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The following tale was submitted anonymously.
The Beginning,
What is it Like?
By Brian Injunry
What can I tell you about Brian Injunry? Some things you may not know. While Brian and I can correct typing mistakes with a spell checker and check grammar with another magic software innovation, Brian cannot always hide his aphasia. When the going gets tough, his tongue gets tied. More precisely, his brain gets knotted. Oh yeah, sure, we always hear, "That happens to me all the time." to which we can only say, "Really?" I know when it happens, I feel like I’ve regressed back in time to 1983. That’s when nothing worked right. A friend once told me that I was "all right" and I replied, "Yeah, to bad about my left side." You want to know more about Brian Injunry? Read on.
It's Relative
Oh, the beauty of music. How sweet the sound. I just popped an old music CD in the CD rom of my computer. I want to be able to live this as I write it. I’m using Corel Word Perfect 9. I don’t have a clue about many of the features of this software. I was just getting used to WP 6.1. One neat thing is that it will redline misspelled words. Wow, who would have imagined the capability of computers and software just ten years ago. I still remember my first one. How archaic! Yet, at that time, it was the top of the line. Maybe one day we will be able to plug into a fire wire to store and regenerate our human memory. Sure!
Have you ever heard the GAP Band’s recording from the early 1980's entitled "I Don’t Believe You Want To Get Up And Dance (OOPS)? It starts by repeating the following lyrics over and over: "Oops up side your head, say oops up side your head, say oops up side your head, say oops up side your head." Then another singer repeats, "I don’t believe you want to get up and dance." another sings, "Just because you don’t believe that I want to dance, don’t mean that I don’t want to." then the first singer says, "I don’t believe it!" Another singer repeats, "oops up side your head, say oops up side your head, say oops up side your head, say oops up side your head." Brian understands this scenario very well. If you replace the word dance with any other word that describes human function, you may be able to understand it too.
I don’t believe you want to remember anything. Just because you don’t believe that I want to remember, don’t mean that I don’t want to. Just because you don’t believe that I want to be able to walk, don’t mean that I don’t want to. Just because you don’t believe that I want to speak, don’t mean that I don’t want to. Just because you don’t believe that I want to function the way that I used to, don’t mean that I don’t want to.
Welcome to my Nightmare
Oops up side your head! Welcome to my nightmare. Was it Alice Cooper who sang that horror song in the late 1970's? You just became a Brian Injunry. You are about to explore and experience life in a way that is completely foreign to you. Welcome to the club. Sorry, the turnstile only goes one way here. You can check in but you can NEVER check out!
Hey, its not so bad. You get to start all over. If you are lucky, all of your hatred, prejudice and predisposition files will have been deleted. You might have received a partial F-Disk command on that wonderful super computer hard drive in your head. Wow! What a blessing. Now you just have to find your way to the path of righteousness. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You have been hand picked to receive a new start. A chance of a lifetime. It is sort of like George Bailey getting to see what life would be if he was never born. Instead, you get to see what life is like after you die, except nobody gets to grieve your death except you. Instead they get to punish you for living. Often, they want the person that formerly occupied the body that you inhabit. Inside, your brain resists getting on track. Outside, your body might resist working the way that it once did too.
Brian's birth
Well, anyway, you came here to learn about Brian Injunry. Brian burst into the world scene October 23, 1983. He was the product of man meeting machine in a drunken one night stand. Conception occurred almost at lightning speed. The vigorous German automobile machine and the human machine copulated. The machine savagely raped the human. The human didn’t have a chance. He was screwed. The machine was much bigger, stronger and so forceful, that the human could only submit to the brute force of the machine. The machine grabbed the human and an immediate twist, spin and roll occurred. Then, in an instant, tearing of clothing, one swift, loveless, mechanical thrust, and multiple tumbles on the bed of asphalt brought baby Brian into the world. Neither of the parties had a cigarette after the fact. The human was brutalized. In the milieu, the machine gouged a hunk of flesh out of his leg, broke his arm, brush burned his face, arms, legs and back and bashed his head multiple times. The doctor would later tell Brian that he "sprained his whole body." This was not a love affair. It was a cold, loveless, act of mechanical reality. The perpetrators were never prosecuted.
Out of the comfort zone of his human host, Brian was instantly pushed into the cold cruel world. As he laid there on the bed of asphalt, the police were summoned. Right away, he was put into the care of medical service company employees. After stripping the rest of his clothes from his body, they took him to one of their main warehouses called YCrem Amuart Latipsoh. He wasn’t required to stay long though. Fortunately the pros thought he was unable to pay them or they might have insisted that he stay for months. Like a backyard abortionist, the guy with the MD behind his name, stopped the bleeding and tossed (Glasgow coma scale 4-5) Brian out of the latipsoh bed and back onto the street. He didn’t even notice the broken arm. Some Amuart Latipsoh.
Two weeks after his release, Brian was asked by a nurse during one of his twice weekly visits "Why are you holding your arm like that?" (Brian had been carrying his arm with the other arm since his release from the Amuart Latipsoh.) He told her, "Because it hurts." Upon x-raying it, the radiologist found it to be fractured and immediately it was locked into a plaster cast.
For eight months, Brian laid around in an agitated state in his human host’s home. You see, Brian was occupying the human’s body. The people who were acquainted with the human could not understand why their human was so different. They complained and moaned about their loss! They didn’t get it. The previous human being was ripped out of his flesh by the mechanical thrusting of the automobile machine. Brian was created to live within the flesh of the original occupant. He was forced to stay in this body with the previous owner and live with these people who cared very little for him. They all wanted the other guy to return. Brian was able to access some of the memory files from the previous occupant and thereby was able to coexist with some of the members of the previous guy’s circle of influence. The people who brought the other guy into the world were at least a little understanding. They had seen the many facets of their kid. They just figured this was a part or combination of parts that they may not have seen before. In any case they were kind and loving. They were willing to put up with him.
The wife of the old guy did not take this lightly though. She wanted more. She would play tricks on Brian by hiding his keys and other possessions from him. She learned very early on that Brian lost his memory. He didn't even remember her name most of the time. Brian lost all of the memories that made his host and wife a couple. She hated the new guy. He was so passive and meek. The old fella was bold, outgoing and aggressive. She wanted him back. She went in search of him in the flesh of other men. This caused Brian a lot of stress, which reduced his ability to function which in turn caused more stress. Like a snowball out of control, he tumbled along.
The payoff
The owner of the machine was required by state law to have a minimum amount of insurance coverage. Therefore, Brian Injunry was compensated some $26,000. He bought an old house and started fixing it up. After the money was gone, the guy’s wife left. She found a new place to dwell. Years later, she admitted to staying with him "for the money." This suited Brian just fine. He didn’t know her anyway. He could access some of the old memory files but they were so fragmented that he could not rebuild the relationship that his body once existed in.
The wife fought Brian tooth and nail. After his injury, Brian was no match for his scheming once lover.
Lubrication and tune-up
Brian grew more and more restless. He wanted to develop faster. He searched for and eventually found someone to help nurture him. She called herself Denise Therapist. Milton MD told Brian that Denise could help him develop. Truth be told, Brian needed more, but the education he received was sufficient to get him on his feet and walking toward a new future. Denise Therapist was one of the best speech and cognitive retraining specialists around back then. The language and cognitive training helped Brian find the right words for every occasion. Well, Denise revealed a secret too. She introduced him to a couple of books called "thesaurus" and "dictionary." He had difficulty using them, yet it was nice to have all of those words in one place. It made them easier to find.
Brian was depressed over the loss of his host too. Since he was able to access some of the former memory files, he believed he could return to some form of the other person. Of course, that would not happen.
The German machine and its driver went on with their lives. Eventually, the German machine died and was recycled. Brian saw the driver some eight years later. He had aged considerably. He was drunk in a bar. Brian introduced himself. The man almost fell to the floor. He started apologizing. Brian had just returned from a funeral for a friend and was dressed in a suit. He looked quite impressive all dressed up. The machine driver was impressed with Brian’s appearance. He told Brian that he thought surely he would be ruined for life. He touched Brian to see if he was real. He reminded Brian of how terrible the rape had been. He told Brian how he was haunted by the way that Brian looked after the assault. Brian told him that he did not hold anything against the man. He told him that he had forgiven him years ago. Ten years dropped off of the man’s face when he heard that. That made Brian feel good. The man bought Brian a beer and then walked into the men’s room. Brian left before he came out.
Time travel
As Brian learned to move about in this strange world, where nothing was familiar, he became keenly aware of his limitations. Not only was he struggling to recall previous memories, he was also wrestling with cognitive impairment. And he was unable to articulate his needs.
Brian was able to see a movie for the first time three or four times! Never able to travel back in time to the place where he thought he was happy, Brian learned to accept his lot. Lost in space and time is like being disconnected from yourself and still being able to be present. The only place you can go is forward and every day is fresh and new.
Brian was unable to access services because he forgot to get a check-up every two years. He was too busy defending himself in the divorce action and various other frivolous legal actions that his ex-wife brought into his life. He lost his medical coverage and lives with the consequences of his injuries to this day.
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