| Marilyn |
January 28, 2018
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| In this society, the technology was very high and it was able to make high quality 3-D video pictures. AI computers were available to everyone, even to amateurs. He retired from his job and started to study computer graphics. He had a dream from long ago. He was a big fan of Marilyn Monroe. When he was young, he saw Marilyn Monroe on the big screen and was instantly attracted to her. After that, he started to watch all of her movies. At first, he went to the movie theater, even if it was in another city. He knew that the number of her movies were limited to around 30 because she had long been dead. He bought videos, then DVDs and collected her movies. He renovated his study room to accommodate a big sized TV screen. The sizes of the TVs became bigger as time went by. Some time ago he bought a big 8K TV, and enjoyed her movies in better quality. But even though he watched her movies in very good quality, a movie was still a movie. She played the completely same role as when the film was made. One day, when he was watching another movie, starring Mia Farrow, The Purple Rose of Cairo, he got an idea. In the movie, the protagonist, Mia Farrow, was obsessed with a certain movie's  protagonist who she liked. The protagonist was acting in a black and white movie, suddenly he appeared in front of her. He went from a black and white form on the movie screen to real-life color in the theater. Then he took her by the hand and led her out of the theater. He thought that with today's society's high technology, he could do the same. Even after studying one year about computer graphics, computer technology became more elaborate. Companies started to allow others to use their AI computers, wearable computer video quality became higher, and 3-D movies' quality was life-like. On this day, his prototype system was completed. He set four cameras in his living room: on the right wall, left wall, the opposite side wall, and on the ceiling. He accessed an AI super computer and started Marilyn Monroe's pictures and videos. He sat down on the sofa with a coffee table in front of him. He prepared his goggle type of machine that he had purchased for this project. It was the core of high tech. The goggles machine didn't have see-through lenses, but he could see the outside just like he was wearing glasses. The cameras on the walls and the ceiling and his computer made a natural virtual sight. Then he put on a headphone type of machine. Same as like the goggles, one could hear the sounds of the outside ~air conditioner's buzzing sound, a faint barking dog, etc. It was just like he wasn't wearing anything. Until then, his computer showed 'Completed'. He breathed deeply and clicked the 'START' button. Soon there was a knocking sound at the door of the living room. It was a natural sound. Then a female's voice was heard, "May I come in?" It was Marilyn Monroe's exact voice ~a husky, sweet, and sexy voice. He was excited. He said, "Y…yes. Go ahead." The door opened with a creaking noise and Marilyn Monroe appeared. She was wearing a white dress, it reminded him of the movie 'The Seven Year Itch' when she was on the vent hole of the subway and the air raised her dress's frill up. She was just like a real person. She was smiling as if she was saying the dress suited her. Marilyn came in front of him. He stood up. She was shorter than he had expected. She said, "I'm Marilyn. Nice to meet you." He was about to raise his hand to shake hands, but soon realized that this was a virtual world. He said, "My name is John Williams. Hi." They sat down on the sofa together. After that it was like a dream for him. He was gracious for the technology. Marilyn answered his questions. Her way of speaking was a little bit childish, but what she was saying was logical and intelligent. He thought that maybe her image was made from mass communications. After she had talked about her sad childhood and unbelievable experiences as an actress, she offered him to sing with her. He was perplexed because he didn't predict this offer. But he happily accepted it and they sang her songs. As he saw her movies an uncountable amount of times, he could follow her. It was an enjoyable time. After a while, she said, "I have to go." He said, "What do you mean? I've never thought about a time limit." Marilyn mischievously said, "This is the rule of adults." He said, "Ok. But we can meet again, right?" She gently shook her head. He had no idea what was going on. She stood up. He asked her without thinking, "May I ask a last question before you leave?" Marilyn nodded. He said, "Were you assassinated?" Marilyn's face became distorted. He regretted asking her. It seemed to ruin their time up until then. He cursed his carelessness. He apologized, "I'm sorry. Forget about this question." But surprisingly Marilyn said, "No, no. I'm pleased that you asked about this. But, I can't answer your question. I hope you understand what I'm saying." She looked sad. He felt some anger occurring from the bottom of his heart. He said in a firm voice, "You don't need to apologize. You are the person who should be apologized to by somebody." She looked at him for a while, but said nothing. She started to fade out. He shouted, "I'll never forget about today, about you. Good-bye." She smiled and said, "Thank you, darling." She disappeared. After this, he couldn't meet that Marilyn again. He met many Marilyns after that, but they were totally different from the Marilyn that he met on that day. But he thought it was not bad. He always kept Marilyn's memory from that day. |
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*renovate :改築する
*accommodate :収容する
*obsess :取りつく
*buzz :ブーンと言う音
*creak :キーキーする音
*grateful :感謝する
*assassinate :暗殺する