The Dream Keeper Read online

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by A. B. Cohen

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. For more information, address: [email protected].

  First paperback edition December 2018

  For Prof. Garber, who saw me first.

  For Nissim, Mari, and Nats, my first readers.

  For Marcos Z”L, my best friend.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Chapter 1

  The Ford Probe was eating the road at 90 mph. It was already past 7:30 a.m. Daniel Spence took the exit towards Ashfield, Massachusetts. He drove through the small town, passing a grocery store, a high school, a small nursery and, of course, a church.

  My God, how could someone live here? wondered Daniel as he took a right and saw a small creek bordering the town. He speculated on how mundane life would be in a place like this: working on the land or in a coal mine during the week, high school football on Friday night, the farmers’ market every other week, and church on Sunday.

  Now the road was flanked by trees—pine trees decorated with snow. Daniel took a left, leaving the creek behind him, and went on a stretch of road through the forest. Before long, he reached the entrance of a fenced area. He could see what seemed to be a two-level concrete structure ahead.

  A guard—a blond, white man in his forties who rocked a mustache—came out of the security cabin and approached him.

  “Good morning. My name is Daniel Spence. I’m assuming this is the entrance to The Cooper Institute. I have an interview scheduled for this morning.”

  The guard looked at him with disdain. “ID and pass code please.”

  “Oh yeah, sure.” He reached for his folder on the passenger seat and took out a page with his temporary access code. “Here you go.”

  The guard took Daniel’s documentation and went inside. After a couple of minutes, he came out, took his license plate number, gave him back his documents, and let him through. Daniel parked his car in the parking lot and pulled down the sun visor to check himself in the mirror. His green eyes looked back at him as he groomed his black hair with his fingers. Daniel stepped out and felt the cold air reach his lungs. He straightened his shirt, put on his blazer, grabbed his folder, and walked through the revolving doors with confidence.

  The smell of coffee dominated the warm air of the lobby. Rays of early-morning sun penetrated the glass wall and illuminated a very simple space. A high ceiling, a leather couch on each side of the room, a small clock on the wall, and the front desk. Behind it sat a woman with short, black hair reading from a Macintosh Classic II, biting the end of her pencil.

  “Good morning. I’m Daniel Spence. I’m here for an interview with Dr. Cooper at eight thirty.”

  The secretary looked up. Her striking hazel eyes penetrated Daniel.

  “Good morning, Mr. Spence. Welcome to The Cooper Institute. Yes, we were expecting you. Please have a seat. The doctor will be with you in just a moment. Would you like some coffee? The new pot should be done soon.”

  “Coffee sounds wonderful, thanks,” Daniel responded with a smile.

  He sat in one of the couches and went over his notes. His leg shook a little with impatience, and he started to sweat as last-minute nerves kicked in. This opportunity could be a big jump in his professional and academic career and could potentially allow him to bury some of the mistakes that had clouded his résumé the past couple of years.

  “Mr. Spence, coffee is ready.”

  Daniel snapped out of his thoughts and approached the desk. The young woman was concentrating on her computer, still biting the end of the pencil. Daniel grabbed the cup from the counter.

  I guess black is fine.

  “Thank you very much, Mrs.…?”

  She barely turned toward him. “Mrs. Kelly Marshall.” She gave him a quick forced smile and returned to the computer.

  He went back to his seat, sipping from the hot cup. Daniel reread some of his responses to basic questions in his notes. Questions like “Why are you the best option for the job?” and “What are you looking to gain out of this opportunity?” were underlined in red and followed by an opening line and a set of bullet points. Every now and then, a specific sentence was highlighted, and he rehearsed it in his head. Truth was that Daniel has been preparing for this interview since he received news of it a couple of months ago. For him, this was a golden opportunity to finally work for someone other than his father and leave the past in the past.

  Not more than five minutes later, Kelly called for him. “Dr. Cooper is ready for you, Mr. Spence. Please follow me.”

  “Great, thanks.” Daniel followed her through a thick frosted-glass door. The hallway was small and a bit tight. Its white walls, low acoustic ceilings, and white fluorescent lights gave the impression of a very sterile place. They created a funnel effect from the lobby that made him uncomfortable, claustrophobic.

  As he followed Kelly, Daniel instinctively checked her out. Her long, thin legs and well-defined butt were simply perfect. He forced himself to look up.

  Come on, Spence, focus. You’ll have time for that later.

  They stopped in front of a wooden door to their left, and Kelly knocked.

  “Come in, come in,” said a relaxed voice from inside.

  “Mr. Spence, so good to finally meet you.” An old man, probably in his sixties, stood up from behind a beautiful dark wooden desk. He wore a lab coat and greeted Daniel with a smile.

  “It’s an honor to meet you, Dr. Cooper.”

  They shook hands firmly as he looked into the old man’s blue eyes.

  “Not every day you get to meet the man behind the legend,” Daniel said, following that with his best PR smile.

  They both sat down, and even though Daniel tried to be focused, he could not help but notice the creepy large painting hanging behind the desk of a woman dressed in white, sleeping on her back with her arms and head hanging off the bed. A creature sat on the woman’s belly, and a black horse with white eyes peeked from behind a red curtain behind her. Daniel was sure he had seen it somewhere but could not remember the name.

  “First of all, welcome to The Cooper Institute,” said Dr. Cooper. “How was the drive here this morning? You came from Boston. Correct?”

  “Yes, it was pretty nice, actually. Love the beautiful small town,” Daniel responded, taking a quick glimpse at the desk in an attempt to ignore the eerie painting. That was when he noticed a small picture of a girl, no more than six years old, with strong blue eyes and curly blond hair. Her sweet smile made Daniel smile slightly and helped him regain his focus.

  “Ah yes, indeed. Ashfield might not seem like much at first, but it was an ideal location for The Cooper Institute.” Dr. Cooper put his hands together and rested th
em on the desk. “So, why are you here, Mr. Spence?”

  The highlighted question from his cheat sheet popped into his brain, along with the answer he had rehearsed. Daniel smiled with confidence.

  “Because I believe I’m the most qualified person you will find. Being honored with the Olivia Sponsorship, and being able to work with you, one of the biggest influences in modern psychology, is an amazing opportunity. There is a lot of knowledge here at The Cooper Institute; your research and discoveries from the last two decades are way ahead of their time. But I also have a lot to offer: strong leadership skills, a methodical approach to problems, and a lot of experience in the field. I can go over specific examples if you like.”

  “Oh no, that won’t be necessary,” Dr. Cooper responded with a gesture of his hand. “Tell me a bit more about yourself. What should I know about the son of the famous Dr. Robert Spence?” He smiled.

  Classic annoying question.

  “Since I was a little kid, I’ve been exposed to psychology by my father. I would hang out at his office and play around. So it was just a natural transition for me to follow in his footsteps. I went to Harvard for undergrad, and now I’m a PhD candidate. My research is focused on cognition, the brain, and behavior.” Daniel tried to show some enthusiasm; it was not easy to live in the shadow of the famous Dr. Spence.

  “Yes, yes, I saw that in your résumé, very impressive.” Dr. Cooper leaned back in his chair and continued with his calm but firm voice. “Now, let’s make a deal, Mr. Spence. Let’s not lie to each other, shall we? I’ll start. No kid in his right mind would fall in love with psychology through the teachings of someone like your father, especially in his later years.”

  Daniel clenched his fist below the table.

  Dr. Cooper cleared his throat. “Forgive me if I’m blunt here, but I do not give a damn about your exaggerated stories, nor do I care about the rehearsed answers you’ve been practicing or even the diplomas your last name has given you. The same way that I don’t care about your past mistakes and how you had some drug issues in your earlier years in college.”

  Daniel’s face flushed with anger and surprise.

  Dr. Cooper leaned forward with a serious expression on his face. “What I want to know, Mr. Spence, is if you are willing to seek the truth tirelessly after I tell you that everything you think you know about the human mind is a lie.”

  Chapter 2

  They both remained silent and exchanged looks.

  “Sorry to say this, Dr. Cooper, but for me to believe that, I would need proof and hard data. I’m not going to take your word for it just because of your role in the industry. You think that”—he paused to level his voice—“all my achievements come from my last name? You know me for five minutes and you already conclude that? And expect me to blindly believe a statement like that?”

  Dr. Cooper grinned, and Daniel felt heat in his face and ears.

  “Well, then, let’s take a step back. I understand that this can be hard to believe. Why don’t we start by talking about it? How do the mind and the brain relate to each other?”

  Daniel crossed his arms and though for a moment, still irritated. “I would say that the mind enables us to be aware of the world around us and our experiences. If we follow the theory of monism—specifically, materialism, which is in my opinion the most dominant one—then we can say that the mind is just one more function of the brain. So the simple answer is they are one and the same.”

  “And what about the not-so-simple answer?” Dr. Cooper’s wise, soft voice was both patient and assertive.

  “I think that’s more of a philosophical question. Believing the mind is separate from the brain would mean there is something beyond the physical world. Take this simple example: a subject is walking down the steps. He slips, falls, and hits his head. He passes out, meaning his brain goes off line, meaning his mind—his awareness—gets disconnected. So, I will put my money on logic and hard evidence.”

  “I see, but have you asked what is happening with his mind while he is unconscious?”

  “Well, it just stops working.”

  “Really? How do you know that?”

  “The person will say that the last thing he remembers is falling and then waking up.”

  “So, we are leaving that portion of the experiment to the subject’s interpretation? We are basically assuming the subject has the right judgment in his situation. Why not instead develop a way to gather data and analyze what is happening inside his head while he is passed out? We can even go further and develop a process that will allow us to see what his mind sees while in that state.”

  “I would say that now you are adding a bit of science fiction to the story.” Daniel leaned back in his seat, keeping his arms crossed.

  “Am I? Or am I looking ahead? What was once science fiction later becomes science fact.” He smiled and placed his arms on the desk, steepling his fingers. “You see, Mr. Spence, we have been taught that there are two ways of thinking: inside of the box and outside of the box. Well, at The Cooper Institute we have a very peculiar way of looking at things. We don’t avoid the impossible, we embrace it. We don’t take assumptions for granted, we question them—we question everything. Thinking outside of the box? More like wondering whether it’s really a box.”

  Daniel remained silent at first, looking at the old man, trying to digest everything he just said. “Let’s assume I see what you mean. How does that helps prove that everything I know about the mind is a lie?”

  “It helps to recognize that the tools we have been using to test our theories are not efficient.”

  Daniel’s eyes widened as he unfolded his arms and placed them on the desk. “So, then, you are saying that The Cooper Institute has invented a tool, or set of tools, that can more accurately study the human mind.”

  “Let me give you a hypothetical situation to illustrate my point. I believe it will help us finish this argument.” He paused for a couple of seconds, as if to gather and organize his thoughts. “Imagine you are a part of a tribe in the jungle and you find a radio. You see a box with voices emerging from it. After a bit of experimentation, you realize that when you pull out some cables the voices become garbled. You have never dreamed of something called electromagnetic radiation. Eventually, you become an expert and develop theories on using the radio. Then you get stuck, because you say, ‘Well, I can make all these correlations between the cables and the voices that it produces. But then when asked ‘Why does this configuration of wires makes voices?,’ you say, ‘Well, that’s the part I don’t yet understand.’ And you defend your position passionately because neither you nor the rest of your tribe can possibly imagine that there are large radio towers beaming radio signals everywhere. So could it be that the brain is just the receptor of something else?”

  Daniel remained silent. Dr. Cooper smiled, leaning back in his chair.

  “My point is, Mr. Spence, that science is a complex collection of terms that allows us to explain the unexplainable. But like any other invention by humanity, it has its flaws. The main problem with it is that it does not allow us to look beyond it. It narrows our view and does not accept things that are outside the spectrum of measurement.”

  A silent exchange of looks took place. Finally, Daniel spoke in a more relaxed voice, opening his arms in a friendly gesture. “All right, Dr. Cooper, I think that is a very good argument, and I can see where you are going with this. I do have to say, though, I don’t understand why you went from insulting everything I’ve achieved to this compelling discussion.”

  “Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was one of the best regarded American poets of the nineteenth century. He said, ‘To obtain a man’s opinion of you, make him mad.’ I happen to believe in that. I did not want you to tell me what I wanted to hear; I wanted you to tell me what you really thought. It is hard to find that type of honesty during a first interview, so I pushed your buttons a bit.” He smirked.

  Daniel fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat.

  The
old man took out a silver pocket watch from his lab coat and glanced at it. “Our time is almost over. I’m happy to say that you will be joining us this summer. Now, do you have any questions for me before your departure?”

  “Hold on a sec. I mean, this looks interesting and I can see your vision, but I still don’t know what I’ll be doing here. What would my job consist of? What is expected of me?”

  Dr. Cooper bent down and took a brown sealed folder from his drawer. “There isn’t much I can tell you. Our experiments are top secret, and we are partially sponsored by the government, so my hands are tied. Now, a couple of things you need to know.” He cleared his throat, then continued. “First, you will see there is a disclosure agreement on the last page. I’m required by law to tell you that anything we do at the institute has to stay within these walls. We do not want to bite the hand that feeds us. Second, we do a graveyard shift at The Cooper Institute, meaning we work at night and sleep during the day. You have one night break on Saturday, where you can leave the institute if you like. I expect all my researchers to be back by six thirty Sunday. You’ll be staying at the institute. We have a cafeteria that runs 24/7.” He handed over the folder. “This is your contract. Things are better explained there, but it mostly goes over the logistics of the sponsorship. You can sign it and bring it back on your first day. Just give us a call to confirm your acceptance in the next month.” The old man stood up, and Daniel followed suit.

  “All right, I think that’s it for now,” Dr. Cooper said.

  They shook hands.

  “Thank you for your time. I’ll review the contract and get back to you as soon as possible.”

  Dr. Cooper’s wrinkled lips curved up into a smile. “I believe we agreed on not lying to each other, Mr. Spence.”

  On his way back, Daniel could not stop thinking about what was probably the strangest and most intriguing interview he had ever had. He was not sure what to make of Dr. Cooper, who seemed to be either crazy or five steps ahead of everyone else. In his gut he believed it was a combination of both. Regardless, there was more to learn about the old man, and he knew who could give him more insight: his father. With one hand on the wheel, he grabbed his new Nokia 2140 Orange 5.0—the newest one on the market. He kept it in his hand for a bit, weighing his options. Finally, he took a deep breath and dialed.