Broken Memories

Mango Therapy

James' voice shook as he finished giving up the memory of his brother. His words broken, separated by the quick gasps for air he took between them. In a way it was as though the tears he cried as a child became the memory that drowned him now.

Sam's steadying hand on his arm helped save him. "It's ok man, you're ok, stay with me" Sam repeated this till James was completely calm. "You good?" James nodded apologetically. He found it strange speaking so freely of his past, knowing so much of it, and feeling so many emotions at once. He knew who he was, yet he didn't know who he... Is?

"Every time I went into cryo freeze I'd see him... Drowning in the water.' His voice was steady as he spoke 'but sometimes it was like, I don't know, like it was me in the water, like I was the kid. I didn't know... I don't know" Sam nodded in a way that suggested he understood. He didn't pick up his pen, or look through his notes, no, he simply sat there listening. Nodding and listening. Trying to understand.

James had noticed that Sam's head tilted slightly when he wanted to speak. After a series of nods he did this, although he did not speak immediately. Instead there was an even longer pause. He was thinking. At last he spoke. "You know when you cut into a tree it will carry that scar for the rest of it's life? Time helps it to seal over but it never heals from it. It simply recovers best it can in order to survive and grow taller." James' mind took him into the garden, through the large hedges, past the orchard, until he found the large Yew tree.

"We shouldn't touch them" he murmered.

"Well sometimes it's necessary for the safety of the tree and the people beneath. Scars are a necessary evil in life. You just need to keep growing I guess." Sam took a moment to gather his thoughts, then his papers, a clear indication the session was drawing to close.

"Are we out there this afternoon?" James gestured to garden past the glass doors.

"Yeah brother, you got plenty of time to be thinking about trees, but first we need lunch." And in one movement Sam rose from the couch, and the session was over.

Sam was already in the kitchen and opening the fridge by the time James had risen. "What do you feel like having? We got eggs, ham, cold chicken..." Sam listed off various other food products, although James didn't know why, he always had whatever Sam was having.

"Is it lunchtime yet?" A tall, solidly built man with blond hair and a cheery familiar face paused out of politeness at the door. He was greeted by Sam's warm smile, and James' version of a smile (a slight upward twitch on the left side of his mouth). This was permission enough to enter.

"Come on in Steve!" Sam ushered, even though Steve was halfway across the room "We're just deciding what we're having for lunch, I think we're going with bacon omelette with salad?" James gave a shrug like nod. He didn't mind.

"Sounds good,' Steve said sitting down beside James and placing a brown paper bag on the counter. Removing the bag, he revealed a schoolboy type lunch box. James slyly watched as Steve opened it, showing it's contents. A large meaty sandwich, doritos, a painted metal teacup, salad and other generic lunch items. But one thing caught James' eye.

"What's that?" He asked, curiously pointing at the smooth green oval shaped fruit in the corner of his box.

"A mango, it's a tropical fruit, try some it's nice." Steve sliced off a piece and offered it to his friend. James examined the rich orange flesh fruit, before gingerly accepting it. He examined it once again before popping it into his mouth. Juice dribbled down his chin as his face somewhat comically scrunched into something bordering on an actual smile. His eyes wide with a certain delight common in children, seemed to transform him into someone Steve hadn't seen for sixty years.

"So we like the mango?" Sam broke the silence, trying to cover over the awkward fact he and Steve had been staring intently at him, as he ate.

James shot Steve and Sam a wistful look. "We love the mango." He said it quietly and in all seriousness, but it was enough to give both Steve and Sam a surge of triumph within them. But they both simply smiled.

Steve proceeded to hack into the mango, cutting it into three generous chunks and shared them to each of his friends. The rest of the lunchtime they all chatted (James for the most part listened attentively), with a certain ease that had only been alluded to before.

And so it was that day Sam and Steve learnt an important lesson; never to underestimate the importance of Brazilian mangoes.