Fiction by Robert Sheckley
Brenton's the name. I am a fairly well-known psychologist, well off, and with a respectable list of publications. Maybe you've read my popular book, "The Dream of Misunderstanding." It has helped a lot of people. I know a lot about misunderstanding. Despite this, I have a lot of trouble helping myself.
As a matter of fact, my wife and I are separated. I live in my office on New York's East Side, Myra is in our family apartment on the West Side.
My own books, excellent though they are generally accounted to be, have failed to get my wife to understand me. I have been brooding a lot over that lately. Maybe that accounts for my dream.
In my dream, I was standing in a bluish room with no furniture. In front of me was a man larger than lifesize. He had a noble beard, and seemed very worthy of respect.
"Well," he said, "So you finally made it all the way to me."
"Who are you?" I said.
"I am Ahriman, subdiety in charge of Earthly solutions."
"What solution are you talking about?"
"A solution to the membrane problem."
"And what is that?"
"The membrane is what separates one thing from another on your Earth. It is invisible to human eyes, but it is there all the same. It is the equivalent of a thick, semi-transparent substance that coats the world and separates one person's understanding from another's."
"This membrane," I said. "I believe it is unknown to science?"
"That is true."
"What is the effect of this membrane?" I asked.
"It interferes with human relations. It is the barrier, invisible but palpable, that prevents anyone from really understanding anyone else."
"That's a big problem," I said. "I've often thought about this, using different metaphors."
"We are aware that you have worked all your professional life on the problem of human misunderstanding."
"Without much success."
"I wouldn't say that. We are aware of your publications on the subject of the impossibility of one person really understanding another. Your books do a good job of describing life as it is lived behind the membrane."
"I have proven that understanding is a difficult thing. But to prove a negative is negligible."
"Not at all. Your attempts constitute a notable achievement."