47

Memories are not linear, he realizes. They are concentric. One burrows into a memory. There are times when memories house themselves in the senses -- in a sound heard, in a vision seen, in an odor perceived. Memories do not reside in time. They are fully recalled in an instant. And they are private within the chambers of the mind. It is our choice whether we share them with others, but when we do, they become but poor reproductions. It is a mistake, however, to say that our kept memories -- the ones we do not share -- are themselves reproductions. They are not. Instead, they are the only things we can say, for sure, that we alone create. And he has created a kingdom of memories within the fish that has been made of his hand.