Jayne was on her computer, doing a little hacking (with all that happened over the weekend, she never got to enjoy her favorite pastime), when suddenly, she got an overwhelming headache. And when it was over, she remembered an entirely new (or old) lifetime. She remembered being Jay Duncan, a geeky boy who loved school. It was totally different than anything Jayne was used to.
Jayne's mom Bunny was in the kitchen making breakfast, when suddenly she remembered the life of Benny Gates. It was a short life, but that was because Benny was only five years old. And to tell the truth, Bunny wasn't really affected by it too much. She herself had memories of being a young child when she was five, and they weren't too much different than being Benny, other than the fact that she was female and Benny was male.
But Bunny's husband Esmond was affected by his sudden onslaught of memories. Very much so. One moment, he was reading the newspaper at the kitchen table, then the next moment, he had all the memories belonging to Ester Wilson, an elderly woman. Ester had lived so much longer than Esmond that it completely overwhelmed him. He dropped his newspaper and just sat there at the table in complete shock. He remembered growing up as a proper young lady, attending boarding school, then eventually marrying, having children, raising children, sending them off to college, watching them get married and have children of their own, and growing even older yet, watching her grandchildren grow up. It was a full and completed life. One that was so different than the one that Esmond was used to.
Bunny remembered being Benny Gates and having a grandmother named Ester Wilson, which was who Esmond remembered being. But Ester took Burt Whitefield's place well after Benny had taken Stacy Whitefield's place, so Esmond remembered Ester having a grandson named Julian, not Benny.
Julian, at that moment, was still at home playing with blocks with the woman who was his "new" grandmother in the current reality - Lauren Wilson.
Both Julian and Lauren had simultaneous headaches and then suddenly remembered their old lives. Julian was only five years old, so the images he saw were overwhelming. He remembered being Gillian DeVries, a middle-aged woman and mother of Linda DeVries, a Goth girl. Suddenly, he was more familiar with being a woman than being a boy. Lauren, on the other hand, remembered being a teenage cheerleader named Lauren O'Brien. Being old-fashioned, she had a hard time connecting with the youth of today. But not anymore. Through Lauren O'Brien's eyes, she finally understood them. Maybe she didn't agree with it all, but she understood.
Julian dropped his blocks and stood up. "I don't feel like playing anymore. I think I'll watch some TV instead," he said, sounding much more mature. And why not? He had the memories of someone nearly eight times his age.
