Download first five chapters - John Trevillian

THE A-MEN | 33month and year. Only one I get right is that it’s a Sunday, but that’sa pure guess. He tests the speed of my information processing. Check.Slow but OK.He does word association and language skills. Expletivesnotwithstanding, this is patchy but improving all the time.He tests my perceptual skills. Things like interpreting iconic data.The things I see. And echoic data. The things I hear. Check.Then comes spatial and constructional skills. The links betweena series of objects. I get to touch my nose. I get to build towers withblocks. Check.Logically, I’m fine. My problem solving is a little off, but doc saysthat’s normal enough for now.Self-awareness. Social skills. Double check.Only real problems manifest when we get past all the kindergartengames and into what I can and can’t remember.“Though I barely knew you,” the doc explains, “you now appearto be suffering from an increased level of disinhibition.” As Grisholmbusies himself resetting his equipment, he mumbles his opinions asif I’m not even there. Like he’s talking to himself. “I have no way oftelling if your irritability and egocentricity have been heightened, butin my limited experience, pre-op you were a very introverted person.”He studies his tablet for a moment. The charts flashing on hisirises make his eyeballs glitter like flames.“That seems not to be the case anymore. Your abusive or crudelanguage is something no one here had witnessed before surgery. Youwere never even remotely violent or abrasive – and certainly notsexually aggressive to anyone. Least of all Esther.”A flash of whiteness. The smell of candy. The taste of salt.“Esther?”Grisholm ignores this, but the mention of the black woman hasbeen enough to dislodge another question.“What have you told the others? About the op?”“Oh, you had all that figured out. Tumour. Life or death situation.Emergency case. Deep removal in the cortex. As cortex damage impairs