A Pursuit of Memory

The faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information

We’re finding more evidence showing that dogs may actually not be color blind. I coordinate my movements and enter my 7^th grade biology class. Today is dissection day. I look at the translucent tools sleeping on my desk and pry open the box that holds the organism I’m supposed to dissect. What was I doing before this moment? A human sitting adjacent to me nudges my arm and motions to his backpack. He pulls out a casserole of mistakes and tells me it’s his lunch. Use it or lose it. I poetically grab a scalpel and fence with the motionless creature. We’re dissecting memories. I cut at the outer membrane.

Houston, we are ready for lift off. The engines begin to roar and smoke floods the area. The astronauts are uneasy but excited. The endangered rocket ship breaks through the atmosphere and successfully lands on its target. An astronaut pulls the lever and walks out. That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. What an amazing accomplishment �" the first human to walk on the surface of a memory. You won’t catch a lot of fish with fire. He cuts at the outer membrane.

An Egyptian royal sips on some Mel Gibson water and chews on the rubber grapes his servant is feeding him. The idea that we only use a certain percentage of our brain is a myth. We use all of it. The weather is mediocre. He watches as his slaves labor away at his feet �" building, constructing, and forming. They carry huge blocks of sweat and wipe beads of brick off their faces. None of them are complete. A state of flux. They’re tearing down the pyramids and building more modern structures. Memories. A peasant cuts at the outer membrane.

We have to forget. Dean Martin said it best. I’m better off licking In-N-Out signs and selling Gucci biking helmets. As we get older, we let go of our favorite stuffed animal and hold on tightly to our favorite memories instead. Climb to the tip of my tongue, it’s a deadlier voyage than Mt. Everest. I turn on the t.v. and see the March on Washington. MLK begins to speak: I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. He cuts at the outer membrane.

The Holocaust was an extermination of memories.

We hold these ideas to be self-evident: the ideas of life, liberty, and the pursuit of memories. We’re all just living in the memories of our future selves. Memories. Distractions from the obsolete. Distractions for what the kid needs and way more than kid knees and kidneys. On October 21, 2015, the Mafia infamously denied Walt Disney’s application to join them. Disney would have made them millions. The Mafia sold alcohol but Disney, he sold memories. Memories sell. Manufacturing memories on a global scale, I just need to figure out how... I cut at the outer membrane.

The bell rings and I cross the road to my house. I live right across the street from the school. Magnesium has twelve protons and never forget that. I pet my dog[s]. They ask me what I did in school today and I tell them that I dissected a memory. Puzzled, they tell me that memories don’t exist. Did I forget?

© 2015 Gaston Villanueva

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Rana

"We’re all just living in the memories of our future selves."-wow
I waited for someone to cut at the inner membrane, but of course this writing wasn't about personal memories, and it made me picture history to be like a family's memories, mankind's memory. I liked where and how you set the story Gaston, gives a taste of studying history in a biology class. The Walt Disney paragraph is my favorite. Also, I realized how little I knew about dog psychology.
"An Egyptian royal sips on some Mel Gibson water and chews on the rubber grapes his servant is feeding him." -there goes his pomposity, ha ha. I love your works, and never forget that.