The Next Closest Thing

A machine in the hospital downloaded your memories, he explained. All the bits of yourself. Painless. Then they placed them in a replica body, 3D printed, which was sent to your home. A bridge during the ’adjustment period’ of your life. And I thought, painless for whom?

When your mother is in the hospital, for perhaps the last time, she orders a clone to be sent to your house to take care of you. But something’s not quite right with the clone, with the whole situation, not least because she doesn’t get the Pagliacci joke.

Read if you like: the liminal spaces of hospital hallways, Double Negative by Low, when a meme accidentally speaks profound truth to your soul.

Upcoming in Reactor Magazine. Edited by Mal Frazier.