The old man entered the Memory Center building, gazing up at the slogan emblazoned on top of the doors

in bright gold letters. To Take a Stroll Down Memory Lane! had not been a possibility in his day. Well, it had been, in a sense, but in the old days, if you wanted to re-live a memory, you had to do it in your own head. Nowadays, they had discovered how to make your brain call up certain memory information out of the subconscious storage areas, and re-living memories was a favorite hobby of both the young, who didnt want to leave their youth behind, and the old, who often felt nostalgia for their own youth. He was most certainly there for the latter. There wasnt really much to do other then reminisce anyway. At his age, most joy came from the experiences of the past. He surfaced from his reverie as he neared the customer service desk of the Memory Center. Hello, welcome to the Memory Center, where we blur the line between past and present just for you! How may we help you? said the cheery young man sitting behind the desk. Im here to, um rRelive a memory, answered the old man, unconsciously rubbing his right index and middle fingers against his thumb. It was a habit hed had since his youth. He had had his share of memorable experiences, and if he was too old to go out and make new memories, what else was there but to relive the old? Step right this way sir. Step right this way to your past. said the man behind the desk as he got up and began to guided the old man down the maina corridor. They arrived at the room which housed the machines that could plumb the depths of a persons brain and bring memories to life. The appearance of the room was stark, functional. There was not much decoration, or color, everything was grey and metallic. In terms of the possibilities it housed, the room was a cave of wonders, but in terms of dcor, it was far from the romanticized laboratory of marvels one might expect. The voice of the guide broke into the old mans thoughts and pulled his attention back to the situationtoward what his guide was saying. may not look like much, but the room is designed to have the minimum amount of interference with your thought patterns as possible. Anyway, now well leave you here for a while to give you some time alone to decide which memory you would like to re-experience. An operator for the memory machine will return in half an hour, or when you push that button over there by the arm of the chair of the machine. Happy (strolling/memory huntingg)! the young guide said as he walked out of the room. Half an hour tThirty minutes to review a life spanning over eighty years and choose one segment of it to relive. It seemed a daunting task, to search through so many decades worth of memories in his mind, sifting through events to find the one that he most wanted to live through again. He didnt suppose he wanted a sad memory, or an angry one, or any unpleasant memory. There didnt seem to be much sense in reliving the bad parts of life. No, a happy memory it would be. But which happy memory? He had rather a lot to choose from. There were weddings, births, parties, graduations, vacations, humorous incidents, and all manner of simply pleasant moments. Which would be the best to relive? He ruled out life milestone events. Those seemed so dated. He wanted to remember something that was meaningful to a person of any age, not something that was bound by the time and situation hed been in when hed experienced it. So that limited him to the kinds of happy events that just occurred spontaneously over the course of a life. Humorous actions or statements, the kind that became stories that arewere told at every family or friendly gathering, were too short to be worth actually reliving the memory. Besides, little was lost in the remembering with such things. He wanted something that would actually feel more

real for being experienced, something whose full impact could never be preserved by mere memory. He unconsciously began to rub his fingers together, then froze and stared at them as he realized what he was doing. Of course. This was it, this was the memory he would choose to reexperience: the pearl hed found on his family vacation to the ocean-side when hed been 11. It had been over 70 years ago since itthat that happened, but he still remembered the whole thing clearly. It came and played itself before his eyes from the perspective of the child hed been. The beach househ His family had rented a house on the beaches of California for the summer. It had not been a large, mainstream tourist beach, more of a residential area. Staying there for the summer had felt like living on the border between two kingdoms, one a kingdom of tedium and repetition, the other a kingdom of fabulous adventure. And the ocean was his portal between the two. It was in the ocean that hed discovered the most fantastic scenery and creatures that hed ever seen in his young life. It was like there was a whole different world under the waves, one of bright colors floating suspended against a grim, murky background, with spirals and blotches of strange colors twirling through it all. The whole scene filled him with a sense of mystery and wonder. The world under the ocean took his breath away every time he visited it. He had so many fond memories of that summer, that beach, that ocean bBut one stood out particularly in his mind as the highlight of the summer. He had spent the afternoon swimming in his marvelous kingdom under the water. That days sights had been particularly wonderful. The water had been roiling with schools of fish swimming back and forth. Their colors, some only one color, some swirled and spotted, wove amongst each other in a rainbow of reflective light as the fish swam along their paths. The coral and seaweed looked like elegant castles growing on top of each other. It was a magical scene. The afternoon was almost over, and he was just about to swim back to the surface, whenbut suddenly, a blue glint caught his eye. Curiosity seized hold of his mind, and he swam back down through schools of fish, and over growths of coral, trying to keep the blue glint in his eye, wondering what it could be. Things didnt usually glint underwater, so it had to be something amazing. The glint came closer and closer, until suddenly, and he wrapped hishis hand was wrapped around it. It felt smooth, and hard. He swam back up, closer to the surface in order to get a closer look at what hed found. He stopped swimming a few feet under the surface, and held up what he held in his hand. It was a pearl, a beautiful blue pearl, round and flawless. It caught the light of the setting sun through the water and flashed. It looked like a glowing blue shell wrapped around a tiny ball of light. It was the most beautiful thing hed seen in his life. He eagerly swam towards the surface to show the treasure to his parents, but suddenly stopped. The pearl was too pretty to take to the surface. It could get damaged. Besides, it belonged as part of the beauty of the world under the water. He couldnt bring himself to keep it all for himself. He held it up to the light and watched it glow in the murky water. He rubbed it with his fingers, savoring the feeling of it, its beauty, and then he gently dropped it and swam back to the surface. The scene flashed before the old mans eyes as if he were already reliving it. This was the memory he wanted to relive, the memory of the most beautiful moment of his life. He rubbed his fingers together, and it seemed as though he could feel the pearl once again. He pushed the button by the arm of the chair and waited for an oOperator to arrive. A few minutes later, the operator came into the room. Well then, youve selected a memory to sStroll down?

Yes, said the old man. Well, alright then. Im going to hook you up to the machines. I need you to think about the memory you want to relive, so the machine can read it and run it through your consciousness, so that you appear to be reliving what youve already lived through. Now please relax, and focus on your chosen memory. He placed on the old man a helmet that covered his entire head, and then went to a computer connected to the mask and began typing in commands. The old man let the world fade away as he focused on the memory of the pearls glint as he first saw it. As he remembered, his fingers began to unconsciously rub together. The memory seemed to loom larger and larger in his vision, and he felt his eyelids close over his eyes. The ocean floor came into focus, the scene an exact replica of what hed seen the day hed found the pearl. He felt uneasy as he looked at the schools of fish swimming past him. He was deep under the water, and he felt out of his element surrounded by ocean flora and fauna. He felt a stroke of relief as he began to swim towards the surface, just as he had remembered. Suddenly, a bluish glint appeared in the corner of his eye. The old man felt a brush of anticipation as he began to swim over and under fish and coral towards the shimmering pearl. He felt the hardness of the pearl in his hand, and was filled with joy and glee at being able to see its beauty once again as he swam toward the surface. He reached the surface and gazed into the pearl, filled with expectation. Seeing it again how it had actually looked, the sight wasnt quite as impressive as he had remembered it being. The light of the sunset didnt seem to fill the pearl, and the pearl didnt seem like a glowing blue shell enveloping a miniature world of bright lights. It just looked likea glowing blue rock. The moment passed, and he began swimming for the surface to go home for dinner. Just before he got back to the surface, he took the pearl out again. He paused for a moment, and then dropped the pearl. It had just looked like a blue rock anyway. He could get the same affect by shining a flashlight through a blue marble. Though the pearl might have fetched a decent price These were his last thoughts as the ocean floor faded from his minds eye. Well, that ends that memory. Just stand still sir, while I finish disconnecting you from the sStrolling apparatus. A few minutes later, the operator was helping the old man up from his seat and out the door. We hoped you enjoyed your experience here at the Memory Complex! Thank you murmured the old man as he left the operator and headed toward the front desk. Well, how was your sStroll? asked the young guide at the desk as the man walked out of the Memory Complex. Eh, said the old man, not as good as I had remembered. He walked out the door, his hands lying motionless at his sides.