Memory Girl Read Online Free PDF

aren’t important,” she says with a toss of her scarved head.
    I want to argue that youth memories
are
important; fifteen years together makes us a family too. But Instructor Penny is giving me the
look.
I remember her harsh tone with Homer and don’t want to ruin our last day together.
    â€œIt’s unhealthy to dwell on the past,” Greta adds with smiling conviction. “I have a fulfilling role with my Family—especially my darling Monroe, and I could not be happier. Monroe is more than my husband. He’s my soul mate.”
    Soul mate?
    In the retro-books I’ve read, the idea of soul mates—two people destined only for each other—seemed to be made of fantasy, like unicorns and wishing on a star. How can one person be mated to another by a soul? An unsensical concept with no scientific proof. Our faith lessons teach that science created a circle of life and death—the natural way for thousands of years—until our scientists discovered the cease-aging process, transforming life’s circle into a line of infinity. Belief in a soul is merely a myth from long-ago religions. There is no physical organ on the human body labeled “soul.”
    Yet the way Greta and Monroe look at each other, as if they’re touching even when they sit apart, gives me a strange longing.
    â€œIt’s so romantic,” Lorelei whispers.
    â€œConfusing,” I murmur, but she doesn’t hear me because everyone is clapping. Chairs scrape the floor as my born-mates gather around our guests, following them to the door, asking questions about Family meals, clothing, work assignments, and other ordinary topics.
    But it’s the unordinary, unasked questions that trouble me. I stay in my chair, thinking. What if the soul truly exists? Is it physical like blood and skin? Does everyone have one? When someone has an accidental death and their memories are saved, is a soul a part of those memories? Does that mean the souls of Abigail and Greta now share the same body?
    I concentrate on my own body, aware of my beatingheart, my skin’s heat, and a faint stinging from the cut on my arm. My mind churns through memories and knowledge, conscious of thoughts. But I sense more to me, something deeper than thoughts and emotions. Could this be a soul? If so, where does body end and soul begin?
    Glancing over at Monroe, who shadows close to Greta, I think about the first Greta. If she hadn’t died, she’d still be his wife—or maybe she still is his wife. Reborn inside of a youth who was once called Abigail. Is Monroe in love with one woman or two?
    And I wonder what will happen when I take on the memdenity of someone else. Who will I be?
    â€œJennza!” A voice jerks me out of my thoughts.
    Startled, I look up at Marcus. I’m even more startled to realize we’re the only ones left in the room. “Where did everyone go?”
    â€œTo the dorms. Didn’t you hear Instructor Penny announce it was time to prepare for the Celebraze?” he asks.
    My cheeks burn as I rise to my feet. “I must hurry to my dorm—”
    â€œWait, Jennz.” His voice lowers. “I want to speak to you.”
    â€œAren’t you already doing that?” I say lightly.
    â€œNo, I mean … I have something to give you.” He pushes his waving hair from his eyes, furrowing his brow. “But not here.”
    â€œOh?” I stare at him, puzzled by his intense expression.
    â€œNo one else must know.” He tugs on my arm. “Come with me.”

F OUR

    I follow Marcus down the hall to the boys’ dorm, where I hear rushing footsteps and excited voices behind the door. While Marcus goes inside, I wait in the hall, since girls aren’t allowed in the boys’ dorm, nor are boys allowed in our dorm. I impatiently tap my boot, unable to guess what Marcus wants to give me.
    The door bursts open, and there’s Marcus, clutching a rolled paper.
    I