What Had We Done?

The great nation America was having trouble remembering things. You could tell. America would be talking about cars, all kinds of cars, how we can improve them, how we are a nation of movers. Then America would look up at the sky with a frown, repeating, “…and the cars… and the cars…”

America is always being watched, of course. And thousands of people saw the forgetfulness and they banded together in communities that were dedicated to remembering everything, all of it, all the time. And these new groups never stopped talking. They remembered everything and they never stopped talking, all night long, all weekend. They could float in space and remember and talk.

These communities had their own symbols and flags, like little countries. And they talked about cars. “And so the cars will continue to be manufactured and delivered in show-rooms. Commercials will be created with sexy women blurring by on clean roads, the speed of wind in their hair, smiling the smile of the secretly rich.”

Now – I am not America and I’m not in one of these communities, either. And, my memory isn’t so good. I can lose a thought at any time and my talk will die in mid-air. I’ve inquired about these groups because I’ve heard that they make money – and I need a job. I went to this building downtown. They told me they might have a position as an extra in a commercial they are making. It’s a TV ad for cars.

I came back the next day but they turned me down. They told me to do more driving. They said that the tests showed that I needed to go out on the highway and stop there in a traffic jam with everyone else. Stop and go and stop, remembering and talking. Then come back, they said.

So I did that for a few days and finally I pulled over on the shoulder of the road because I felt like I was in a movie. I was distant from myself – like a loneliness, you might say. I sat on the guard rail by the edge of an on-ramp, where the concrete looked down on a swampy area. I sat there looking out for a while. America sat next to me and we began to remember.

America and I shared that loneliness. We could hear the words that were not spoken before the talking began and the words that were waiting in the future, too. We didn’t look at each other. We didn’t have to talk. And we didn’t have to drive. There was a stream of memory that we could feel. Then we looked at the highway. And you wouldn’t believe…

Those powerful groups that I mentioned – they were in the cars, hitting the brakes, backing up, honking and waving, trying to come over to us. What had we done?