By Vahid Zakeri

He was hired by our company just recently. He was sitting at the table next to me. I was in the middle of replying to my unread emails when he said, "Have you heard about the new device? The one that gives lots of pleasure?”

I knew him for about a year. But I did not have the patience for his gossip and bragging from the very beginning. He always spoke as if he understood everything better than everyone else. I did not look at him. 

"What device? What pleasure does it give?" I asked. 

"Whenever you are happy or experiencing pleasure, there is a hat that will prolong your pleasure if you wear it on your head," he said. 

I frowned at him in surprise. He continued, "Its name is happy hat. It connects to the brain from the inside and prevents your pleasure from decreasing over time."

"What kind of pleasure?"

"Whatever you want."

"If I laugh and put the happy hat on my head, will I just keep laughing forever?"

"Yeah. Laughter is possible. Crying is possible. But who wants these things? It doesn't even have to be your own experience. You can record the pleasures of others in the same way and then enjoy them for hours."

He lowered his voice, "I borrowed one from my cousin. He works in their company. It's a demo. He really likes it. You know, he is single and handsome and surrounded by girls."

A playful light shone in his eyes. "It's a pity my wife is home, and I can't use it," he said in the same low voice.

"Did you say that any feeling can be experienced with it for a long time?"

"Yes, dude. Anything. But you can't use it at home. You may experience the pleasure for hours while no one is available to come and turn it off.”

"Can't you turn it off yourself?"

"Oh no. When you experience the pleasure, you just feel that and are not aware of anything else."

“Doesn’t the battery run out?”

“Don’t worry. It lasts very long.”

He looked at me strangely. "Hey, I took one with me. Do you want to see it?" he said. 

He did not wait for my answer but took the happy hat out of his bag. It was light and black, and looked metallic. It resembled a bowl with a few buttons around it. He explained them to me, "This green one is for when you want your feeling to continue. If you push the blue one, it shows you recorded pleasures, which you can choose from and experience."

He hit the blue button, and a list of letters and numbers appeared on the small screen of the happy hat. "Did your cousin encrypt the girls' names?" I asked. 

"I told him to change them. My wife might see."

He was looking at me silently. I didn't think he would try it at work. "Hey, can you wake me up after twenty minutes?" he said, "The start button is here."

I nodded and stood up. He set the happy hat to one of the letter-numbered girls. Then he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He grinned from ear to ear. I pushed the green button and then punched him twice in the stomach. As soon as he yelled out a loud "Ouch!" and opened his eyes wide, I put the happy hat on his head and pushed the start button.

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