Mittendorf’s Diamond by Kevin Owen

 Crayons rest on an unfinished drawing.

You sign forms. They boast of an exceptional safety record. They take your blood and urine. They scan your brain and heart. You join others in an auditorium; thirty chosen people. You catch a woman’s eye, see dark familiar sorrow in her smile. A bleak eyed old man weeps, you touch his skeletal hand. The others sit motionless, facing forward, blank.

They show us brains, different parts and functions. Hemispheres, lobes, cortices, ventricles, the essence of the mind and soul. They show functional MRI scans. Brain areas light up according to task. They show a man reading, his visual cortex lights up. They show a Tibetan Monk deep in meditation, a microscopic diamond shaped area flickers. It’s Mittendorf’s Diamond.

*A tall important man stands, speaks.

*******‘Mittendorf’s Diamond is the spiritual centre of the brain. It was identified anatomically in 1901, deep within the visual cortex. It had no apparent function. In structure it is like the ancient brain, with neurons assigned to the earliest basic functions. It was thought of as obsolete, like the appendix. We now know the truth. We know how to awaken it. We know how to control it. It is nothing short of a miracle. We can bring heaven to earth.’

The pick-up truck. The thud. The horror in the driver’s face. Her body lying like a broken doll.

*******‘You may think you are random volunteers, but you have all been carefully selected. In fact, you selected yourselves. That letter we sent you was targeted. You have all lost someone dear to you. While we are sorry for your loss we give you what you yearn for most, the chance to see your loved ones again. Talk to them, touch them. Do whatever you want.’

*******‘Stimulation of Mittendorf’s Diamond is achieved by intravenous injection of a painless neuroplasticising agent combined with a gentle electro-magnetic pulse through wearing Mittendorf’s HeadPeace (TM). The procedure is safe, the results are profound. It creates visions. Interactive visions. Living and breathing visions indistinguishable from reality. You will meet your loved ones again. Guaranteed. This is the final prototype. Take pride in the knowledge that you are pioneers, trailblazers of extraordinary technology.’

She leans over her picture in her pretty pink dress. You stand behind her. She is unbroken. She draws a daisy yellow sun, a house with two windows and a door. You smell her beautiful hair as you kiss her head and run your fingers down her perfect arms. You hear the heaven of  her shallow breathing. She draws two stick figures with happy smiling faces.

        ‘Look Mummy, I’ve finished.’

She turns to face you, but something is wrong, she has the broken doll’s disfigured face. She yells diabolically ‘You don’t deserve this’ and she is gone.

Screaming zigzag pain. Nausea. Black.

*

The man with the sorry face likes your picture. He says there’s nothing he can do. You signed forms. He says everyone’s brain was damaged. Diamond Enterprises has been shut down.

Kevin Owen is a Leibfraumilch entrepreneur from Aberbargoed

Image courtesy of Nicola Bebb

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