What's Wrong with these Mirrors?

图片取自 Savannah Book Festival

P166-167

　　Alice had been up alone for couple of hours. In that early morning solitude, she drank green tea, read a little, and practiced yoga outside on the lawn. Posed in downward dog, she filled her lungs with the delicious ocean air and luxuriated in the strange, almost painful pleasure of the stretch in her hamstrings and glutes. Out of the corner of her eye, she observed her left triceps engaged in holding her body in this position. Solid, sculpted, beautiful. Her whole body looked strong and beautiful.

Her Speech

图片取自 Savannah Book Festival

　　"Good morning. My name is Dr. Alice Howland. I'm not a neurologist or general practice physician, However. My doctorate is in psychology. I was a professor at Harvard University for twenty-five years. I taught courses in cognitive psychology, I did research in the field of linguistics, and I lectured all over the world.

Should She be Like This?

图片取自 Savannah Book Festival

　　"Should she be like this after only a year and being on medication?" asked John.

Pop!

图片取自 Savannah Book Festival

　　"Okay, Alice, can you spell the word water backwards for me?" he asked.

Reality with Alzheimer's

图片取自 Savannah Book Festival

　　Beep, beep.



　　The door bell snapped her out of it. Were they here? Had she invited them over today?

　　"Just a minute!"

What Does It Feel Like?

图片取自 Savannah Book Festival

　　"Mom, what does it feel like?"

　　"What does what feel like?"

　　"Having Alzheimer's. Can you feel that you have it right now?"

Trade Alzheimer's for Cancer in a Heartbeat

图片取自 Savannah Book Festival

　　But at some point, she would forget how to eat an ice cream cone, how to tie her shoe, and how to walk. At some point, her pleasure neurons would become corrupted by an onslaught of aggregating amyloid, and she'd no longer be capable of enjoying the things she loved. At some point, there would simply be no point.

They have a Beautiful Life

图片取自 Savannah Book Festival

　　Plus, she liked being remembered of butterflies. She remembered being six or seven and crying over the fates of the butterflies in her yard after learning that they lived for only a few days. Her mother had comforted her and told her not to be sad for butterflies, that just because their lives were short didn't mean they were tragic. Watching them flying in the warm sun among the diasies in their garden, her mother had to her, See, they have a beautiful life. Alice liked remembering that.

Who was She?

图片取自 Savannah Book Festival

　　Alice tucked a piece of paper with her name, address, and phone number in her sock. Of course, if she become so confused that she didn't know her way home, she might not have the presence of mind to remember that she carried this piece of helpful information on her person. But it was a precaution she took anyway.

More Than Six Seconds

图片取自 Savannah Book Festival

　　She looked him directly in the eye. A colleague of hers had once told her that eye contact with another person for more than six seconds without looking away or blinking revealed a desire for either sex or murder. She reflexively hadn't believed this, but it had intrigued her enough to test it out on various friends and strangers. To her surprise, with the exception of John, one of them always looked away before the six seconds was up.

More Than Colleagues

图片取自 Savannah Book Festival

　　Her colleagues were all brilliant and odd, quick to help and argue, ambitious and humble. They were family. Maybe she felt this way because she didn't have living siblings or parents. Maybe the time of year made her sentimental, searching for meaning and belonging. Maybe that was part of it, but it was also much more.

Cardiothoracic Surgeon

图片取自 Savannah Book Festival

　　The period of time that Tom was between girlfriends came with a regular frequency of about six to nine months but never lasted long. He was smart, intense, the spitting image of his father, in his third year at Harvard Medical School, and planning on a career as a cardiothoracic surgeon. He looked like he could us a good meal. He admitted, with irony, that every medical student and surgeon he knew ate like shit and on the fly —— donuts, bags of chips, vending machine and hospital cafeteria food. None of them had the time to exercise, unless they counted taking the stairs instead of the elevator. He joked that at least they'd be qualified to treat each other for heart disease in a few years.

Depends and Always Rules

图片取自 Fiona's Book Birds

　　So I avoid Depends Rules like eyes and light switches. But there was no avoiding the nicknames like YOU. Nicknames like YOU are everywhere, so I had to learn to accept YOU.