Jessica (8:01)

In a little town somewhere in the corner of the world. It is nighttime on Wisteria Avenue. The residents are getting ready for bed. The lights are being turned off, blankets are being pulled up to gins, and someone is whispering good night. The grand clock in the town Centre strikes 11 o'clock. It is a gentle chime, like monks ringing a temple bell. The vibrations of the sound travel through the paving stones of the streets. There is no other sound to be heard. There is no other sight to be seen besides the twinkling of the stars. Then, out of the darkness, a little robot rolls out into the street. It is the size of a small child with a round barrel torso and large shining eyes. It has one wheel, and on its back is painted its name, Mema. Mema is old. It was the first of its kind, and no matter how lovingly it has been taken care of, its little wheel still squeaks when it rolls forward and the lights behind its eyes flicker as they scan the street from further down the street. Mem Jr emerges. And then there is Mem? I I. The three robots each roll up to different front doors without having to knock the doors open and invite them inside. Three solitary bedroom lights in three different houses turn on in Wisteria Avenue. The Mem Bots remain inside for a good long while. All that can be noticed of their presence is the pleasant low hum that emits out of the bottom of three doors. Without knowing why, the residents of of Wisteria Avenue all sigh and roll over in their sleep. The town clock strikes midnight, and like clockwork cuckoo birds, the membots all reappear at once. They roll away from Wisteria Avenue, looking as pleased with themselves as their little metal faces will allow. If anyone was watching, they would notice that the light behind Mem? A? A's eyes is shining a little bright. The street is quiet once more. All is as it should be. But wait, because trailing far behind its comrades here is Mem? Re finally making its scheduled appearance. This robot does not roll forward in straight lines. It wanders and strays like it is not quite sure which direction it should go. And its eyes roam freely too, taking in everything around it. Suddenly, Mem? Re stops in the middle of Wisteria Avenue. It looks up at the sky. Who can say what has caught the little robots attention this time? Perhaps there is a short circuit in its wiring. If only it were possible to say for sure whether robots are capable of dreaming. Mem? Re certainly gives off the appearance of a dreamer. Eventually, Mem? Re gets moving again. It rolls up to the door of Number nine, a little yellow house in the middle of Wisteria Avenue. The door stays stubbornly shut for a while, as if it doesn't want to let the membot in. But eventually it swings open wide. Mem? Re rolls into an invitingly warm hallway. It takes some time to stare at a picture on the wall of a crashing blue and white wave. It zooms in to take in all the fine details of the artist's brushstroke. With many more distractions and delays along the way, Memre eventually bumps up the stairs and finds Keiko's room. Ko is 20. If Memre had arrived when it was supposed to one hour ago, Keiko would have still been 19. Ko sits upright in bed when Mem? Re enters. She wasn't sleeping. She was just pretending. Instead, she'd been nervously waiting for her membot to show up. She'd hummed a lullaby to keep herself calm, even when she heard the clock strike midnight and she began to think that there was no membot coming for her that night. Ko reads MEME painted on its back. She feels like she should bow to it to show respect for the service it is about to perform for her. But Mem? Re is a robot, not a person. It is nothing more than a machine, as its name implies. Memory extraction machine. Mem? Re is here to take Ko's favorite childhood memory. Then, when the ritual is complete, Keiko will officially be an adult. She can stop attending the town school and start her chosen career. Everyone gets a visit from a membot the night before their birthday. They come at different ages. Sometimes on the 13th, sometimes on the 18th. At 20, Ko had been starting to worry that she might never get to become an adult. But now Mem? Re is here. Better late than never. And Keiko's future as an engineer is more in reach than it ever was before. But first, what memory will she sacrifice? Whichever one she chooses. It won't disappear forever. She can submit a form and go to Re. Experience it in the MEM archives whenever she pleases. But it won't be just hers anymore. It will be in there with all the other favourite childhood memories of every other adult in town. Keiko moves to sit cross legged on the floor so she and Mem? Re are eye to eye. It extends its little mechanical hand and she wraps her own warm palm around it. Then Keiko begins to speak her memory out loud. I was quite young and sitting amongst the cherry blossoms in my grandparents garden. It was a long, warm, sleepy kind of day. I could hear a stream flowing nearby. I had my socks off, wiggling my toes in the cool grass. A kind adult had secretly given me a bowl of almond tofu to eat. I can still remember its taste. How sweet and creamy it was. I ate each mouthful slowly as I counted all the flying insects that went by over my head. When I finished my dessert, I realized I was lonely. This was a new experience for me. I'd grown up without siblings, but I'd always had plenty of friends. Except for some reason on this day, all my friends were busy doing something without me. I decided to make a friend. I pulled some twigs and flowers from the pink tree. I tied them together to make a little doll girl. Then I took one of my grandparents oldest dishcloths. It must have been about 100 years old. I fashioned it into a little dress for my doll. But even after all that, it still felt more like a toy than a friend. So I ran over to the stream and scooped up a handful of water. I slowly let the water trickle down through my fingers. It rained down onto my little cherry blossom girl. Drop by drop. I imagined the water filling up her heart and giving her life. Soon my little cherry blossom girl began to dance. She spun around in the grass and leapt onto the backs of the flying insects. We laughed and played together the whole afternoon long. When we were tired, we lay down on the grass. We listened to the sound of each other's breath. That day I decided that the cherry blossom girl and I were going to be friends forever. I tucked her into my skirt and took her with me away from my grandparents house. Now Keiko stands up from her floor and goes over to the back shelves of her bedroom. From next to a stack of books, she picks up the cherry blossom girl. Her dishcloth is falling off her and the pink flowers that were once her hair have all fallen out and come to rest at her feet. But she still looks like at any moment she might get up and dance. Keiko gives her to Mem? Re. That's it. That's what it was like for me to be a child, she says. Mem? Re opens a door in the front of its chest. It puts the doll carefully inside. Its senses register a trace of almond tofu still clinging to her twiggy limbs. The smell distracts the robot and it completely forgets that Ko is still there. Koko waits patiently for Mem? Re to do or say something else. She doesn't know how this is supposed to go, but she imagined becoming an adult would be more organized than this. She wonders if Mem? Re is a new memory. Membot and maybe is just as confused as she is. She feels a sudden warmth of friendship towards the little robot. It is a very similar feeling to what she once felt for her little cherry blossom girl. But she no longer remembers that. Now the memory has been given away. Mem? Re leaves Wisteria Avenue with Keiko's childhood memory in its chest. It wonders, not for the first time, why the people of this town willingly give up their memories. If it could have the kind of memories that they had, it wouldn't give them up for the world. Much time passes. Who can say how long? The only thing that is certain is that the minutes become hours, the hours become days and the days become years. This town has always moved at its own pace. A second can move treal slow, but a week can seem like it passed in the blink of an eye. Although they have clocks, they do not let them dictate their lives. There is nothing wrong with taking your time in the Membot? Warehouse on the edge of the little town. Mem? Re stirs. After a long hibernation, it powers its functions back on and checks that everything is in working order. Then Memre looks around. All of its fellow membots are in hibernation mode around it. They are tucked away in their charging points, where they go every morning when their services are complete. But by the light of the moon streaming through the arched warehouse windows, Mem? Re can tell that it is late into the night. Much later than the membots are programmed to wake up. How strange. Usually Memre? Is the only one who is late. Mem? Re rolls over to Mem? In the port next door and tries to nudge the older robot awake. Mem? A? A does not react. Mem? Re looks closer and sees that Mem? A? A's charging light is red display, despite the fact that it is clearly still plugged in. Memre goes back to its own port, picks up its plug and takes it back to Mema. While it waits, it looks at all the memorabilia that it has hung up around its port. A hand drawn picture book with a dedication on the first page. A length of string tied into the shape of a makeshift ring. A broken music box which used to play a bamboo flute lullaby. These are all Mem? Re's favourite memories. It should have taken the mementos to the Mem archives after it collected them, but it had preferred to keep them close. Mem? A A? St still isn't charging. Mem? Re takes the plug out and rolls over to Memjr? Then Mem? I? I and every other membot in the warehouse. None of them are turning on. Mem? Re takes another look around and wonders where all the engineers have gone. Usually they are here to solve any problems with the membots. Meme makes a life changing decision then, a brave decision that no other little membot like itself has ever made before. It decides to leave the warehouse. Not to collect memories, but to find the engineers that will wake up its friends. If a robot could take a deep breath to steady its nerves, Mem? Re would do so now. A deep breath in and out and out into the world. It is immediately, abundantly clear that the little town is not the same little town that Mem? Re last visited. The buildings are all in the same place and the streets all have the same names. But something is different. Everything seems far away and hazy, as if the world is painted in watercolors. There are no purple flowers, no pink trees, no little yellow houses. Everything has gone to grey. There are people walking through the streets despite the late hour. They carry briefcases and wear grey suits. Some of them bark orders through their phones. Others look at their watches and begin to walk faster. None of them make eye contact with each other or exchange a smile or a greeting. And none of them pay any attention to Memre as it rolls between their legs. Memre doesn't know how it will locate the missing engineers. They used to wear coats with the Membots logo on them, but now everyone in the little town is dressed exactly the same. It is impossible to tell the gardener from the lawyer or the poet from the banker. After many hours of wandering, Mem? Re is about to give up. Perhaps there are no engineers left in this little town. They would not be the only people to have disappeared. Because during all its wanderings, Mem? Re couldn't help but notice one thing. All of the children are gone. It saw plenty of young people, even babies, but none of them were children. They were all dressed in grey suits, just like the the adults. They all walked in straight lines, as though they had somewhere incredibly important they needed to be. If Memre had tried to take any new childhood memories, it probably wouldn't have been able to find any. Mem? Re rolls forlornly onto a familiar street, but it is too distracted to recognize it. The little membot cannot even bring itself to look up at the stars anymore. What has happened to its little town? Just then, the door of number 9 Wisteria Avenue swings open. Out comes a woman in her late middle years. She is dressed all in grey and she looks tired. She is looking down at her watch so she doesn't notice Mem? Re standing in front of her until she trips over it. Instinctively, Mem? Re's mechanical hand shoots out to catch her before she falls. Her warm palm wraps around its hand. They look at each other. Mem? Re knows that this must be Keiko, but it doesn't understand how so many years could have passed since it last saw her. According to its internal chronometer, it was only yesterday that it took her favorite childhood memory from her. It takes Ko a little bit longer to recognize Memre. She hasn't thought about her little Membot in many, many decades. It's you, she says, surprised. I thought you were all gone. Well, it's very nice to to see you again, but I have to go. I can't be late for work. She begins to hurry away, and it is not until she is outside of her work building that she notices that Mem? Re has followed her all the way. Ko sighs, but she doesn't have time to shoo the little robot away. She lets it follow her inside and hopes that no one will notice. They walk and roll through a long corridor until they reach Kaiko's desk. Mem? Re is surprised to see the word engineer written on Keiko's desk. Its eyes brighten with joy like a night light in a dark bedroom. She looks nothing like the engineers that it once knew, but here she is just the person it needed. Mem? Re rolls around Keiko and pulls on her hand, trying to get her to follow it to the warehouse. But Ko stubbornly stays put and doesn't even try to listen to what Mem? Re wants to tell her. Instead, she sits down and starts to work. The sounds of all the office windows workers blend into one. It is environmental and hypnotic. Mre is momentarily transported into another world. The clipping of staplers is like the chirping of cicadas. The rustling of paper is like the wind through leaves. The sips of coffee are like the flow of a fresh water stream. It looks at Keiko, eager to see if she has been transported with with it. But when it looks into her eyes, it no longer sees the girl who once danced with a cherry blossom doll. Her gaze is distant. Mem? Re suddenly has another idea. It opens up the door on its chest and reaches inside. Still sitting there, untouched by the years, is Keiko's doll, Memre halter in its hand for a second. It remembers the day she was made. It remembers how she flew and laughed and lay down on the grass. It remembers as if it had been the one there with her, not Keiko. Mem? Re doesn't want to give this memory up. Membots don't have childhoods. They don't get to have memories like this one for themselves. And Keiko doesn't even miss the memory. She's an adult. She's an engineer who wears grey suits. Now what is she going to do with the memory of a cherry blossom doll? Even though it is sad to let it go, Mem? Re puts the doll down on Ko's desk. Ko glances quickly at it and then away again. And then the fog clears from in front of her eyes. It is as if the sun has come out once again. She looks back at the doll and her eyes go wide. Oh, she says, but she cannot say anymore because she is too busy remembering. She remembers the smell of honey and green SAP coming from the cherry blossoms over her head. She remembers the dew of the grass as it brushes against her toes. She remembers the hum of the flying insects and the blue of the sky. And she remembers that she used to dance. Then Keiko picks up the cherry blossom doll holding her delicately, and she remembers that the reason she wanted to be an engineer in the first place is because she wanted to make things. She once wanted to be the kind of adult who could be friends with dolls and robots. Why is she sitting behind this desk? Why is she wearing this grey suit? She stands up and looks at all of her colleagues in their desks next to her. They all look so tired. They all look like they have forgotten something important. Keiko follows Mem? Re out of the office door building. They walk and they roll all the way across the little town to the membot warehouse. Ko looks around at all the hibernating membots. Somehow, even with their sleeping metal faces, they look just as tired as her colleagues did. They all look like they have been forgotten. Ko takes off her grey suit jacket and gets down on the floor next to Maa. When she calls for a tool or for a light to be shone in the right spot, Mem? Re is there to help her. The night ends and daylight comes streaming through the warehouse window. Kaiko and Mem? Re are still working. Then night comes again and Ko stands up and dusts off her hands. She looks at Mem? Re and smiles. Mem? Re lovingly flashes its eyes back up at her. In a little town somewhere in the corner of the world. The grand clock strikes 11 o'clock and a flock of membots wake up and roll out into the streets. They find the people whose memories they took. The gardener remembers the time when he raced over the hills. The lawyer suddenly remembers his first kiss, gentle and hesitant. The poet remembers her secret hideaway where she could read books by candlelight. The banker remembers that she used to love to sing. Keiko and Mem? Re go to the middle of Wisteria Avenue. Hand in hand, they watched the residents shed their grey suits, like pigeons dropping their old feathers. The children remember that they still have time to be children, and so they run and laugh and play. And the adults remember that growing up doesn't have to mean forgetting. Keiko turns to Mem? Re and bows deeply, thanking it for for all that it did to remind her. It doesn't matter that Mem? Re is only a robot. It is also her friend. By the time she stands up straight again, Mem? Re is already wandering off. It has been distracted by the sight of the twinkling stars. Keiko watches it go, and her heart fills with joy. It is like someone is pouring stream water over her. Drop by drop, she comes to life. And with her cherry blossom doll in hand, she begins to dance.