It was an expensive thing to do, but it would solve all his problems.
The Erasure Corporation had been operating for a number of years, with their plush offices located in one of the city’s towers. Only success stories came out of the place. He was now in a position to get treatment. He had been thinking about it recently. They’d been bickering for days now. She was expecting him to call round tonight. Well, she’d be disappointed. Their website had warned about the extensive pre-treatment form and he had arrived early for his appointment, knowing that he’d never been particularly good at filling these things out. It had been completed and handed to the lady at the front desk. As he sat waiting, thoughts of her, of them, of all of it came crowding in. He shuddered, then smiled, thinking, not for long!
The desk lady approached. “You can go in now. Please follow me.”
They entered a nicely appointed room, with a desk and two chairs. Sitting in one was a young man in a suit, smiling. The woman left, closing the door. He took in the array of equipment against one wall, central to which was a comfortable looking couch. The man, who according to the information brochure was a doctor, waved at the seat. He sat.
“Good morning,” the doctor said, picking up a folder.
Looking back over his shoulder at the equipment, he replied, “Good morning. I take it that’s it, over there, is it?”
“It is indeed.”
“I must say, I’m a bit nervous; only natural, I’m sure.”
“Yes, of course, quite natural, as you say. I would point out however that over the years the corporation has improved the process radically. Whereas the actual treatment time was more than an hour in earlier times, we now provide the same service in around forty seconds.”
“Wow! Yes, that’s impressive.”
The doctor looked down at the form. “I see you have made a few side notes.”
The other nodded.
“I just need to clarify one or two points with you, is that all right?”
“Yes, of course.”
The doctor began flipping through the pages. “I see you have clearly defined the subject due for erasure with full details. Her name, address, etc. All properly filled in, but you added a note somewhere… yes, here it is. You allude here to a visit to a local park that you wanted to… I quote, ‘hold onto’. Is that right?”
“Yes, please.”
With eyebrows raised, he asked, “I must say at this point; this is an unusual request. Your reasoning for this?”
The other shrugged. “Well, there were times, obviously, when things were going well with us. You know, happy times.”
The doctor sat back. “I had better explain. The purpose of the erasure program is to remove entirely any memory you have of a particular person. That part of your brain, the memory sector, is targeted. The person, along with any memories of a relationship that once existed are expunged.”
The other sat in silence for a while, then murmured, “The park…”
“Pardon?”
“That day in the park. We were so happy!”
“Yes, but…”
“Flowers.”
“Flowers?”
“She had flowers.”
“I don’t…”
“Yes. She had flowers stuck in the band of her hat.”
“Yes, I see, but you…”
“She looked so pretty. We walked along the path that went around the lake. We just walked and talked. Must have been there for hours, walking and…”
The young doctor rapped knuckles gently on his desk. “Look, I think I need to stop you there!”
The man snapped out of it and looked up.
The doctor leant forward on his desk with his fingers clasped, smiling. He spoke softly. “We do find that in some cases a patient is simply not ready. It is our policy that in such situations any money paid is returned in full.”
The man sat thinking for some time, before standing up.
It was late afternoon when he left the building, having signed all of the required retraction papers.
He left the building and walked quickly up the street.
He was just in time for the florist.
Soon after, he knocked on her door…
