"The Rememberer" is a short story by Aimee Bender, first published in fall 1997 issue of the Missouri Review.
The short story illustrates the narrator, Annie informing the reader of her lover, Ben, who is, as she says "experiencing reverse evolution."
She introduces the narrative telling the reader that Ben is re-tracing steps in evolution, first turning into an ape and later into a sea turtle.
After Ben has turned into a sea turtle, Annie returns from work one day and discovers that he has again shifted, now into a salamander in the baking pan.
For example, when Annie and Ben have sex for the first time, she leaves the lights on and "concentrated really hard on letting go."
Our brains are just getting bigger and bigger, and the world dries up and dies when there’s too much thought and not enough heart.” A day before Ben goes through his reverse evolution track; he realizes that “there is no space for anything but dreaming.” That maybe people should stop thinking all the time and for a while, follow their heart, and dream.