chapter seven
During my walk, I passed a shop that looked like... I dunno, you're asking an amnesiac to explain a thing they're not sure about just yet, like give me a minute. I figured the best way to find out would be to step inside an
FADE IN
INT. GENERAL STORE – DAY
TAMMY WILSON steps into the shop, closing the door behind her before staring at the sudden layout change in afterward. She is taken aback by the fact the store is presented not unlike a script.
TAMMY
(in shock)
What the heck is this? Why is it like this? Who decided on this?
AMBLEDON (O/S)
Welcome, customer!
TAMMY
Who the heck is Ambledon, oh go--
The camera rotates to face AMBLEDON, a silver robotic-looking character standing behind a desk wearing a red jacket and hat. The overhead lights reflect themselves in his outstretched arms, creating a pair of lens flares.
TAMMY is not amused.
TAMMY
Are you the reason why this part of the chapter is written like this?
AMBLEDON
(excited)
Why, that is correct! I love film, an--
TAMMY
(speaking quickly to shush AMBLEDON)
Okay, I don't need your life story, jeez.
There is a BEAT.
TAMMY (CONT'D)
So, anyways...
TAMMY has taken a bit more of a playful tone, opening up to the change in formatting, or maybe that's just a result of the packet of red: a food TAMMY had had earlier. To be fair, TAMMY deals with a lot of odd stuff, it's the afterward for gosh sakes, this isn't anything big, all things considered.
TAMMY (CONT'D)
...What do you sell?
AMBLEDON rubs his hands together.
AMBLEDON
Well, I sell a lot of different things! Some clothing over in aisle nine, a--
TAMMY
Oh, like Shim!
AMBLEDON
(the slightest amount of taken aback by TAMMY's interjection)
Yeah, like the Lizi down a few shops, sure, but does she also sell food?
TAMMY
Yeah. I mean, I guess, she bought me a packet of the red food earlier.
AMBLEDON
(starting to get frustrated)
Okay, could you... c—could you please just stop with the butting in, yeah? I don't do
it to you, now do I?
TAMMY is a bit hurt by AMBLEDON's words.
TAMMY
Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't... I mean--
AMBLEDON
(exasperated)
I mean I get it, you humans showed up around the same time the Nexus did way back when, you're curious little creatures with tiny lifespans, you've got a lot of questions and wonder, but, I—I mean, look what you've done!”
“What, what have I... wait, what the heck is...” I started, realizing I was once again back to my own destiny instead of following a script.
“The whole thing I was going for here? It's gone now!” Ambledon said, borderline shouting now, “Just-- pfft, there it goes, gone to the wind! You didn't even let me do the thing I was hoping I'd get to do here, man! I, like, had this cool whole plot twist where another character would come in and I'd obscure his name behind a pseudonym like Dr. Peril or something, and after an act or two there'd be this whole reveal where I was Dr. Peril, y'know? Like, I had this alter-ego I'd use to go level a city and get in fights, and we'd all end up on a train and one of the passengers would get stabbed and you'd have this whole fun mystery adventure where you try to figure out who did the killings: Was it the conductor hoping to make a good film of his own, or was it the shady secret agent bird people, was it the person who actually got stabbed, was it you? Like, I even had a cool name for it, “Murder on th-- hey, where are you going?”
TAMMY leaves the building to get away from AMBLEDON, who sighs in loneliness.
FADE OUT.
From there, I walked over to a market down the road. The place was moderately well-lit and just felt fresh, clean, like just stepping through the door was good for your health. As I walked around, looking at all of the bottled drinks and fresh fruits I didn't know the afterward had, I was approached by someone. “Ｎｅｅｄ ｈｅｌｐ ｗｉｔｈ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ?”
“Oh! No, uh... oh, Shaw!”
“Ｏｈ, ｅｈ... Ｔａｍｍｙ, Ｓｈｉｍ'ｓ ｆｒｉｅｎｄ,” she said.
“Yep! I didn't know you worked here!”
“Ｗｅｌｌ, Ｉ ｄｏ. Ｄｉｄ Ｓｈｉｍ ｓｅｎｄ ｙｏｕ ｈｅｒｅ, ｏｒ...?” she asked.
“Nope, I stumbled in here, I was just at Ambledon's.”
“Ａｈ. Ｈｅ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｇｉｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｔｏｏ ｍｕｃｈ ｔｒｏｕｂｌｅ, ｄｉｄ ｈｅ?”
“A bit. I was more troubled by how he talked, he was, like, formatting the text or something, go back up like a page or so.”
“Ｙｅａｈ, ｈｅ'ｓ ｄｅｆｉｎｉｔｅｌｙ ｓｋｉｌｌｅｄ ｉｎ ｍｅｔａｍａｎｃｙ.”
“Skilled in what now?”
“Ｍｏｓｔ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ ｈｅｒｅ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ａｆｔｅｒｗａｒｄ ａｒｅ ａｂｌｅ ｔｏ ｂｅｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｔｅｘｔ ｔｏ ｔｈｅｉｒ ｗｉｌｌ ａ ｂｉｔ, ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｈｏｗ Ｉ ｔａｌｋ ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｉｓ ａｃｃｅｎｔ. Ｉｔ'ｓ ｃａｌｌｅｄ 'ｍｅｔａｍａｎｃｙ' ｉｎ ｔｈａｔ ｗｅ ｃａｎ ａｌｔｅｒ ｔｈｅ ｔｅｘｔ ｏｎ ａ ｈｉｇｈｅｒ ｌｅｖｅｌ, ｉｔ'ｓ ｍｅｔａ ｉｎ ａ ｗａｙ. Ｈｅ ｊｕｓｔ ｈａｓ ａ ｇｒｅａｔｅｒ ａｍｏｕｎｔ ｏｆ ａｂｉｌｉｔｙ ｔｏ ｃｈａｎｇｅ ｈｏｗ ａｆｔｅｒｗａｒｄ ｒｅａｄｓ.”
“Okay, that's a lot of text, geez, someone had to write all that out, oh gosh do I pity them.”
“Ｎｏ, ｉｔ'ｓ ｆｉｎｅ. Ｉｆ ｔｈｅ ａｕｔｈｏｒ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｃｏｍｍｉｔ ｔｏ ｔｈｉｓ, ｔｈｅｙ ｗｏｕｌｄｎ'ｔ ｈａｖｅ ｄｏｎｅ ｉｔ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｆｉｒｓｔ ｐｌａｃｅ.”
“Huh. Well, alright, then!”
“Ｓｏ ａｎｙｗａｙｓ, ｗｈａｔ ｂｒｉｎｇｓ ｙｏｕ ｉｎ?”
“Eh, I'm just kind of having a me day today, I might not be able to find out who I was right now, but I can still enjoy myself as I am now, find out what I like and such. You know?”
“Ｉ ｇｕｅｓｓ? Ｃａｎ'ｔ ｓａｙ Ｉ'ｖｅ ｅｖｅｒ ｗａｓｈｅｄ ｕｐ ｏｎ ａ ｂｅａｃｈ ａｓ ａｎ ａｍｎｅｓｉａｃ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ, ｔｈｏｕｇｈ.”
“True, that makes sense. Well, it was nice seeing you, Shaw!”
“Ｔｅｌｌ Ｓｈｉｍ Ｉ ｓａｉｄ ｈｅｌｌｏ, Ｉ ｍｉｇｈｔ ｗｏｒｋ ｌａｔｅ.”
“Alright, will do!”
She got back to work and I wandered around a bit more. Someone had cut up one of the fruits as a free sample, and I felt obligated to take one. The fruit itself was very red and the little cup it was in was full of a pale red juice. I emptied the cup into my mouth and ate it, and loved how sweet and refreshing it was. “Ah, I see you're enjoying some watermelon?” a nearby man asked.
Watermelon, that was, like, a real thing, like I know I had had that before. “Where's it from?” I asked the man.
“Eh, heck if I know, back of a truck?”
“I've had this before!” I said.
“You probably have,” he said, kind of dejected.
I wished I had some money to give to the man so I could take home a watermelon for myself. This was definitely something I had had in a past li
ght filled the sky, brilliant flashes of color, as I finished up my slice of watermelon. I always loved watching fireworks on nights like these with my twin brother Scott, and especially now more than ever as while I would be interning with the police this Fall, Scott was headed to some television production college in Chicago, this was the last Fourth of July I'd get to spend with him.
Oh, if only things were that simple anymore, twenty years have passed since then, I still have so many regrets, I was upset that was the last time I would see S
omething was coming back to me and... oh, it's already over. Huh, that one seemed much farther back. I oughta make a history of who I was, write it all down. And hey, this is a memento, right? I should take a bit more watermelon to Memmi and see if that'd help. I asked for a second sample, the man offered it to me, and I headed for the trains.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
