The Graft

The Graft

A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us

~Albert Einstein

Narrator: Two brothers sit discussing a dearly departed loved one in a world where consciousness can now be downloaded by the state… where one must present a retinal scan as a passport.. What happens in a world where time & space or loss of identity seem to no longer exist?

“This can’t be happening. It can’t be real. There’s got to be some explanation.”

“You know what’s happening. That’s Jessica!!” says Attis.

“It’s not!!” Ethan yells erratically!

Did you just hear what she said??? Did you see *voice breaking* her gestures… feel her energy??? Jessica’s energy” interjected Attis

Jess… *holding back tears* Jessica died 5 years ago… in a head on collision, Attis, or don’t you remember!!!” cried Ethan

“Of course I do!!! Long before she was your wife she was MY sister, Ethan. My twin sister!” He yelled as tears began to fall down his cheek….

“Look.” he whispered looking around… That girl in there wanted to meet us today & I don’t know, man… she’s here and Jessica is with her! Jessica is in her! I don’t understand how the universe works or any of that religious, woo woo or Jesus stuff, man. I don’t know how things really work…. Ethan. But, but, that girl… she knows things… she knows things only my sister would know. I know my sister. You don’t understand the bond of twins, man! That twin shit is real. We’ve got that twin thing & when i walked in that room. F it. Before i walked in there, I felt my sister man! And I always feel her. They say when one twin dies, you feel it. Ans I don’t know what happens to ppl after they die!! But that girl… she feels like me sister! She knows…..things… that… only Jessica would know…. that girl is Jessica in fused, Ethan man!”

“Listen to yourself, Attis!! Have you lost it???? She’s not Jessica!!! We just met her 5 minutes ago! We don’t know what she knows, Attis! She has her heart! That’s it! She’s a transplant recipient, Attis! She’s not your twin sister! She’s not my dead wife! She’s not our Jessica. I don’t know how she…. Look…. Look…

Yes she has parts of Jess. Her heart, her cells and….” continues Ethan solemnly…

“And HER consciousness, Ethan!!!”

Attis continues: “I don’t care what you say. Consciousness must be non-local, Ethan! Einstein said it! All the gurus say it! Jesus Christ probably said it!

Bc that girl knows us! She knew us! Come on! How can you deny this???

She asked about her gold locket for God’s sakes! We were in the room w her all but 5 minutes….. She hugged me and said that crazy thing my sister used to say: From the womb to the tomb bro… twins forever! He laughed as the tears gushed….

You felt her heart yourself. That’s why you hauled ass out of there, Ethan. You felt Jess, too…

Ethan slumped against the wall and began to sob in his sleeve… At, how??? How, At???? A heart. And three other organs. Are there all these pieces of Jessica out there???

Narrator: 5 minutes earlier

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Ethan asks Attis…

“Yeah man. I’m ready. She just wants to meet us to thank us… I’m ready bro-in-law. My twin sister’s heart is beating alive in that room.” says Attis confidently.

Ethan sighs nervously & says: I know. Seems like yesterday we were in the kitchen joking around that faithful day…. You know she made a death joke about that damned heart shaped gold locket! Only Jessica. Oh, my Jessica.

A tall dark haired girl stands up to greet them as they walk into the meeting room at the transplant clinic.

A social worker politely introduces them and steps out a few minutes to allow privacy.

Ethan and James stand up erectly… and both extend their hands: “Hi! I’m… no we’re”…. almost simultaneously they speak but are quickly…

Narrator: interrupted by the narrator….

The girl who stands to her feet is 5 foot 11 inch Jordan McCalister born with a congenital defect. The undiagnosed defect made itself known on the night of April 5 2021. She passed out in a crowded parking garage and was administered CPR by the robotic attendants. The first aid bot stabilized the patient with oxygen until an AI ambulance arrived.

Meanwhile on the other side of town, Jessica Naramie Jones, twin sister of Attis Caleb Naramie & wife of Rory Ethan Jones III has just been hit head on by an autonomous BMW with a defective GPS update. This tragedy will result in the widespread recall & a resulting Naramie Jones or Jessica’s Law regarding software update without testing data. Both women are taken to Norwood Southwest Regional Hospital in Las Cruces NM where there gates become intertwined.

Now back to these two brothers who find themselves awestruck on a 20 degree Christmas Eve night in the year 2026 meeting an almost stranger.

Jordan McCalister immediately leans in to hug both men. Jordan jokingly says: I knew you didn’t think I was going to shake my twin’s and my old hubby’s hand!

Bring it in, boys… I’ve missed you two sooo much!

Both men frozen, pulled back in shock…

“What did you say??” Mouthed Attis barely audible, mumbling with a look of shock and awe…

Jordan spoke: “It’s me, At… Your twin sister. I’m still in here too. I told you man: From the womb to the tomb and I guess the great beyond too!” She jeered laughingly.

Jess…. crying and hugging her.

She hugged him with tears rolling down her eyes too. You’re going to make me mess up my make up, At!”

They both laughed.

At whispered: “Jessica’s heart. I felt it.”

She looked at him and smiled.

Ethan just stood there terrified, speechless and in shock.. Jordan walked up to him and said: Awww… as she reached inside the collar of his shirt and said: You’re still wearing my locket.

The tears just began to roll down his cheeks.

She took his hand and put it up to her heart and said: “I’m still in here, Ethan. I don’t know how but I am….”

Ethan began to cry harder & whispered… “Oh my God!??? Jessica. How???”

Jessica and Ethan embraced….

He quickly pulled back from her and apologetically excused him and an Attis from the room. He grabbed Attis by the arm as they quickly shuffled out of the clinic’s conference room….each man in a cold sweat shivering as if he’s seen a ghost.

Narrator: Attis Naramie & Rory Ethan Jones III have just had their views of the world turned on it’s head… or rather on its heart…. Do we live on or is every part of us and our essence immortal like Jessica’s heart in another body?? Has Jordan ceased to be, in consciousness, when her defective heart was replaced with Jessica’s or is there a fusion of them both??? Who can be certain in this Orwellian-Poe- etic world of AI bots and real tell tale hearts… But there is one certainty: Jessica Naramie Jones still lives.

C. M Norwood