Aa
Julian was a tourist in a city he had never visited before. He went into a small shop that sold forgotten childhood memories in jars. Mara was the shopkeeper, and he moved slowly along the shelves, looking at the jars one by one.
Then he noticed a dusty indigo jar. He touched the glass, and a memory hit him at once: a cracked tire swing, the smell of burnt sugar, and a raspy voice singing a lullaby. He knew, with a shock, that it was his own childhood memory.
During the flash, Julian looked out through the shop window. He saw that the memory was happening in this same city. He also knew for certain that he had never been here before today, so the memory should not have been possible. That left him alarmed and uneasy.
He asked Mara whose memory was inside the jar. She would not answer directly. Instead, she said that some memories were dangerous and told him to leave the jar alone. Julian did not back off. He decided to find out why the memory matched his life.