Nate woke up 30 minutes before his alarm went off and jumped out of bed. He was excited as he bounced across the room to unplug Hobo’s Heart Monitor from the charger on his bureau. He looped the lanyard around his neck, turned on the device and saw that Meena had gotten up early too. The switch on his device was on “other” as usual and he saw the now familiar image of himself in the display’s foreground with an ocean and sandy beach in the background. Meena was remembering one of their days at the sea shore as she woke up. This, of course, caused Nate to also recall those days so that when he switched the device to “here” he saw an image of Meenan at the beach.
    As Nate got dressed for work he discovered that it was a little awkward leaving the Monitor outside his shirt. It was unnoticeable when it was inside his shirt, but then he couldn’t see the display. He decided to wear the device outside his shirt with the display turned inward, and if anyone asked him about it he would just mumble something and move the device to inside his shirt. The next opportunity that Nate had to check his Monitor was after he had driven to work and sat down at his desk. He held the device which hung around his neck and casually turned it around so that he could view the display. Nate was surprised to see how dim his image was in the foreground. He had switched the device back to “other” and he expected to see a morphing image of himself at some romantic location that he and Philomena had visited, but the display showed only a fading image of himself in front of a park. He recognized the park as being the one near Meena’s home where they sometimes went to relax. The calming atmosphere of the park sometimes encouraged them to discuss the future and, as Nate continued to watch the Monitor, the image of the park shifted and changed into one of a small house with a “For Sale” sign on the front yard. At least that is what he felt he saw because the images were fading in and out. Nate realized that Meena must be at the department store where she worked as a sales clerk, and that she must be working very hard. He knew that sometimes, especially when the store ran big sales, that Meenan would often be exhausted at the end of the work day because she answered the customer’s questions all day. He was happy that Meena was holding on to dreams they had of their future together, but the images were too fuzzy to keep looking and it was time for Nate to get some work done too. He turned the device inward and forgot about it until he was walking to his car in the parking lot at the end of his work day. What a hectic day he had put in that day! There had been an early meeting where he had been asked to give a presentation on quarterly statistics. Most meetings went smoothly, but this time there was a conflict between the marketing people and the engineers. The designers needed another month to work out some problems with the newest machine, but marketing was all ready to go - but how could marketing sell a machine that wasn’t ready? Nate was told to put together some financial forecasts representing the one-month delay by noontime. He couldn’t stop to eat and spent the afternoon explaining the charts he had made to his boss. He was very glad when 5:00 arrived and grabbed his jacket and briefcase before discreetly walking out the door. Walking through the parking lot he took hold of Hob’s Heart Monitor and turned it around to see the display. He saw himself sitting at one of the fast-food places where he and Philomena often ate their “everyday” meals. Coincidentally it seemed to be the very place where they were going to have dinner that evening.
Nate pulled up outside of the front door of the store where Meena worked. He was right on time and she was waiting, looking out the window. She ran out of the store and jumped into the passenger’s seat of Nate’s car and said, “Let’s go! I’m starving!” They only had time to exchange pleasantries because it was only a three block drive to the restaurant. It wasn’t until they sat down at a window table with their orders that they mentioned the Heart Monitors. Philomena said that she had “looked in” on him a few times during the day but that the display was always dim and fuzzy and difficult to understand. Nate responded that he had seen similar results and then they discussed how it was probably because work was sometimes so distracting and all-consuming. They both checked their Monitors and smiled as they both saw crisp, clear images of themselves eating a similar hamburger meal “to go” at the park near where Meena lived.  They began talking about other places to go during the next three evenings and especially Saturday when they would be together all day. Since their hearts seemed to love their times at the park they planned to go there on Saturday, which was forecast to be warm and sunny. Any snow had already melted and the temperature might be above normal for February. They discussed the remaining evenings, suggesting going to see a movie or maybe a concert. However, they felt that a new experience might have results similar to what they saw at the basketball game - when they were so overwhelmed by the moment that their hearts were living mostly in the present. They decided to drive to the places where they had good times together, but then to only park nearby. This would give them opportunities to reminisce about earlier times and perhaps even dream about the future. For the next three evenings their plan was to get a dinner from the restaurant’s drive thru window and then take their dinners to some of their most memorable places in their area.
Now, however, they were very tired from a long day. They finished eating their dinner and then just wanted to go home and rest. This would ensure that they had all the energy they needed for the remainder of the week, so Nate dropped Philomena at her home and then drove to his home. They each made sure their Heart Monitors were plugged into their chargers before they fell fast asleep. 

Visions of the Heart
a novella by Charles Keenan

episode 6