Lost

[Paige]

I found a crumpled note on the sidewalk downtown last night and I read it in the dim street light as I stood under the No U-Turn sign. 'Dear anyone that gives a shit. Today, I forgot my son’s name but just for a second. Maybe not even that long. It scared the hell out of me, a lifetime of panic in that tiny second’s worth of time. Do you think this is what happened to him…only longer?'

[Peter McNiff]

a golden moment

[Paige]

Thank you all for you kind comments, a bit of back story on the motivation for this piece. The father of a friend of mine was diagnosed as having Alzheimer ’s disease a few months ago and the thought of knowing that you will forget your children, everyone and even yourself is horrible. Last Christmas as we visited an Uncle in a “home” there was a lady there who kept looking at me. I smiled and she asked me if I knew who she was because she could not remember her name. The horror of that has lingered with me and the fact that it can and will happen to so many.

[Michael Solender]

oh how this happens to us all. lots of punch in this one.

[Laurita]

What a profound piece of work in so few words.
Good parents are also sometimes forgotten...

[Allie]

That the person can only vent to an unknown stranger is the saddest statement.
I've always wondered whether bad parents know they've been abandoned by their own doing or if they just selfishly complain.

[Bob Clay]

Precise, with an underlying layer of terror ... this is good.

[Jodi MacArthur]

I like the symbol of the u-turn also and what a perfect title. Good work, Paige.

[Michael Brown]

This is like a found story, and I'd like just a peek into the life of the narrator at the beginning, but no biggie. The note is pulsing with a life of its own. The symbol of the No U-Turn, perfectly placed. Really good work.

[Dan Djurdjevic]

So unremittingly sad, yet told in such a simple, non-sentimental (and economical) way. Absolutely fabulous stuff.