Chapters 10+11: Diary entry

Dear diary,

today was my first day at work. Although the Chief Elder talked a little bit about what I will do and I got the printed sheet with my instructions, I didn't really know what I should expect. What was I going to do? On my way from home to the Annex entrance, which is behind the House of the Old, I was very nervous. I drove with Fiona, but it was very hard for me to focus on her words. My thoughts drifted all the time away, to what would happen in the Annex. Finally, we arrived at the House of Old and Fiona went to her work. For sure, I didn't want to be late at my first day, so I entered the building. A kind woman welcomed me. She unlocked the door to a room and asked me to go in. I was really confused why the door was locked. There is never a unlocked door anywhere. Although she said there was nothing dangerous in there, I had a queasy feeling. But of course I walked in and found myself in quite a pretty and comfortable room. The most remarkable thing in this room was that there were many books. More than I've ever seen or could even imagine to exist. Then I noticed the old man sitting on a chair. As welcoming he called me the Receiver of memory. From now on I'm the new Receiver for the community and he isn't. He wanted me to asks questions. Even though I had (and still have) many of them I didn't start asking them directly. But after he started telling what he's going to teach me, I had to ask some to understand what he meant. He told me that I will receive the whole history of the world from him. When he started talking about things I've never heard before, he decided to begin with the Transmission of Memories. That means that he gave some of his memories to me which were deleted then from his mind. Before he started to transmit, I saw him switching off a speaker. I didn't know how to interpret his behaviour but I was too exited about what was going to happen next that I wondered much about it. He transmitted three different situations to me. All three times he put his hand on my shoulder, I closed my eyes and suddenly I found myself at different places. The first time I was on something that is called a hill. And on this hill the floor was covered with small crystals. These crystals also came down from the sky. This is called snow. I didn't stand on this hill, I sat on a thing called sled. First, I didn't know why I knew all the names but it didn't matter for me that moment. Later the Giver (I asked him how I should call him and that was his answer) told me that he said them to me during I was in the memory. But to go on with the memory : I sat on this slide and suddenly it went downwards. I wasn't scared. I had really fun. Even when the slide went faster and faster I didn't want it to end. Bizarrely, I had the wish to scream out loud. However, the sled stopped. I guess it was because the snow got too deep. Then I opened my eyes and recognized I was still in the same room. The Giver told me that this memory was from a long time ago before people started to control the climate and made the hills disappear. So I didn't know anything about the next memory he gave me as well. It was sunshine. This time he didn't tell me the name of it, but I did get to know it on my own, which made me a little bit proud. The first memory made my skin feel cold. This one in contrast made it feel warm and pleasant. It came from anywhere from the sky. Although I just lay there and didn't do anything the memory wasn't boring for me. When the memory ended and I “woke up” again I felt for a short time pretty good. But then I remembered that my job also should be painful, so I asked the Receiver for a painful memory. First he didn't wanted to give me one, but the he finally did. This memory was similar to the one before with the sunshine, but this one extended over a longer period of time. Although the memory was as long as the other ones. All of my skin that lay frontal to the sun began to hurt. The pain was so big that I didn't get the word for it and the Giver had to tell me at the end of the memory: sunburn. Even though this memory was a painful one I didn't regret that I wanted it. It made me know a little bit more about my job and about what I have to expect.