"Levinson, Paul - Dr Phil D'Amato 02 - The Consciousness Plague 1.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Levinson Paul)

"Hmmm," Steinbeck mused. "Memory loss is usually brought on by undue stress, not enough sleep, too much work that kind of thing .... Let me know if anything else develops, especially with Jenna." He turned to his pad, and produced his prescription with a flourish. "Omnin, once a day for five days, two doses to start. That should do it for any serious flu complications."
I glanced at the prescription, thanked him, and reached for my clothes
"Just a second," I said. Steinbuck was half out the door.
"Yes?" He stuck his head back in.
"You dated this the twenty-sixth," I said, and pointed to the prescription. "Wasn't that yesterday?"
He looked a little confused, and shook his head. "No... Isn't today the twenty-sixth?"

"YORK AND EAST Eighty-fifth," Jenna told the cabbie, after she'd bundled me in and squeezed in herself. "We'll get you home first, then I'll go out and get your prescription," she said to me.
"He recovered pretty well," I said. Jenna and I had been talking about Steinbuck since we'd walked out of his office. "But I caught his expression when I first told him he had the wrong date he definitely lost a day of memory." I coughed. It hurt.
"Come on," she said skeptically. "People make mistakes like that all the time. M.D.s are notorious for their absentmindedness, just like professors."
"This is something more," I insisted. "It's clearer to me than it is to you because you were one of its victims. I've had the pleasure of observing it all, in more than one person."
Jenna considered. "Well, I admit that the more days that go by, the less I'm clear about what exactly I forgot.... It's hard to distinguish between what I'm actually remembering and not remembering now, and what you say I should be remembering...."
"Entirely natural," I said.
"Like waking up in the morning thinking you had a phone call in the middle of the night, but not being certain if you actually had that call, or you dreamt it," Jenna mused.
"My test for that is: Does the memory seem more or less firm as the day progresses? If it gets fuzzier, then likely it was a dream," I said.
Jenna nodded. "That's why I don't see how you're going to get to the bottom of this. We're dealing with very flimsy stuff here memories. Let's say there is something going on little lapses of recollection and it happens all the time. How could you keep tabs on that? No one would really be aware of it."
"Some of the lapses haven't been so little " I started coughing again. More aggravating than the pain was the sheer damned monotony of just about everything I uttered being punctuated by a cough.
Jenna took my hand. "The antibiotic should help that. I wish you weren't so stubborn about taking Robitussin."
"I don't like palliative medicine I like keeping track of the symptoms.... Anyway, Steinbuck says he's been fine the last few weeks he assured me he hasn't had this cough. If he's telling the truth, that means that something else is the cause of the memory loss." Our cab turned a corner sharply and I grimaced. Every muscle in my body ached.
"Let's just concentrate now on getting you better," Jenna said.

I FELT WORSE the next morning head throbbing, throat burning and I was sweating and shivering. And coughing.
"How about some Tylenol to bring down the fever "Jenna began.
"No, it's not that high. I've had a lot worse than one-oh-one."
"But why suffer?"
I began to answer, but my throat hurt too much to keep talking.
"Okay, okay, I know you want to see how this plays out, with a minimum of medication," Jenna answered for me.
I nodded, and put my head back on the pillow.
"The antibiotics should kick in later today or tomorrow," she said. "I'll console myself with that."

I DRIFTED IN and out of sleep. I heard some music playing outside ... some old rock 'n' roll, maybe earlier.... "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter"...
I started thinking about Socrates ... he didn't like writing, McNair had said.... Who invented writing? Maybe the ancient Phoenicians ... No, they invented the alphabet.... There were hieroglyphics before the alphabet, but McNair said Socrates didn't like the alphabet.... Why did the Phoenicians invent it?
I was soaked in sweat.... Maybe Jenna was right about the Tylenol.... I fell back asleep....
The phone rang the next morning ... or maybe I was dreaming.... McNair was talking again ... about Lindisfarne, forgetfulness, Darius Morton, the alphabet, the sea peoples, the Phoenicians, Julian Jaynes, Marshall McLuhan ... I was asking questions.... Maybe I should write this stuff down. But I fell back asleep ... or maybe I was just dreaming that I fell back asleep.... Does dreaming of sleeping give you double the rest? I needed all I could get....

I AWOKE AGAIN. It looked like late morning. "I feel a lot better," I called out to Jenna.
She came into the bedroom and smiled at me. "Right on schedule. Want some breakfast? It's past noon."
I nodded.
"Should I get you the phone for McNair? You said you had a few more questions for him, and I should remind you to call him back as soon as you felt up to it."
I put my arms through my polo shirt and looked at her. It felt good to move without a million nerves objecting, but
"You don't remember McNair?" she asked, concerned.
"I remember him," I said. "I remember him. I just don't remember asking you to remind me to call him back. When did I do that?"
"Yesterday," she said. "Yesterday afternoon, after you got off the phone with him. You were still a little feverish, but you seemed to have a good talk with him do you remember that?"
I shook my head no. "Damn it. I'll call him right now."
I finished dressing, and fished his card out of my wallet. Jenna brought me the phone.
I called the number on his card looked like his office at UCLA. "Professor McNair's office," a woman answered.
"Hi, Phil D'Amato calling Professor McNair. I believe he and I talked on the phone yesterday afternoon "
"I was out yesterday with a sick kid," she answered. "And Professor McNair's wife just called he's laid up with that flu bug. Sounds like he'll be out the rest of the week."