Forget your misery?

The neurobiologists have developed a drug that can selectively delete memories of rats and mice. They speculate it might be useful for humans too. I could be interested. I'm sorry I remember certain things. For example, my mother held my hand (so I couldn't flee) and made me go to ask Will for my tricycle back. I had given it to him that morning. My knees still shake when I think about knocking on his door. I'd love to forget the day I realized I could go to the senior prom after all, when I'd thought the date conflicted with a trip. I called Mac to let him know, and of course he had another date he'd asked meanwhile. He was so agonizingly polite it still sets my teeth on edge to remember it. And then, I suppose I feel guilt and sadness about my part time job in college, where I cut the heads off fruit flies. I needed the money. The guilt comes in because I invested each fly with a personality and name derived from dentists, professors of mathematics and physics, bad dates from the Naval Academy, etc. So, if you're sad, take heart. Soon the scientists will give you pills, and like Alice, you'll lose all contact with reality.