Open Your Heart

No one remembers the Doomsdays. But the Council of Friends has assured us that there were some - many in fact - and that through the good work we do at the Bureau we have been able to stave off more. That’s why the work we do here is so important.

The most significant work that particular day was being done by that month’s assembled team for the History and Holidays Bureau. Here the team would help create holidays and events to educate the populace on the harsher times that led to the Doomsdays. It was done both to abide by the Tenet of Openness as well as to help us celebrate how far we have come.

That day, Abe led the meeting from the front of a circular boardroom table, its tabletop a mess of miniature models, sketches and historical documents. There were five others around the table including Donald, and Gabby who sat beside him.

“Wow, just wow, team.” Abe said, motioning at the contents of the boardroom table. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to be holding hands with each and every one of you in the hand-holding sauna, getting photos in the romantic poses photo booth and belting out wedding vow tongue twisters as fast as I can. But before we go off and celebrate these amazing ideas, we have one more thing to present. Take it away, Gabby!”

The room applauded, Donald loudest of all, as Gabby stood up to present, bringing a small black box with her. As she opened the box, the others around the table leaned in enthusiastically to see what was inside, and quickly began to voice their opinions over each other.

“This looks like jewelry but it’s not very colorful or-”

“It’s small and shiny and metal and-”

“They must have loved bums-”

“Well who doesn't love-”

This was not considered rude, not at all. This was a way to connect, to bond, to share. From a very young age, we were taught to avoid speaking in our heads. That was bad for the brain and the body. Speaking was meant to be heard by and shared with others. Doing too much speaking in your head could lead to self-slipping.

As Gabby began to speak again, the others continued their chatter, but at a lower volume. This was normal and Gabby continued with ease.

“What you see here are genuine historical artifacts called ‘lockets’. Some of the first items we received when the Council commissioned us to create a holiday around the proto-human tradition of Romance.”

Gabby picked up the tiny object in between her fingers, making eye contact with Donald as she did.

“It’s beautiful like you Gabby,” Donald said.

“Now I’m sure you have noticed that all of these are lockets in the shape of a bum. Fun fact, the proto-humans actually made them this shape because they thought it was the shape of a heart.”

The room burst out in laughter.

“Didn’t they know hearts aren’t shaped anything like a bum? Proto-humans were so silly” Abe exclaimed.

“We are so much more advanced today,’ another member said.

“Oh my, so much more,” a third added.

Gabby split open the locket she was holding to reveal papers inside with two proto-human faces.

“Proto-humans would put pictures of people they liked in their locket. In all cases, there were only one, maybe two people in a locket. This was true when there were billions of proto-humans around. Sadly, the proto-human brains saw scarcity even in times of abundance.”

The group mumbled in agreement:

“Imagine only liking one or two people-”

“No wonder they kept fighting and-”

“I would go crazy too if-”

“And that’s why we thought it was time for a Council of Friends upgrade, integrating core Tenets of Openness and Abundance.” Gabby said excitedly, pulling six red bum-shaped lockets from a compartment in the box.

She passed the lockets around, one to each member at the boardroom table as they eagerly began fiddling with their lockets, sharing everything they experienced:

“Mine is empty inside-”

“Seems like work opening and closing-”

“How many images does-”

Most were able to open and close their lockets with ease. However, the particular locket Don held seemed to be more stubbornly fused together than the others.

“Why is this stuck…” Don mumbled as he fiddled with the locket, sticking nails in the cracks.

“Here, Don,” Gabby said from beside him.

Reaching for the locket, Gabby’s hand grazed Don’s and he felt a strange feeling in his stomach.

“Probably gas or something” he said out loud.

Gabby smiled as she moved her hands over the locket. Don noticed the gentle way her fingers moved slowly around the curves of the locket. Catching himself speaking in his head he said, “I like your fingers.”

Holding the stubborn locket, Gabby looked Don directly in his eyes as she said, “I think this one might be too tricky…. Maybe we can get another one? We made these prototypes quickly, some were bound to be broken, or just never open. They are all the same, let’s just get a different one.”

“I don’t like that.” Don heard himself say, loudly enough to surprise himself, as well as others in the room.

Abe chimed in, “If Don wants it he should go with what he wants. No one should ever be in want of anything.”

Gabby handed the locket back to Don.

Through the corner of his eyes, Don could see Gabby watching him closely. The feeling in his stomach had now moved up to his chest and he could sense the pressure from it building as he pulled at the corners of the locket. His breathing became heavier and more forceful as he pushed hard against the edges. As Gabby placed a hand on his shoulder, his fingers jerked.

CLINK!

The locket flipped open, and Don noticed a tiny piece of metal go flying. He might have looked for it if most of his attention weren’t on the feeling of Gabby’s hand, still resting on his shoulder.

Is it sexual tension? He said in his head.

“No, we have had sex many times. With everyone in this room,” He added out loud, correcting his self-slip.

“You did it!” Gabby exclaimed. “After all that, you can be my example.”

Gabby opened her own locket to reveal the inside which was empty except for some markings that were used for scanning.

“Ok, Don. So the first step, which you just did, was to open your heart,” Gabby said excitedly.

“My… heart?” Don asked, confused. “Do you-”

“I mean the locket,” Gabby said.

“Ooof, I like almost everything so far Gabby, but that sounded pretty unclear to me.” Abe interjected. “We, of all people, need to be abiding by the Tenet of Clarity.”

“I came across the saying in my research. Proto-humans thought emotions came from their hearts, so it was something they said when they wanted to turn on their feelings. Also, the locket is shaped like what they thought a heart looks like. And it opens,” Gabby explained.

“For a second there I thought you expected Don to get surgery-”

“Proto-humans had feelings turned off by default... Makes-”

“I was confused but I liked it,” Don said. But maybe just because Gabby said it, he added in his head. “Especially how it sounded,” he said quickly to correct his self-slip.

“I like how it sounds too,” Gabby said, smiling at Don.

“Well of course you like it. I like it, we all like it,” Abe said. “But we are dealing with the survival of the human species here. Confusing language and abstraction can lead to self-slipping and all manner of mental diseases. We all know that.”

Gabby nodded. “You’re right, Abe,” she said.

Then turning to Don she said, “hold out your locket.”

Moving in closer, Gabby pressed the open inside of her own locket against Don’s open locket.

“Now close the locket and observe.”

Gabby easily closed her locket but Don struggled again with pushing his locket all the way shut. He pushed extra hard and finally heard the snap.

Within a few seconds, the room erupted in chatter as images began to appear on the front of the lockets.

“Look at that! Don your face is in Gabby’s-”

“How many faces can-”

“I really love this,” Don said as the image of Gabby’s face began to form on the front of his locket.

“The plan is for everyone to get one of these lockets and collect as many partners as possible, no limit.” Gabby said. “It stores the points you have earned from the activities you do with your partners, and also shows the face of the last partner you connected lockets with. Here, Don, tap your locket to Abe’s to show how it changes from showing my face to Abe’s face.”

Don looked from Gabby’s face on his locket to Abe who was already holding out his open locket, grinning widely. “Let’s do this, Donny!”

“Ok, I guess I should be careful…” Don mumbled, his breath quickening.

Don moved slowly pushing at the edges of the locket, all the while fixed on the little smiling face of Gabby in the center of it.

Relief, a symptom of perceived scarcity, is not a celebrated feeling these days; but Don felt it when he realized his locket appeared to be stuck again.

“It’s stuck again,” Don said, smiling. “Maybe someone else could try?”

“Yes let me,” Abe said, grabbing the locket from Don’s hands.

Seeing the little image of Gabby pulled away, Don felt his throat tighten suddenly.

I meant they could use their locket instead, Don began speaking in his head.

He felt drops of sweat rolling down his face and his heart began to pound as he watched Abe wrestle to open his locket.

“Still want to keep that locket?” Gabby asked, playfully nudging him.

Taking a break from watching Abe, he looked up at Gabby and her smile, feeling his heartbeat become slightly irregular.

It’s her smile, he said in his head. Even though there’s nothing particularly funny or unusual about her face, her smile always makes me smile. Is it what has been making me feel so strange? Oh my- I’m speaking in my head again!

“Don your cheeks are awfully red,” One member of the boardroom table noted.

“Been feeling strange today- maybe I ate something bad, I just self-slipped,” Don admitted quickly.

The others looked concerned, including Abe who paused his battle with the locket.

“It’s ok, Don. All of us have a little proto-human inside of us. And you were just worried you wouldn’t get that little locket open. Scarcity triggers the proto-human brain circuits,” Gabby said, rubbing Don’s back.

The others quickly piped in offering their advice:

“Ooh, you should get that checked-”

“There’s a new clinic with brain feedback training that-.”

“I self-slipped the other day too when-”

Finally putting down the stuck locket, Abe said, “This meeting has gone on for a while. Maybe we should break. Let’s go spend some time in the playroom and finish off in an hour? We definitely need to look into the lockets though Gabby. Can you imagine the situation if more of them end up like that? Being stuck with just one person in your locket? Traumatizing!”

The others laughed, murmuring in agreement as they stood up to take a break.

“Bring this to engineering, Don, and they can fix it,” Abe said, passing Don the broken locket as he walked by.

“Sure, yes, or maybe I’ll try to fix it myself,” Don said as the last of the board members left the room.

Standing alone in the room now, he looked down at the little “heart” in his hand with Gabby’s face stuck inside it.

But I don’t think that I want to, he self-slipped.