\nMeghan Lee smiled into the camera, awaiting Dan\u2019s signal to begin and trying not to look too much like the enthusiastic newbie she was. But gah! Her very own segment! She was young. She was pretty. She was on fire!\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou\u2019re go in five, four\u2026\u201d Dan held up three fingers, then two, then pointed at her.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cHello,\u201d Meghan said, intentionally letting her smile falter somewhat. \u201cThis is Meghan Lee reporting to you from Central Park where masses of empty shells are\u2026\u201d Meghan paused, thoughtfully. \u201cShould I go with empty shells or human husks?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWhat?\u201d Dan wasn\u2019t paying attention to her; he had the camera pointed toward a hauntingly lovely young woman with dark hair, bronzed skin, and dull, empty eyes.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cEmpty shells or human husks?\u201d Meghan asked impatiently. \u201cI need this first segment to be perfect. Some people are calling them zombies, but\u2013\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThat\u2019s offensive,\u201d Dan replied.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cExactly, so empty shells or human husks?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cHave you ever known one?\u201d He looked annoyed, suggesting he had. But he\u2019d been a cameraman a lot longer than she\u2019d been a reporter.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI talked to some of these yesterday, before I pitched the segment.\u201d Meghan waved vaguely at the people behind her. It hadn\u2019t been precisely these people, although she thought she recognized a white-haired man sitting on a bench, but they\u2019d all had more or less the same things to say: Can you spare some change for the memory exchange?\n<\/p>\n
\nCreepy.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cMy brother ended up like this,\u201d Dan said with a scowl. \u201cKept trading up his memories for better memories until there was nothing left of him.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re doing the segment, to warn people away from disreputable memory brokers.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nDan scowled again. He never seemed to approve of Meghan, no matter what she did, and he acted like he was at least a decade older than her when in fact, he was barely twenty-five. Maybe he\u2019d gone to a disreputable memory exchange, too, and was remembering what it felt like to be an eighty-year-old man.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe thought made her smile.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAll right, let\u2019s start over.\u201d Meghan stood tall and stared at the camera.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cGo with lost souls,\u201d Dan said as he reset the shot.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cA bit poetic, but\u2026\u201d Meghan shrugged. Maybe. She started rehearsing possible lines in her head as Dan once again cued her to begin.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cHello, this is Meghan Lee reporting to you from Central Park where the scourge of lost souls continues to grow by the day. These people were once our brothers and sisters, moms and dads, daughters and sons, but now they wander aimlessly on errands not even they comprehend for they have forgotten even that which drives them.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nMeghan stared into the camera for another few heartbeats, then began walking along the path toward the white-haired man she was pretty sure she\u2019d seen yesterday. He was particularly gruesome, and would punctuate her segment nicely.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cExcuse me, sir, may I have your name?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nHe looked up at her vaguely, his eyes struggling but finally finding focus on her face. \u201cDo you have some spare change? I\u2019ve run out of memories to exchange.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cDo you even know your name?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt might be Tom. Or Donald. Or Beth.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWhich memory exchange do you use?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cDo you have some change?\u201d he asked again.\n<\/p>\n
\nMeghan had been expecting this. She motioned to Dan to cut the recording while she passed a fistful of bills to the old man, knowing exactly what he would do with them. As soon as he had his cash in hand, he stood up from the bench and began to walk across the park.\n<\/p>\n
\nMeghan and Dan followed.\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nHe led them precisely where she\u2019d known he would \u2013 to a seedy memory exchange in a bad neighborhood. The people hanging out on street corners here or leaning up against graffitied walls had almost as little hope as the lost souls in the park. The fact that most of their memories remained intact was more a testament to the inherent value of living someone else\u2019s poverty than it was to their desperation. Even when \u201chungry for a day\u201d became all the rage on the memory exchange, the supply always exceeded demand.\n<\/p>\n
\nDan set up for a shot outside the seedy exchange while Meghan watched the white-haired man go inside. She couldn\u2019t follow without permission from the store owner, so she stood outside the door with a clear shot of the establishment\u2019s name by her side.\n<\/p>\n
\nDan cued her to begin.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe lost soul we interviewed at the park was able to get some money and made his way here, to this unregulated memory exchange where thousands of lost souls are being taken advantage of, selling off one memory to pay for another, always at a loss, never quite getting back as good as they gave. The only thing that seems to remain, by design we fear, is the drive to continue buying new memories to fill the empty void their souls have become.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nThe door jingled open and the white-haired man emerged, stumbling slightly on the single, jagged stair.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cExcuse me, sir, what\u2019s your name?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nHe blinked at her in confusion. \u201cDon\u2019t I know you?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI\u2019m Meghan Lee, Chanel 8 On Your Side.\u201d Although this was her first segment, and it hadn\u2019t aired yet\u2026\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI\u2019m Jackie. I work at the deli up the street. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve been in there before.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWell, Jackie,\u201d Meghan said, forcing her smile into place, \u201cthank you for taking the time to speak with us today.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nJackie wandered along the street, Dan\u2019s camera following her progress until she disappeared into a little deli on the corner. He kept his camera dutifully trained on the front door of the deli until a couple minutes later when the perplexed-looking old man was tossed bodily out onto the street.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cTainted memories,\u201d Meghan said as the camera panned back to her. \u201cHe thinks he is Jackie, at least for a few hours or a few days. He doesn\u2019t just remember what it was like to be her. The core identity is corrupted by so many exchanges and by the slipshod work of these unlicensed dealers. So who are these criminals taking advantage of our most vulnerable citizens? Let\u2019s see if one of them will answer our questions.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nMeghan turned and knocked firmly on the door, which rattled in its hinges. To her surprise, it opened, revealing a tall woman with long braids hanging down her back.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI\u2019m Meghan Lee, Chanel 8 On Your Side, and I\u2019m here to ask you some questions.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nThe woman smiled, revealing straight, white teeth. \u201cI\u2019ve been expecting you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWhat do you have to say to the families of the thousands of people who come to you for hope and leave as human husks, lost souls unaware of their own identities?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI say a surprising number of people want to be someone else, and want to forget who they were. Maybe if those families treated them better, they wouldn\u2019t have a problem.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cBut you don\u2019t exactly make them someone else, do you? You strip them of any sense of identity.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI provide a service, and at far more reasonable prices than the memory cabals uptown.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThose memory cabals, as you claim, offer premium memories and wish-fulfillment experiences in safety and comfort.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYes, the safety and comfort only the super-rich can afford. But where do the memories come from? Do you think they\u2019re stripped in safety and comfort?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYes.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cSo if someone wanted to remember being a reporter for a day, you\u2019d sell your memory?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nMeghan shuddered at the eerie path this conversation had taken. They\u2019d definitely have to do some creative editing back at the studio.\n<\/p>\n
\nWhen she turned to tell Dan to stop recording, he wasn\u2019t there.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI wouldn\u2019t sell to a place like this,\u201d Meghan whispered.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cNo, Meghan Lee wouldn\u2019t sell to a place like this. The people who bought it from her would \u2013 this one\u2019s been making the rounds.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nMeghan stared at her, trying to remember the woman\u2019s name. Trying to remember her own.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAre you ready to resell and try for something else?\u201d the woman asked. \u201cResale is usually ten percent, but I\u2019ll do fifteen for this one. Special one-time only offer.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nMeghan shook her head, confused.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cOh, honey, do you have any original memories left?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI-I-I-\u201d She looked for Dan, once again, still confused when he wasn\u2019t there. Maybe he\u2019d gone back to the park for some B-roll?\n<\/p>\n
\nShe\u2019d just go back there and look. After all, this was her first segment, and she wanted to make sure it was perfect.\n<\/p>\n
Christine Amsden is the author of nine award-winning fantasy and science fiction novels, including the Cassie Scot Series. In addition to writing, she is a freelance editor and political activist. Disability advocacy is of particular interest to her; she has a rare genetic eye condition called Stargardt Macular Degeneration and has been legally blind since the age of eighteen. In her free time, she enjoys role playing, board games, and a good cup of tea. She lives in the Kansas City area with her husband and two kids.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Meghan Lee smiled into the camera, awaiting Dan\u2019s signal to begin and trying not to look too much like the enthusiastic newbie she was. But gah! Her very own segment! She was young. She was pretty. She was on fire! \u201cYou\u2019re go in five, four\u2026\u201d Dan held up three fingers, then two, then pointed at …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107878,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,14,20098],"tags":[20099],"class_list":["post-140119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-publications","category-tcl-44-summer-2022","tag-the-colored-lens-44-summer-2022","entry entry-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/107878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140120,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140119\/revisions\/140120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}