and pointed directly across Brittany’s temple and into her left pupil. As Reggie continued blotting the spill, his elbow made the laser pan back and forth from Brittany’s temple to pupil, which would trigger a twitch, and back again.

All of a sudden Brittany, who had barely been comfortable for weeks, was not only dossal but smiling and laughing.

Reggie stood up with a shock. He stared at Brit in utter befuddlement. His eyes tracked the path of the laser as Brit’s head grooved back and forth to the Jazz Music. Her face was not constricted by contortions of pain or torment, but reflected actual evidence of relief.

Just as Ty was about to make an adjustment to the laser, in came the charge nurse who bellowed, “Visitor hours are over.”

To wit Ty attempted a meager protest, only to hear “O-V-E-R!”

Once home that evening, Ty couldn’t get out of his mind the profound response he witnessed. “There has to be more to it” he obsessed until he fell asleep in the chair close to 4 AM in front of the fireplace.

The next day and every day that followed for weeks Reggie fine tuned his experiment, sometimes pointing the laser directly at Brit and sometimes bouncing it off multiple surfaces before the light energy reached Brittany’s head; and sometimes even simply extending the exposures to the lasers.

But for some reason, the results never replicated. “What am I doing wrong” demanded Tyreese. “The answer has to be right in front of me!” He would review and study his notes over and over again, obsessing on an answer.

But it was only after months of long days and late nights, of trial and error, of hope and disappointment, of moments that pushed him to the verge of tears that Tyreese finally had his breakthrough. While playing music into the frontal cortex and simultaneously pointing in rhythmic concentrations of varying intensity laser into the hypothalamus where memory is stored Brittany began to revive long lost memories.

She even began reverting at times to toddler and little girlism reliving happy and even some sad memories. Her physiology even adapted and her physical pain was observably diminished. Some of the latest testing showed that Ty could transform blocks of harmful memories into happy ones.

Most of all, Ty was able to limit the impact and clarity of her harmful memories. But to know if the breakthrough was as real as he believed, Ty turned the experiment on himself and suddenly, he was rocking in his mother’s arms suckling on a bare breast.

Because he only exposed himself to small intensity of the laser and a Jamaican-Conga drum beat, Ty’s results were short lived, but long enough to prove he was on the right track.

The very next day Ty put out a call for medical study volunteers. The ad read: “Are you losing your memory? Would you like to revitalize those fading images, faces from the past, or even hug a long lost loved one? How about never forget a test answer again? I may be able to help.”

The day the ad hit the Classifieds a line of more than 500 people long showed up at his lab.

From the crowd came calls “I can’t remember my childhood!” “My brother died in Viet Nam and I can’t remember his voice!”, and “I’m old and I forget everything! Even my bank numbers and they won’t give me my Social Security money.”

Begrudgingly, he opened the doors to his lab to anyone with a memory need.

For days Tyreece welcomed patients for a nominal price to improve their memories. He even began working with law enforcement to help close major crimes across the country.

Most significantly to Ty was his ability to restore lost memories to people. A woman came in and she was able to remember her long dead husband’s first kiss. A woman came in wanting to be able to remember her meds so she could get out from under the thumb of inpatient care.

With the growing notoriety came more visibility and appearances on television, radio, and social media.

“Imagine pointing a laser at your brain while you listen to specific musical patterns and improving your cognitive abilities with zero long-term side effects? Quite honestly, it surprises even me!” declared Tyreece to a captive television audience.

With higher demand for the near miraculous technique came bigger lasers and more powerful equipment. Ty had to register his new practice with the state health and medical authorities.

The money began pouring in, Companies started courting him, and his technology became highly in demand everywhere people had cognitive deficits. And best of all, his work got funded. Not even a residency student yet and he already surpassed many researchers that were years ahead of him.

“But how to get it to the masses?” he asked himself.

Then, as he worked at his desk in his modest office updating progress notes on Brittany, his office doors swung open loudly. In walked a tall, thin, well dressed man clicking his pen and shouldered by two larger men.

“Mr. Sampson, I’m with Dynamic Technologies and we’d like to talk to you about your memory gizmo.”

“My memory gizmo? I think you are mistaken.” Ty stood from behind his desk and before he could stand up fully, guns appeared pointed right at him. One was clearly aimed at his head while the other was aimed lower at his chest.

“Mr. Sampson, I said we’d like to talk to you about your memory machine.”

“Well” replied Tyreese, “Wh-what would you like to know?”

“To tell you the truth, we’d like to have a piece of it. My bosses and I would like to be your partners.”

“I don’t need partners!” declared Tyreese.

“We think you do. And it would be a shame if something were to happen to the research, and to the researcher.”

One of the large quiet men reached in his pocket, pulled a cigarette out of his jacket and lit the end. With the match still lit, he tossed the flame onto a stack of papers on the floor.

Ty jumped to his feet as the other silent muscle pushed him back. Then, as the top pages began to catch flame, the match-tosser crushed it out with his black leather shoe.

“I think you gentlemen should leave before”

“Before what, Mr. Sampson? Before someone gets hurt? Like your mother? Or Brittany?”

His eyelids opened like window shades. The well dressed man presented his sleek mobile device which displayed images of Ty’s mother seated at a restaurant and Brittany alone in her hospital room.

“We’re not unreasonable people Mr. Sampson. Your work can do a lot for our “friends.” Like help them remember cards at a casino, routes of bank trucks filled with money, and schedules of, let’s just say certain personnel we’d like to know where they are and when.”

“You have the wrong guy.”

Ty moved toward the shelf trying to point out the streaming web cam mounted on the wall, but the goons ignored his pleas and began tossing things on the floor.

Just then the phone rang. Everyone froze.

With guns still aimed at him, “You’d better get that.”

“Hello? Oh, hello mother. Nice to hear from you.”

Crashing noises continued flooding the room as he talked on the phone.

“Hey Frank, I think I found something.”

They pick up a large insulated bag that clearly reads “Remember This Every Afternoon Once Every Day. It’s your most important creation.”

Tyreese lurched nervously.

“N-no, you don’t want to take that!”

“Oh really? Mr. Sampson, we’ll be taking this and we’ll be in touch.”

As they backed out of the thrashed office with guns still pointing straight at him, Ty’s face was filled with as much fear as it was confusion.

“What was that?” came from the phone.

“Oh, nothing. Someone just stole my lunch. I put a tablespoon of psyllium husk on my tuna casserole to help with IBS. Someone better be near a toilet in less than ten minutes from eating it or they’re going to have a very bad day. Goodbye Mother.”

He hung up the phone.

Hours later the local police and FBI huddle around Tyreece’s security playback. “I think this will be more than enough to obtain arrest warrants for these guys and hopefully the entire syndicate” said Special Agent Crowdey.

“That’s good to know,” answered Tyreese.

“Just one thing, Dr. Sampson.”

“It’s not Doctor, yet.”

“Oh, sorry, just that you seem like one. Anyway, just because we got these guys, doesn’t mean someone else won’t try something too. All I’m saying is, while you’re safe now, who knows how safe you really are?

“I see. Thank you Special Agent. I have a lot to think about my work.”

The very next day flanked by a cavalcade of dignitaries and fellow scientists on the campus of the National Institutes of Health Washington DC., Tyreese stood on a dais announcing the philanthropic donation of his research to the NIH for the free betterment of all people.

“Thanks to NIH and a generous endowment to last us well into the next century from the now defunct Dynamic Technologies this technology shall remain free and available to anyone with memory improvement needs from this point forward. I’m calling on all researchers, pharma companies, and medical practitioners to join me in this new reality, where anyone for any reason of health related issues can seek free and unfettered health care!

That technology for the improvement of life and wellness should be readily available and not denied on the basis of economy or circumstance. Only in this way can we as a people possibly hope to survive. Who is with me?!”

A deafening cheer erupted from the crowds.”

“I could stand to become one of the richest men that ever lived, but if I don’t take this opportunity to move the idea forward, who will? I call on all men, women, and companies of means now and in the future to think and act as one human kind. Not as your kind and my kind. All lives are entitled to good health, and quality mental health.”

And that marked the first major leap toward True Free Health Care For All. In the years that followed research labs, pharmacies, and health insurance would be transformed by the credo “Health and Wealth For All Is our Call.”

Following the lead of Dr. Tyreese Sampson nations collaborated in new and lasting transformative ways and the health and wellness of life worldwide improved as though a new age had been born. Eventually, no one could remember ever having to worry about health care.

And you know what, that is a good thing.

Michael J. Herman is a Professional Writer, Motivational Speaker, and Visionary. He lives in Los Angeles and is loving it!