Forgetting Oneself
"I forgot," as Kayla looked at her father and then down at her feet, the salty tears being to form.
"You forgot." Director Vance shouted at his daughter, trying to catch her attention.
"I forgot because….I had other things on my mind…sorry." she shrugged, now looking her father in the face.
"Kayla, in my line of work you don't….can't just forget." Director Vance continued his fists clenched.
"Leon, she's only a child." Jackie replied in her daughters' defence.
"Jackie, how is she going to survive…get on in life, if she forgets things?" Leon now shouted back.
"I said I was sorry." as Kayla now burst into tears, the salty water now running down her face.
"Go to your room." Vance shouted, as he watched his daughter turn and run from sight.
"Bad move Leon….very bad move. You are going to regret those words." as Jackie turned and walked from the room shutting the door behind her.
-oOo-
"You're late David," Special Agent Gibbs observed as he looked over the top of his glasses.
"Sorry Gibbs, my car is in the garage and a certain co-worker agreed to pick me up this morning." Ziva answered glaring at Tony.
"Ahha Ziva….sorry Boss…I forgot." DiNozzo replied, not looking at her, but continuing to look down at his desk.
"You forgot…what or who is so important that you forgot? I texted you last night to remind you." Ziva shouted.
"Yes DiNozzo, what was her name." Timmy now asked smiling.
"I forget Boss." as Tony looked up and then back down at his paperwork, trying to ignore the daggers from Ziva, who fired up her computer.
-oOo-
"Jethro, sorry to bother you," Dr Mallard said from a sitting position at his desk. "I just need to talk to someone. In the past few weeks when I have been working away, talking to Mr Palmer, I have had instances to forget my story…..what I was talking about. Mr Palmer has commented on the problem a couple of times. I have also started to mislay things….not here, but in the house. I also have started to check and re-check things in case I have forgotten something." Ducky finished looking at Gibbs but twiddling his fingers, or was it rubbing his hands.
"Duks, I wouldn't worry," as he placed his hand on the older mans' shoulder and smiled." I forget where I put my glasses…I forget to eat, and I definitely forget, when I am having a bad day at the office, and I remember my family, by drinking too much."
"Jethro, I'm being serious, I remember this was how mother started out…before the Alzheimer's took hold." Ducky answered now looking into the blue eyes of Gibbs, "And I'm frightened."
-oOo-
"Hi Gibbs, what can I do for you today?" Abby asked as Gibbs strode into the lab, caf-pow in hand.
"You called me down here." Gibbs replied looking at Abby, who was flapping about.
"Did I, don't remember. When?" Abby now asked scratching her head, and smiling.
"10 minutes ago. I was busy… said I would get you caf-pow, you said it was urgent." He now replied looking at her puzzled face. He shook his head slightly.
"Caf-pow is always acceptable. But I wish I could remember what I wanted to see you about. We are working on so many cases, and I have so many things to think about, I just don't seem to turn round." as she did, she saw the four café-pows lined up.
"And you needed another?" Gibbs asked, no questioned.
"Forgot I had them." Abbs answered sheepishly.
Gibbs turned and just walked away, shaking his head.
-oOo-
"You never had a moment of forgetfulness McGee?" Ziva enquired, looking at Tim.
"I did have one once," McGee answered, now looking up from his work, "Well it was more amnesia."
"McGoogoo's bumper car got T-boned at Legoland." Tony replied looking at Ziva and smiling sarcastically.
"Tony, you know perfectly well that I was 16 years old, and I drove my 1984 Camero Z-28….into a bus…head-on. I was trying to work out how the wipers worked."
"And it wasn't even raining was it Timmy?" Tony laughed.
"That is so uncalled for Tony." Tim replied. "But we do now have a name for this forgetfulness. Busy brain syndrome or brain overload. It is a new thing the medical profession are, kicking about" Tim started to say, "The study found that our daily word intake is equivalent to 34 gigabytes of information, enough to overload the typical laptop within a week." Tim continued.
"Thank you McGeek, so you saying we have small brains." Tony now replied in retaliation.
"No…..the boffins have said that the strain of processing so much data, means we are becoming disconnected from other people and developing shorter attention spans." Tim now replied.
"What was that you just said McGee?" Special Agent Gibbs asked with a smile.
"I said that the strain of processing so much data, means we are becoming…..Oh you are only joking, aren't you, Boss?" Tim asked frowning.
"Please Tim, tell me more. I am finding this fascinating." Ziva now asked.
"Well, this new survey has shown that most people live much of their lives on "autopilot", unsure whether they have stopped at traffic lights and not remembering making a cup of tea. 50% say they had returned to check that the front door was locked." Tim continued
"Don't have that problem McGee, I never lock it." Gibbs answered. They didn't see Dr Mallard appear in the bullpen.
"Timothy?" Dr Mallard asked, "Is this true?"
"Yes Ducky, they also say, one in five people have automatically made and drunk a cup of tea … then had no recollection of making it. Occasionally it also leads to mistakes such as turning up at work on a day off, making two trips to the supermarket to buy the same item, or a package arriving that you do not remember ordering." Tim continued.
"So I'm not losing my mind?" Ducky now asked no questioned.
"Indeed no. Through emails, the internet, television and other media… people are inundated with around 100,500 words a day, which is equivalent to 23 words per second. The guys who researched say…..well believe that the information overload may be having a detrimental effect on our brains."
"And you remember all this McGreat brain?" Tony now asked.
"I actually find it fascinating that, all this information is being locked away in our brains. I would or could say that when I try to remember something I start with "A" and go through the alphabet until I find the answer. So a bit like a, filing cabinet system." Ducky now answered, "I am so glad. No I must return to that body, and the story I was telling Mr Palmer," as he turned and walked away to the elevator.
-oOo-
He sat in the loneliness of the basement. He had poured himself a drink, he stared at the wood, what could he make? His boat, the Kelly was a distant memory. Shannon and Kelly, it was becoming more and more difficult to see their faces, he could no longer imagine the smile on his daughters face. Shannon? He had often wondered if he could ask Abby or Tim to digitally age the photographs he had. He had often wondered what Shannon would have looked like. He thought of Kelly, would she have been like her mother, or like Maddie. Even Jenny was becoming burred in his mind. It wasn't so much forgetting them, it was more forgetting himself. He just couldn't anymore.
-oOo-
"Dad, know what day today is?" Kayla asked her father, as she spooned breakfast cereal into he mouth
"Tuesday." Vance replied, sipping his coffee.
"Know why mom is not talking to you this morning?" she continued, looking at her father and remembering what he had said to her last week, a slight smile began to form.
"No, why should I? We are adults and sometimes we don't always have to talk to communicate." Her father answered.
Jackie appeared from the living room, she looked at her husband and then at Kayla, "Have either of you seen Jared?" she asked her daughter, now giving her husband, a glare.
"He was in his room last I heard, and he was singing." Kayla answered, "Can I go now please, as it's the holidays and I don't have school, and I promised Sasha I would help her make her moms' birthday card." now glaring at her father.
"What?" as the coin began to drop, "What?" he repeated himself, now looking at the two women in his life, "What?" was all Leon could say.
"He forgot mom, he forgot. Are you going to forgive him?" Kayla now laughed, before running out the door.
"Jackie," as Leon looked at his wife, "I am so sorry. It is this case we have at the moment. Also all that trouble over in the L.A. office I just….."
"Forgot, I know what you said to Kayla last week, and I quote you Leon, "I forgot because….I had other things on my mind…sorry." It is ok Leon, I just hope I forget how much you spent on me with your credit card." As Jackie now turned and walked away smiling.
"Jackie I'll make it up to you, I promise." Vance replied, now realising himself how easy it was to forget things.
As
The End