Amnesia Part 2

Part 1 here

Part 2
One memory and it felt like I had woken from the dead. I seemed able to see again, to notice what before me was invisible and without meaning. There are three parts to human knowledge of the world: the human (me); the object and the name of the object. By forgetting the names, the connectors, we had lost understanding of all parts. By regaining this one memory, filled with connectors like ditchwater and father, I was given back the possibility of seeing and knowing the world around me again.

Father and my memories of his face in his silence before speaking, the inner action you could all be see upon his face, seemed to lift me up. I thought of the nobility of human beings and felt a great love for him and then for all those around me in their filthy rags and animal wanderings.

But my feet caught and tripped as I remembered again the muddy ditch, before it held the sky. Its ugly color and slimy look seemed to catch my feet and pull me down ... I began to sink and I began to remember my recent past.

I knew it meant foreign land, but not much more. We were building a bridge for heavy vehicles and we were in a war. Among our group were prisoners. I supposed them to be prisoners of war, but something told me this wasn't exactly the case.

We were close to completion on our bridge when we were called away to deal with local resistance. They had recently taken a train full of ammunition and so everyone was on high alert. They had been found hiding in a Catholic convent.

The memory was coming back so quickly that I had to sit down. I saw in my mind that our forces bearing down on a stone cathedral. I saw the resistance step out in a large group and then being mowed down by heavy fire, hands raised in surrender. The church and adjacent buildings were burning and from the windows I heard screams.

I felt something in my chest shift ... I turned to return to the bridge desiring to return to paper and stone, the world of design and tasks and completion. We completed the bridge that afternoon. We were bringing the first tank across when there was a tremendous blast underneath the bridge. I think it was then I blacked out. The next thing I remember was our rabble of amnesiacs, scavenging and traveling, moving in uneven packs like a walking ditch.

When day came and we all collapsed in a small glen, I looked around me from face to face at the sleeping men. I noticed for the first time that we were all wearing uniforms. I could make out colors and patterns now. Some of us were wearing solid uniforms with colored symbols, badges, on our shoulders and a striking black, white and red band over our biceps. The others had on striped outfits that were thin and much lower quality, torn through the elbows and knees. The men in these uniforms were barefoot for the most part and one or two of them had a six pointed star sown onto his chest.

To be continued ...