Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

"'The song,' I said, 'it was called "Never Let Me Go".' Then I sang a couple of lines quietly under my breath for her.

'Never let me go. Oh, baby, baby. Never let me go...'

     She nodded as though in agreement. 'Yes, it was that song. I've heard it once or twice since then. On the radio, on the televison. And it's taken me back to that little girl, dancing by herself.'

     'You say you're not a mind-reader,' I said. 'But maybe you were that day. Maybe that's why you started to cry when you saw me. Because whatever the song was really about, in my head, when I was dancing, I had my own version. You see, I imagined it was about this woman who'd been told she couldn't have babies. But then she'd had one, and she was so pleased, and she was holding it ever so tightly to her breast, really afraid something might separate them, and she's going baby, baby, never let me go. That's not what the song's about at all, but that's what I had in my head that time. Maybe you read my mind, and that's why you found it so sad. I didn't think it was so sad at the time, but now, when I think back, it does feel a bit sad.'

     I'd spoken to Madame, but I could sense Tommy shifting next to me, and was aware of the texture of his clothes, of everything about him. Then Madame said:

     'That's most interesting. But I was no more a mind-reader then than today. I was weeping for an altogether different reason. When I watched you dancing that day, I saw something else. I saw a new world coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient, yes. More cures for the old sickness. Very good. But a harsh, cruel world. And I saw a little girl, her eyes tightly closed, holding to her breast  the old kind world, one that she knew in her heart could not remain, and she was holding it and pleading, never to let go. That is what I saw. It wasn't really you, what you were doing, I know that. But I saw you and it broke my heart. And I've never forgotten.'

     Then she came forward until she was only a step or two from us. 'Your stories this evening, they touched me too.' She looked now to Tommy, then back at me. 'Poor creatures. I wish I could help you. But now you're by yourselves.'"

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro