Falling in Love in New York by Melissa Hill

hippocampus, and that this will have an effect on you long-term.” And although the consultant tried his best to try and sound offhand and even upbeat, there was no mistaking his grave demeanour.
    “Abby, when we got these scans back, we weren’t entirely sure what to make of them, so we forwarded the file to the a neurologist in the US, a Doctor Franklin. He’s one of the highest ranking neurologists in his field, particularly in the area of hippocampus injury.”
    Abby’s hands grasped the edge of the chair, and again she wished the doctor would just say what he had to say. This Doctor Franklin could be a high-ranking fire-eater for all she knew, or cared!
    “Anyway, I’m glad we did send the scans, because as it turns out, he noticed something that we didn’t–something curious.”
    “Like what?” Abby’s gaze was drawn once again to the light-box displaying the scans.
    “See here?” the doctor indicated a tiny blur just to the left of the injury he’d shown her before. “It indicates some additional trauma–older trauma. Now, we’ve checked your medical records, and there’s no sign of you presenting or being treated here for any such head wound in recent years. Any idea what it is, or when it might have occurred?”
    “No idea at all,” Abby replied, unable to recall such a thing. She glanced at her mother who seemed just as clueless.
    “You’re sure?”
    “Absolutely.” The doctor seemed to be watching her closely, almost as if he expected her to come up with an explanation.
    “Well, our concerns are–or rather Doctor Franklin’s concerns are–that this older trauma which occurred in the same vicinity as the new one, could very well have a bearing on how this newer injury manifests itself.  
    “What does that mean?” Teresa asked.
    The doctor looked directly at Abby. “Well, the only thing we can be absolutely sure of is that your long-term memory will suffer.”
    She felt her heart rate speed up. “Suffer in what way?”
    “Well, as I said, it’s difficult to explain, but to try and make you understand how the hippocampus works let me use an analogy. Think of the hippocampus as a bridge. On one side, you have all your long term memories, and on the other your short-term memories. Now, when your brain creates a new memory–a short term one–it needs to pass over the bridge into your long-term memory in order for you to retain it, and recall it whenever you need to. Are you with me so far?”
    Abby nodded.
    “But this most recent trauma has damaged the bridge, put a crack in it as such. So when new memories want to cross to the long-term side, they need to get across the crack. Some of them however may fall in.”
    Her eyes widened. “Fall in? Fall in where?”
    “As I said, this is purely for explanatory purposes it isn’t intended as scientific fact,” the doctor said, a little impatiently. “What I’m trying to illustrate is that some of your memories may not end up on the other side or if they do, you might have trouble getting them back ie recalling them. Which means that while you can easily form new memories and send them across the bridge, we have no way of knowing what you’ll be able to get back.”
    Abby stared at the scans, unable to take this in. She had a mental picture of an old stone bridge with a huge crack in it, and all her memories falling through it.
    “But what has the older injury got to do with this?” Teresa asked. “Will it make things worse or …?”
    “No, the newer injury is really the root of the problem, but the older one may yet have a part to play. We’re just not sure at the moment. Again, there are no certainties when it comes to the human brain. I really wish there were.” The doctor walked round to his desk, and opened the drawer. “I’m discharging you tomorrow, but from here on in what I need is for you to monitor yourself over the next couple of days and weeks, let us know if you notice anything out of the ordinary, any