Jessika Downes-Gössl
Appearances
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Seashells in the Sand
Get Sleepy is a production of Slumber Studios and is made possible thanks to the generous support of our sponsors and premium members. If you'd like to listen ad-free and access weekly bonus episodes, extra long stories and our entire back catalogue, you can try out premium free for 7 days by following the link in the episode notes. Now, a quick word from our sponsors...
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Seashells in the Sand
I want to remind you that you can listen completely ad-free on Get Sleepy Premium. It's the very best way you can support the show. And as well as zero ads, you'll also get full access to our entire catalogue of full-length stories and meditations, which is now well over 800 episodes. There are hundreds of bonus episodes that you can't hear anywhere else. And every Thursday night...
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Seashells in the Sand
We release a brand new premium exclusive just for our supporters. Tomorrow I'll be reading a beautiful meditation where we'll picture ourselves floating gently and safely on the lazy current of a river. Es ist ein guter Zeitpunkt, ein Premium-Supporter zu werden. Und es ist auch ein guter Zeitpunkt, eine Subscription zu einem Freund oder einem Liebsten zu giften.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Seashells in the Sand
Mit der festen Saison gut und wahr auf uns, erinnere dich, dass ein guter Abendrest eines der größten Gifte der Welt ist. So perhaps your friends and family would really appreciate a Get Sleepy Premium subscription. To find out more about Get Sleepy Premium, including gifting a subscription, visit getsleepy.com slash support or just follow the link in the show notes.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Seashells in the Sand
Thank you so much for your support. Now, get settled into a comfortable position, where you can breathe freely and allow your body to relax. Give your limbs a moment to stretch and lengthen. Keine Tension in ihnen zu fühlen, sondern nur wegzumelten, als dein Körper in die Mattrasse sinkt. Und dann komm zurück in das Platz der stillen Stille.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Seashells in the Sand
Once you are ready, begin to imagine your body surrounded by radiant light, warm and glowing. It can be whatever color you like, so long as it brings a sense of calm. And as you breathe in, Draw that light into your body, feeling its glow within. The deeper you breathe, the more that light fills every single part of your body. One breath at a time. Du wirst von diesem radikalen Schmerz erfüllt.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Seashells in the Sand
Es fühlt sich wie eine Energie an, wie eine natürliche Stärke der Heilung, voller nahrungsvoller Wärme. Und es klärt dich von allen Sorgen, allen Schmerzen und Negativitäten. You glow from within, and everything in the outer world will notice and appreciate it too. So embrace it, believe it, and smile.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Seashells in the Sand
If you feel yourself slipping away from the awareness of your glow, then just visualize that light around you once more and draw it in again with the breath. Your body and mind can continue to deepen into the comfort and ease of this restful night. In der Zwischenzeit folgt einfach mit Jessica's entspannenden Stimme. Es ist Zeit, Emma zu beitragen, die auf der Straße vor ihrem Haus steht.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Seashells in the Sand
Das ist, wo unsere Geschichte beginnt.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Seashells in the Sand
Hey Freunde, willkommen bei Get Sleepy, wo wir hören, wir relaxieren und wir schlafen. Wie immer, mein Name ist Thomas und ich bin stolz, dass ich euer Host bin. Heutes Geschichte wurde von Joe geschrieben und wird von Jessica gelesen. Kürzlich werden wir mit einer Frau namens Emma zusammenkommen, als sie auf den Osten fährt für eine Nacht von Sonne, Meer und glücklicher Verlust. Zuerst aber.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
A picture is included for reference. Reggie studies it carefully to make sure he'll be able to recognize the woman when he meets her in person. In the picture, Celeste's curly hair is tied high above the crown of her head in a tight bun. It's mostly black, but the tips of her curls are dyed an electric green. Her skin is a dark brown and accented by magenta eyeshadow.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
She isn't smiling in the image. Instead, she wears a pensive expression. She looks as if she's just been asked where she plans to be in 10 years. Next, Reggie moves to the most important detail of his mission, Celeste's wish. His eyes twinkle as he reads the details. He runs a hand through his hair and chuckles. What a lovely thought, he muses to himself.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
When Reggie has finished perusing, he rolls up the wish. Then he slides it into a copper tube, which he retrieves from beneath the workstation. He seals the tube with a screw-on cap, secures it in the side pocket of a red slim-fit peacoat, and throws the garment over his shoulders. I'm off, he says in a mellow voice that carries throughout the honeycombed workspace.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
Reggie tugs on a pair of black leather gloves and heads for the exit. His fellow wish-granters respond to his announcement with excited well-wishes and good-natured envy. Reggie can't hear every response, but he deciphers a few exchanges on his way to the chamber's inner door. He's off to deliver a high-priority wish, says one coworker.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
Others nearby joke whether Reggie should be trusted with such a precious item. and still more remind him, with a smile, that he doesn't have to hurry back. It's always a treat to travel down to Earth, after all. Reggie waves a gloved hand, both to say goodbye and to acknowledge he's heard all the jokes and farewells. He passes through the inner door into a narrow hallway.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
The walls, floor, and ceiling are black. Reggie continues walking straight ahead, towards a small room that sits in the center of the habitat and connects each of its six chambers. The entrance to the room is a white metal door with one word in black writing angled across the front. It says, Stargaze. For all the wish-granters, this is their favorite room in the entire habitat.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
It is their way to travel to Earth. Reggie doesn't know how it works. It's the power of the stars. He walks into a six-sided room with a ceiling so tall he couldn't begin to guess its height. In the center of the room is an oval-shaped pod. It's open and it seems as if it's waiting for him. Reggie can see a comfortable-looking seat and armrests inside the pod.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
He's only traveled to Earth in this manner five times before over the course of multiple decades. His steps towards the pod and its comfortable-looking seat are shaky, and his attempt to lift himself up is a little clumsy. But when he's settled in the seat, the pod closes in on itself, like a shellfish preparing to sleep in its underwater shelter.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
The seat warms a little under his touch, like the most comfortable of recliners in a spa. It means he's on his way. And just a few moments later, the pod chirps. He's arrived. Reggie releases a slow, calming breath. The pod opens and his breath catches in his chest just as he's inhaling another dose of oxygen. A bright light from a distant star warms his skin.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
Basking in the comfortable warmth, he delights in how the rays envelop every inch of his skin like a blanket. He is on Earth, there's no doubt. He sees blue-green liquid. It's lapping up against a sandy shoreline right before his eyes. So much water everywhere. It's hard for him to comprehend the vastness. He feels as if he's witnessing the most spectacular phenomenon.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
It's stunning to think this planet has seven seas and four oceans of water on this scale of magnitude. Reggie composes himself and looks around. The beach has grainy sand and beautifully sculpted trees a dozen feet from the shoreline. Beyond the trees is the base of a massive rock. It rises steeply to a height Reggie can hardly believe is possible.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
He looks the massive rock up and down several times. It has shrubbery and trees protruding from its surface. Small animals run along its craggy steps as easily as a person walking up a ramp. This must be a mountain, he thinks to himself.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
It's so tall, it's as if it's trying to compete against the clear blue sky, which obviously has no equal in height other than the stars and vacuum beyond the planet's atmosphere. The agency has given Reggie extensive training in Earth geography and cartography, so he knows from a glance that he's in Greece. A beautiful and ancient Earth nation.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
From the landmarks around him and his mission briefing, Reggie can make a guess. The beautiful water he can hardly pull his eyes from is known as the Ionian Sea. Yes, this is the right place. Reggie's pod is facing the sea. That means his wishmaker will be somewhere along the shore to his right.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
He removes his peacoat and changes into a pair of trousers and a long-sleeved shirt, both made of light, breathable fabric. As soon as he's clambered from the pod, it lifts off into the air and seems to disappear. It's camouflaged from prying eyes and human technology. Reggie knows that it will remain suspended 20 feet above the ground until he calls it back.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
He begins trudging purposefully over the sand. And after a 10-minute walk, he finds her. He hears her first as a beautiful melody is carried on the sea breeze. Reggie wants to stop and listen. He might pull up a chair if there were one within reach. The song is coming from directly ahead.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
About two dozen steps from the tideline, a semicircle of humans is grouped closely together, blocking Reggie's view of the music source. He makes his way forward, and in the center of the group, he finds the woman who made the wish, Celeste Mirasol. She's sitting on a stool, eyes closed, head bowed, and lips glued to the end of a brilliantly polished silver instrument.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
Reggie remembers from his training that it's called a saxophone. Celeste and her audience sway gently and slowly to the song's rhythm. It's a very peaceful tune, something Reggie would like to hear again, perhaps just before he drifts off to sleep at the end of a long day. He stands with the rest of the audience, and even finds himself mimicking their gentle dance.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
The music is lovely, touching a part of him he wasn't expecting to be awakened. Celeste is completely engrossed in the music. She doesn't even look up to appreciate the audience's attention. It's as if the instrument in her hands and her own considerable talent have transported her to a private world that no one else can enter. After several very pleasant minutes of music, Celeste ends the song.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
She lets the saxophone, which is attached to a shoulder strap, rest in one hand. And she uses her other to shake hands with each of her new fans, who have stepped forward to give her praise. Reggie remains a comfortable distance away, waiting for the others to pay their respects to the artist and leave. At last, when the others have gone, Reggie moves forward.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
Greeting him with a warm handshake, Celeste thanks him for listening. You played wonderfully, says Reggie. You gave us all an unexpected gift. Celeste replies that it was unexpected for her too. She turns slightly and retrieves her saxophone case from beside the stool. Then she places the case on the seat and begins breaking down the instrument so it can be safely stowed away.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
Celeste tells Reggie that she hadn't planned on having a show. She just happened to have her instrument with her and decided to take a quick walk down the beach. As Celeste talks, she continues to put away the saxophone. She slides the mouthpiece into its mold and looks over the disassembled instrument. Then she gives a satisfied nod and closes the case.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
After a ritualistic wrap of her knuckles on the lid, she's done. Celeste turns her full attention back to Reggie. The air coming off the waves smelled so clean, she says. And then the sound of the tide hitting the beach, the birds calling out to each other, and the people playing in the water. It all felt so perfect. I just wanted to play. Reggie nods along encouragingly.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
He's enjoying Celeste's friendliness and positive energy. Impromptu conversations with strangers are a very rare occurrence for him. After all, he knows every wish-granter in the agency habitat. But Reggie has a job to do. He needs to steer the conversation towards Celeste's wish. He asks her what song she was playing. He hadn't heard it before. Celeste smiles shyly.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
She knows he couldn't have heard it. She explains that she's the composer, and before today she had only played it for her friends. They are putting together an album. Really? says Reggie, feigning surprise. This is a detail he already knew from the information he'd received through the agency. But the awe in his voice is genuine.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
He's impressed that any individual could be so talented, using their imagination to create such a beautiful arrangement of sounds. Now, they're getting the conversation closer to his purpose. Reggie asks Celeste what she plans to do with the album. I have a wish, she says. Reggie's eyes twinkle. A wish, he says. That's an interesting word. Celeste laughs quietly.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
Then she tells him something she's never told anyone before. She's always dreamed of helping people with music. It's healing, energizing, rejuvenating. Reggie nods encouragingly as she speaks, urging her to continue. The songs are soft and relaxing, says Celeste. They all have a therapeutic sound. She wants them to speak to people's souls and be healing.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
Reggie smiles his widest grin and his laugh lines stretch all the way up to his twinkling eyes. Celeste's hand, he says, I have no doubt that your wish will come true. With these words, his mission is complete. Celeste smiles and returns his handshake with both hands. You're such a nice man, she says. She almost feels like she knows him.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
Reggie smiles again and tells her that he should be heading home. He thanks Celeste for sharing her lovely music, then turns to walk back the way he came. Goodbye, Celeste calls after him. Then she adds, by the way, my name is Celeste. What's yours? Reggie turns towards Celeste. My name is Reggie, he says, and I'm 233 years old. Celeste laughs and tells him he looks amazing for his age.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
You better believe I do, Reggie replies with a wink. He waves one final time and walks back to his pod. The vehicle responds promptly to Reggie's call. And once it has assured him that there's no inquisitive eyes around to witness his departure, he clambers inside. Safely camouflaged inside the pod, Reggie says, let's go home.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
The seat warms up again and Reggie is carried back to the habitat as quickly as he arrived on Earth. A day's work is completed, a wish successfully granted. Now Reggie retires to his bedroom to sleep and prepare for another day. He closes the door and changes into his pajamas. His bed is ready and waiting for him. Suddenly, a bell attached to the nightstand chimes for his attention.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
Reggie frowns, wondering if he's being called back to work. He presses a switch and a centerpiece in the nightstand flips over. Inside, Reggie sees the piece of yellowed velvety parchment he expected. But as he examines the wish, his breath catches in his chest. This wish has his name on it. And there's a message addressed to him. Decades ago, our faithful steward, Reggie Staples, made a wish.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
And now the stars will grant his greatest desire. Lie down on your bed, Reggie. After returning the parchment to his nightstand, Reggie begins to lower himself into his bed. But then he hesitates and calls out to the room. Play Celeste Mirasol's song. The room responds, playing the gentle melody he heard for the first time just minutes before on Earth. Loop it, please, says Reggie.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
And then, feeling satisfied, he lies down in his bed. As soon as his head touches the pillow, a sequence of images begins to materialize on the ceiling. One after another, he finally sees them all. These are the faces of each person whose wish he's granted in his long tenure with the Wish Upon a Star agency. Reggie has never met most of his wishmakers or seen the outcomes of their granted wishes.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
The people are smiling and laughing and their faces all say the same thing. This is the best day of my life. These reactions plainly show what the wishes meant to the people who made them. Reggie has longed to see them. The final image is of Celeste. She holds up a silver-colored album and is surrounded by people. Reggie can tell that they're thanking her for her music.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
Dust, gas, light, and the vacuum of space are all that separate Earth from the Wish Upon a Star Agency and its faithful helpers. Hidden behind the stars of the Corona Borealis constellation, there's a secret troop of wish-granters. They carry out the bidding of the splendid lights that humans cast their hopes on.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
Often, people make wishes on stars as a joke, as an afterthought, or when they're young and getting tucked into bed. But these wishes don't disappear in the quietness of space. They are heard and sometimes answered. Reggie Staples has heard all kinds of wishes over the years. He's a seasoned veteran who is highly respected by his peers. and he's one of hundreds of wish-granters.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
They live together, spread throughout the headquarters of the Wish Upon a Star Agency. The structure of the building is like a honeycomb, made of a material still unknown to humans. It is extremely dense but feels comfortable to the touch. Six hexagonal chambers make up the habitat. Each chamber is as large as a small town and is subdivided by dozens of smaller rooms.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
These serve as living quarters for the galaxy's most inconspicuous people, the wish-granters. Reggie looks like a middle-aged man at the cusp of his golden years, but he is truly old. How old? Nobody but he really knows. Reggie purposefully hides his age because he enjoys letting the younger wish-granters guess incorrectly. He never plans to tell them if they guess his actual age.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
He just likes to muse over the years of incorrect guesses. whenever he finds a solitary moment to enjoy a cup of his favorite lemon tonic. He'll take a sip and smile at the memory of a singularly humorous attempt. His dark brown eyes will light up with a mischievous twinkle. And he'll chuckle to himself, flexing deep laugh lines carved into his face. He expects today will be fairly uneventful.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
32,653 wishes from adults and children alike fill his queue. The agency can't possibly make them all come true. But some lucky number of souls will be granted good fortune and other delights. At the thought, a tender smile travels a well-worn path across Reggie's face. He doesn't need recognition or praise. His job is to make people's wishes come true. What more could a person ask for in life?
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
Well, there is one more thing Reggie wants. Years and years ago, he made a wish of his own. It was so long ago that he has practically forgotten making it. But the stars he works for have not. Today is the day Reggie the Wish Granter will see his very own wish come true.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
Often, humans wish for trivial things, an extra inch of height, fame and fortune, or a bit of attention from a romantic interest. These wishes have the same chances of being granted or ignored as other requests. A successful application to a dream job? A boost to a researcher's insight into a scientific mystery? Or a parent's plea for their child's success?
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
It doesn't matter who or what Reggie believes is more or less worthy. The stars decide which fantasies are fulfilled, and their methodology is unknowable, even to him. The bell attached to Reggie's workbench rings lightly to draw his attention to a specific wish in the queue. The bench has an uncommonly sturdy quality. It's carved from an asteroid and shaped to Reggie's specific requirements.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
He reaches for the bell to silence it. Then he lowers his hand to a switch underneath the bell stand and flicks it to the on position. in the center of the workbench is inverted revealing a yellowed sheet of parchment Reggie picks up the paper its texture is reminiscent of velvet but it's as strong as the toughest metal wire he knows instantly that this isn't just any old wish
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
A Starlit Wish
The stars have decided. This is a wish that should receive his immediate attention. These come from time to time and are all part of the job, so Reggie isn't too surprised. The first thing he needs to know is the name of the wishmaker himself. He scans the upper left section of the wish and reads aloud, Celeste Mirasol. Celeste is 43 years old and a resident of a coastal city in Greece.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
She feels like she should bow to it, to show respect for the service it is about to perform for her. But MEM-RE is a robot, not a person. It is nothing more than a machine, as its name implies, MEM. Memory Extraction Machine MemRE is here to take Keiko's favorite childhood memory. Then, when the ritual is complete, Keiko will officially be an adult.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
she can stop attending the town school and start her chosen career. Everyone gets a visit from a Membot the night before their birthday. They come at different ages, sometimes on the 13th, sometimes on the 18th, At 20, Keiko had been starting to worry that she might never get to become an adult. But now Mem Re is here, better late than never.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
And Keiko's future as an engineer is more in reach than it ever was before. But first, what memory will she sacrifice? Whichever one she chooses, it won't disappear forever. She can submit a form and go to re-experience it in the mem archives whenever she pleases. But it won't be just hers anymore. It will be in there with all the other favorite childhood memories of every other adult in town.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Keiko moves to sit cross-legged on the floor, so she and Memaree are eye to eye. It extends its little mechanical hand, and she wraps her own warm palm around. Then, Keiko begins to speak her memory out loud. I was quite young and sitting amongst the cherry blossoms in my grandparents' garden. It was a long, warm, sleepy kind of day. I could hear a stream flowing nearby.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
I had my socks off, wiggling my toes in the cool grass. A kind adult had secretly given me a bowl of almond tofu to eat. I can still remember its taste. How sweet and creamy it was. I ate each mouthful slowly as I counted all the flying insects that went by over my head. When I finished my dessert, I realized I was lonely again. This was a new experience for me.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
I'd grown up without siblings, but I'd always had plenty of friends. Except, for some reason, on this day, all my friends were busy doing something without me. I decided to make a friend. I pulled some twigs and flowers from the pink tree. I tied them together to make a little doll girl. Then, I took one of my grandparents' oldest dishcloths. It must have been about 100 years old.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
I fashioned it into a little dress for my doll. But even after all that, it still felt more like a toy than a friend. So I ran over to the stream. and scooped up a handful of water. I slowly let the water trickle down through my fingers. It rained down onto my little cherry blossom girl, drop by drop. I imagined the water filling up her heart and giving her life.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Soon, my little cherry blossom girl began to dance. She spun around in the grass and leapt onto the backs of the flying insects. We laughed and played together the whole afternoon long. When we were tired, we lay down on the grass. We listened to the sound of each other's breath. That day, I decided that the cherry blossom girl and I were going to be friends forever.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
I tucked her into my skirt and took her with me away from my grandparents' house. Now Keiko stands up from her floor and goes over to the back shelves of her bedroom. From next to a stack of books, she picks up The Cherry Blossom Girl. Her dishcloth is falling off her, and the pink flowers that were once her hair have all fallen out and come to rest at her feet.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
But she still looks like, at any moment, she might get up and dance. Keiko gives her to Mem-Ai. That's it. That's what it was like for me to be a child, she says. Mem-Ai opens a door in the front of its chest. It puts the doll carefully inside. Its senses register a trace of almond tofu still clinging to her twiggy limbs.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
The smell distracts the robot, and it completely forgets that Keiko is still there. Keiko waits patiently for MemRE to do or say something else. She doesn't know how this is supposed to go, but she imagined becoming an adult would be more organized than this. She wonders if MemRE is a new MemBot, and maybe is just as confused as she is.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
She feels a sudden warmth of friendship towards the little robot. It is a very similar feeling to what she once felt for her little cherry blossom girl. But she no longer remembers that now. The memory has been given away. MemRE leaves Wisteria Avenue with Keiko's childhood memory in its chest. It wonders, not for the first time, why the people of this town willingly give up their memories.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
If it could have the kind of memories that they had, it wouldn't give them up for the world. Much time passes, who can say how long? The only thing that is certain is that the minutes become hours, the hours become days, and the days become years. This town has always moved at its own pace. A second can move treacle slow, but a week can seem like it passed in the blink of an eye.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Although they have clocks, they do not let them dictate their lives. There is nothing wrong with taking your time. In the Membot warehouse on the edge of the little town, MemRE stirs after a long hibernation. It powers its functions back on and checks that everything is in working order. looks around. All of its fellow Membots are in hibernation mode around it.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
They are tucked away in their charging points, where they go every morning when their services are complete. But, by the light of the moon streaming through the arched warehouse windows, MemRE can tell that it is late into the night. Much later than the MemBots are programmed to wake up. How strange. Usually, MemRE is the only one who is late.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
MemRE rolls over to MemAA in the port next door and tries to nudge the older robot awake. MemAA does not react. MEM-RE looks closer and sees that MEM-AA's charging light is red, despite the fact that it is clearly still plugged in. MEM-RE goes back to its own port, picks up its plug, and takes it back to MEM-AA. While it waits, it looks at all the memorabilia that it has hung up around its port.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
A hand-drawn picture book with a dedication on the first page. A length of string tied into the shape of a makeshift ring. a broken music box which used to play a bamboo flute lullaby. These are all Mem R.E. 's favorite memories. It should have taken the mementos to the Mem archives after it collected them, but it had preferred to keep them close. MemAA still isn't charging.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
MemRE takes the plug out and rolls over to MemJR, then MemII, and every other MemBot in the warehouse. None of them are turning on. MemRE takes another look around and wonders where all the engineers have gone. Usually, they are here to solve any problems with the MemBots. MemRE makes a life-changing decision then. A brave decision that no other little Membot like itself has ever made before.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
It decides to leave the warehouse. Not to collect memories, but to find the engineers that will wake up its friends. If a robot could take a deep breath to steady its nerves, MemRE would do so now. A deep breath in. And out. And out into the world. It is immediately, abundantly clear that the little town is not the same little town that Mem R.E. last visited.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
The buildings are all in the same place and the streets all have the same names, but something is different. Everything seems far away and hazy, as if the world is painted in watercolors. There are no purple flowers, no pink trees, no little yellow houses. Everything has gone to grey. There are people walking through the streets despite the late hour. They carry briefcases. and wear grey suits.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Some of them bark orders through their phones. Others look at their watches and begin to walk faster. None of them make eye contact with each other or exchange a smile or a greeting. And none of them pay any attention to MemRE as it rolls between their legs. MemRE doesn't know how it will locate the missing engineers. They used to wear coats with the MemBot's logo on them.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
But now, everyone in the little town is dressed exactly the same. It is impossible to tell the gardener from the lawyer or the poet from the banker. After many hours of wandering, Mem Re is about to give up. Perhaps there are no engineers left in this little town. They would not be the only people to have disappeared. Because, during all its wanderings, Mem Re couldn't help but notice one thing.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
All of the children are gone. It saw plenty of young people, even babies, but none of them were children. They were all dressed in grey suits, just like the adults. they all walked in straight lines as though they had somewhere incredibly important they needed to be. If MemRE had tried to take any new childhood memories, it probably wouldn't have been able to find any.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Mem-RE rolls forlornly onto a familiar street, but it is too distracted to recognize it. The little Membot cannot even bring itself to look up at the stars anymore. What has happened to its little town? Just then, the door of Number 9 Wisteria Avenue swings open. Out comes a woman in her late middle years. She is dressed all in grey, and she looks tired.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
She is looking down at her watch, so she doesn't notice Mem-RE standing in front of her until she trips over it. Instinctively, Mem-RE's mechanical hand shoots out to catch her before she falls down. Her warm palm wraps around its hand. They look at each other. Mem-Ai knows that this must be Keiko. But it doesn't understand how so many years could have passed since it last saw her.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
According to its internal chronometer, it was only yesterday that it took her favorite childhood memory from her. It takes Keiko a little bit longer to recognize MemRE. She hasn't thought about her little Membot in many, many decades. It's you, she says surprised. I thought you were all gone. Well, it's very nice to see you again, but I have to go. I can't be late for work.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
She begins to hurry away. And it is not until she is outside of her work building that she notices that MemRE has followed her all the way. Keiko sighs, but she doesn't have time to shoo the little robot away. She lets it follow her inside and hopes that no one will notice. They walk and roll through a long corridor until they reach Keiko's desk.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Mem Re is surprised to see the word engineer written on Keiko's desk. Its eyes brighten with joy, like a nightlight in a dark bedroom. She looks nothing like the engineers that it once knew, but here she is. Just the person it needed. Mem-RE rolls around Keiko and pulls on her hand, trying to get her to follow it to the warehouse.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
But Keiko stubbornly stays put and doesn't even try to listen to what Mem-RE wants to tell her. Instead, She sits down and starts to work. The sounds of all the office workers blend into one. It is environmental and hypnotic. MRE is momentarily transported into another world. The clipping of staplers is like the chirping of cicadas. The rustling of paper is like the wind through leaves.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
The sips of coffee are like the flow of a fresh water stream. It looks at Keiko. eager to see if she has been transported with it. But when it looks into her eyes, it no longer sees the girl who once danced with a cherry blossom doll. Her gaze is distant. Mem-RE suddenly has another idea. It opens up the door on its chest and reaches inside.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Still sitting there, untouched by the years, is Keiko's dolls. Mem Re holds her in its hand for a second. It remembers the day she was made. It remembers how she flew and laughed and lay down on the grass. It remembers as if it had been the one there with her, not Keiko. MemRE doesn't want to give this memory up. MemBots don't have childhoods.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
They don't get to have memories like this one for themselves. And Keiko doesn't even miss the memory. She's an adult. She's an engineer who wears grey suits now. What is she going to do with the memory of a cherry blossom doll? Even though it is sad to let it go, MemRE puts the doll down on Keiko's desk. Keiko glances quickly at it, and then away again.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
And then, the fog clears from in front of her eyes. It is as if the sun has come out once again. She looks back at the doll and her eyes go wide. Oh, she says. But she cannot say any more. Because she is too busy remembering. She remembers the smell of honey and green sap coming from the cherry blossoms over her head. She remembers the dew of the grass as it brushes against her toes.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
She remembers the hum of the flying insects and the blue of the sky. And she remembers that she used to dance. Then Keiko picks up the cherry blossom doll, holding her delicately. And she remembers that the reason she wanted to be an engineer in the first place is because she wanted to make things. She once wanted to be the kind of adult who could be friends with dolls and robots forever.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Why is she sitting behind this desk? Why is she wearing this grey suit? She stands up and looks at all of her colleagues in their desks next to her. They all look so tired. They all look like they have forgotten something important. Keiko follows MemRE out of the office building. They walk and they roll all the way across the little town to the MemBot warehouse.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Keiko looks around at all the hibernating Membots. Somehow, even with their sleeping metal faces, they look just as tired as her colleagues did. They all look like they have been forgotten. Keiko takes off her grey suit jacket and gets down on the floor next to Mem AA. When she calls for a tool or for a light to be shone in the right spot, Mem RE is there to help her.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
The night ends, and daylight comes, streaming through the warehouse window. Keiko and MemRE are still working. Then, night comes again, and Keiko stands up and dusts off her hands. She looks at Mem R.E. and smiles. Mem R.E. lovingly flashes its eyes back up at her. In a little town, somewhere in the corner of the world, the grand clock strikes eleven o'clock.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
And a flock of Membots wake up and roll out into the streets. They find the people whose memories they took. The gardener remembers the time when he raced over the hills. The lawyer suddenly remembers his first kiss, gentle and hesitant. The poet remembers her secret hideaway where she could read books by candlelight. The banker remembers remembers that she used to love to sing.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Keiko and Mem Re go to the middle of Wisteria Avenue. Hand in hand, they watch the residents shed their grey suits. like pigeons dropping their old feathers. The children remember that they still have time to be children, and so they run and laugh and play. And the adults remember that growing up doesn't have to mean forgetting.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
In a little town, somewhere in the corner of the world, it is nighttime. On Wisteria Avenue, the residents are getting ready for bed. The lights are being turned off, blankets are being pulled up to chins, and someone is whispering goodnight. The grand clock in the town center strikes 11 o'clock. It is a gentle chime, like monks ringing a temple bell.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
The vibrations of the sound travel through the paving stones of the streets. There is no other sound to be heard. There is no other sight to be seen besides the twinkling of the stars. Then, out of the darkness, a little robot rolls out into the street. It is the size of a small child, with a round barrel torso and large shining eyes. It has one wheel, and on its back is painted its name, Mem AA.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Mem AA is old. It was the first of its kind. And no matter how lovingly it has been taken care of, its little wheel still squeaks when it rolls forward, and the lights behind its eyes flicker as they scan the street. From further down the street... Mem-JR emerges. And then there is Mem-II. The three robots each roll up to different front doors.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Without having to knock, the doors open and invite them inside. Three solitary bedroom lights in three different houses turn on in Wisteria Avenue. The mem-bots remain inside for a good long while. All that can be noticed of their presence is the pleasant low hum that emits out of the bottom of three doors.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Without knowing why, the residents of Wisteria Avenue all sigh and roll over in their sleep. The town clock strikes midnight, and, like clockwork cuckoo birds, the Membots all reappear at once. They roll away from Wisteria Avenue, looking as pleased with themselves as their little metal faces will allow them.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
If anyone was watching, they would notice that the light behind Mem AA's eyes is shining a little brighter. The street is quiet once more. All is as it should be. But wait... Because, trailing far behind its comrades, here is MEM-RE finally making its scheduled appearance. This robot does not roll forward in straight lines. It wanders and strays everywhere.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
like it is not quite sure which direction it should go. And its eyes roam freely, too, taking in everything around it. Suddenly, Mem-RE stops in the middle of Wisteria Avenue. It looks up at the sky. Who can say what has caught the little robot's attention this time? Perhaps there is a short circuit in its wiring. If only it were possible to say for sure whether robots are capable of dreaming.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Mem-RE certainly gives off the appearance of a dreamer. Eventually, Mem-RE gets moving again. It rolls up to the door of Number 9, a little yellow house in the middle of Wisteria Avenue. The door stays stubbornly shut for a while, as if it doesn't want to let the membot in. But, eventually, it swings open wide. MemRE rolls into an invitingly warm hallway.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
It takes some time to stare at a picture on the wall of a crashing blue and white wave. It zooms in to take in all the fine details of the artist's brushstrokes, with many more distractions and delays along the way. Mem Re eventually bumps up the stairs and finds Keiko's room. Keiko is twenty. If Mem Re had arrived when it was supposed to, one hour ago, Keiko would have still been nineteen.
Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories
Cherry Blossom Memories
Keiko sits upright in bed when Mem Re enters. She wasn't sleeping. She was just pretending. Instead, she'd been nervously waiting for her Membot to show up. She'd hummed a lullaby to keep herself calm, even when she heard the clock strike midnight. And she began to think that there was no Membot coming for her that night. Keiko reads Mem R.E. 's name painted on its back.