this a joke Mavis?"
"No, I..."
"I'll be round in a few minutes. I can't quite remember where you live. Ha!
Must be going doddery in my old age! Ha! You sound like you've been working
too hard. You need a rest. I'll see you in a few minutes. I'll try anyway.
Bye."
The phone clicked and Mum looked at it, wondering what to do with a dead
phone. I took it from her and hung it back on the wall, and then I took Mum
by the hand and led her to the living room, where I made her sit on a chair.
She smiled sweetly.
"You're a good boy Darren." she said.
"I'm not Darren," I said, "Have you forgotten my name too?"
"Yes" she said, "I've forgotten everything."
At that moment, there was a news update on TV. The announcer waited for the
intro music to fade then he shuffled through some sheets of paper and said
nothing. A voice came in from the side. "Read the news." The man looked down
at the sheets and tried to read them but nothing happened. He couldn't
manage even the first word. It was too hard for him. The screen went fuzzy
and disappeared. Only a smooth grey remained. There was no notice to say
normal transmission would soon be resumed. Just a grey screen.
Dad came wandering back from the bathroom. His trousers were still down
round his feet.
"Dad! Pull your trousers up!"
He did. Slowly. Like he didn't know how. This was getting serious!
I rang the neighbour but nobody answered.
"Probably out," I said to myself, but I thought "Or forgotten how to use the
phone." It wasn't a nice thought. I rang another neighbour.
"Yeah?" said a boy.
"Joe? Is that you?"
"Of course it is. Don't tell me you've gone dumb too?"
"No," I said, "I can still remember things. I was just checking to see if
your Mum could help us? My parents have lost it completely!"
"No way!" said Joe, "Mum's in cuckoo land. I've got her sitting on the
couch. She doesn't know where she is, or who I am, or anything!"
"Mine too."
"What the heck's going on?"