This is a podcast extra from Nature. Every week, nature publishes a science fiction story in its

futures slot. At the end of every month, we read you our favourite. This month's story is the

Memory Ward, written by Wendy Nicol, published on 8th of June and read by the Nature podcast team.

Liza was losing her memories.

She hacked at her morning omelet

and wondered what she'd lost overnight,

which familiar faces had turned into strangers,

which moments were gone,

lost like bubbles popped in midair,

leaving no trace of their former existence.

Coffee?

The nurse asked. Liza couldn't recall his name.

Had she known it yesterday?

Old Liza never drinks the stuff.

Another woman, with the same straight white hair and same squarishness to her jaw shuffled into the next seat.

Now here's someone Liza could never forget, leastways, not while she still remembered anything at all.

Every step of the way, from the cradle Gramps carved to their wild days on the wrong side of the law,

to the memory ward in this second-rate nursing home, cousin Jessa had been there.

She'll have more orange juice, though, if you've got some.

Morning, Liza sighed, as the nurse poured her more orange juice.

Orange juice she didn't even really want.

You've got that look on your face.

...