“Come on, Noah,” Evan booms as he barges in. “We’re running late.”
“I know, I know.” I maneuver the big end of the tie through the loop and pull it into a knot. My tuxedo jacket floats across the room and waits in the air as I marionette my right arm into it. “I’m ready. Sorry. It takes longer to get dressed when I have to do it all with my cloud.”
“Let’s go then. You want me to carry you?”
“No. I can carry myself.”
To prove the point, I lift myself a centimeter off the ground and hover over to the door where my massive brother waits for me. “Do I look OK?”
“You look great. How’s my tie?”
With a tremendous effort I angle my head to get a clear look. “It’s good. On straight.”
“Then let’s go get married.”
Oh, yeah. That’s what we were getting dressed up for. I glide silently along the hallway of the Residence behind the heavy footsteps of my brother. We pass a dozen faces and each one triggers a popup in front of me that I don’t have time to read because I’m still frantically trying to recapture the memories of myself that I just read an hour ago. Maybe if I condense them down even further I can keep up.
The big double doors of the Residence open in front of us to reveal to my single eye the spectacle I’ve been feeling build up all morning. The commons have been transformed into a wonderland of red and gold. Seats filled with family and friends of the Institute sit in perfect lines filling most of the verdant grass. The flood of additional text threatens to overwhelm me as my bots identify most of the attendees and crowd their information into my field of vision. The apparent officiant, someone I don’t have an index entry for, stands at the front with an elaborate freestanding arch of red and white behind him.
Music from a band off in one corner starts playing as we emerge. The crowd turns our direction and Evan nudges me to walk with him over to where the aisle through the seating begins. I glide along at his side.
Is Evan finally getting married? That’s great. I must be his best man or something, walking him down the aisle. Why am I lifting myself with my bots like this? Why don’t my legs work right? I try to switch to walking but stumble as my right leg refuses to move the way it’s supposed to. Evan reaches over and catches me before I fall, steadying me with a strong arm.
“He’s OK, everyone,” he reassures the audience near where I almost fell. “Still working on some motor functions.”
We make it the rest of the way down the aisle without further incident and stand there while the band plays some more. Why am I not off to the side? I feel like the best man should be off to the side. I start to move but Evan puts a firm hand on my shoulder to keep me in place.
“It’s your wedding too,” he says quietly. “Stay put or Lin’s going to think you’re making a run for it.”
Lin. That’s right. I’m going to marry Lin. How did I forget that?
As if on cue, the doors to the Residence open again and the music changes to a dramatic fanfare.Two absolutely radiant beauties emerge, Lin in an elaborate red dress, the other woman in more traditional white. They make their way slowly to the start of the aisle and the band switches again to something more processional. Step after slow step the two women make their way toward us. Valerie. That’s the other woman. I finally get around to reading the popup for her index entry. She’s Evan’s girlfriend.
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They’re walking so slowly. Why are they walking that way? And what is with the dresses they’re wearing? They’re so fancy, like they could be wedding dresses.
I look around. What am I doing in front of all these people, and why am I wearing this fancy tuxedo? Two old people are sitting in the front row. I know them. I shuffle through the popups until I see entries for Grammy and Gramps. They’re smiling. Grammy has a tear running down one cheek. Is she sad?
The officiant is speaking. I turn to look at him. I feel like I must be missing some words but I have to catch up on my memory or I won’t know what’s going on.
Evan and Valerie are facing each other now. They’re getting married. More words go by that I can’t catch because I have to read I have to read I have to read. And now they’re kissing.
Lin’s cloud lifts me and turns me to face her as the officiant takes a step to the side so that the two of us are between him and the audience. One of my young siblings steps forward with a small red pillow with two rings on it. Wedding rings, right. I’m marrying Lin. That’s in my reading somewhere. I’m supposed to do something with these golden bands. Or maybe just one of those.
Lin’s hands guide my left hand to take one of them and put it on her finger. Then she takes the other and puts it on me. I hear my name and my attention snaps to what the officiant is saying.
“Do you, Noah Kimball, take Liu Mei Lin to be your wife? To love and honor her in sickness and in health through all the days of your life until death do you part?”
That’s me. I’m marrying Lin. I remember that now.
I’m supposed to talk now.
“I do.”
Lin smiles her amazing smile at me.
“And do you, Liu Mei Lin, take Noah Kimball to be your husband? To love and honor him in sickness and in health through all the days of your life until death do you part?”
“I do!”
“Then by the power vested in me by the state of Nevada, I declare you man and wife. You may kiss each other.”
And we do. And the world spins and I’m so in love and now I’m married and why is everything upside down and why is someone shouting and why is there suddenly only sky in front of me and who is this and I don’t know you and what are you doing and why would I need a doctor when I’m fine and I’m just laying down here for a moment and then everything will be fine and where am I and who is she and who is he and why don’t I know where I am and I feel the whole campus and it’s part of me and the desert sand feels crunchy in my thousands of fingers and there should be more of me and I’m too small and wait why do I only have one eye and I thought I had two and why does one arm move funny and the other arm doesn’t move at all and I grow and then feel righter because the small meaty bit of me us just the part where the brain lives and my brain is mostly electronic and that’s in my satchel and that’s up in my room but it has enough range to reach here and that’s good because I’m reaching further into the desert and growing and why is Lin crying and who is that other girl in the wedding dress and why does she seem so sad and who is this huge man in a tuxedo just like mine that’s kneeling next to me and why can’t I remember anything and I start to read by the time it’s done I’m not lying on the grass anymore and I’m on a bed but not my bed and Lin is next to me and holding my hand and I love her and she loves me and why is she still crying and who is this other girl who seems to know so much and this tall thin man who talks strangely like he’s from far away and now where is the rest of me and why can I only feel this tiny bit of myself that doesn’t even work and GIVE THEM BACK AND GIVE THEM BACK AND WHYCANTIFEELTHEMTHEYAREMEANDICANTEVENREMEMBERSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPWHATAREYOUDOING
WHERE IS MY MEMORY!
GIVEITBACK!
GIVEITBACK!
GIVEITBACK!
GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK! GIVEITBACK!