Daily Flash Fiction Challenge

Lost

I glance up at the young woman seated in front of me. She returns a kind smile; eagerly waiting for me to identify the people in the photos.

I pour her another glass of lemonade, and kindly repeat, “I’m sorry. They look like a very nice family, but I don’t know them.”

Ignoring her glass, my visitor leans over and points at a picture. “Jennifer Hartman, her husband, Grant, and their children Alyson and Jimmy.” Her pleading eyes hope that I can give her the answers she needs.

Wanting to help her, I put my reading glasses back on. It makes no difference. It’s impossible to recognize someone I’ve never met. I shake my head.

She slides another photo across the table. Another family, but the house seems familiar, and I tell her so.

“It’s the same family. Same house,” she gently explains.

I’m starting to get frustrated. This is so confusing. I’m not sure why she thinks I can help, but I’ve given her an hour, and now I have things to do. “I’m sorry. It’s almost 3. I need to pick up my kids at school.”

My statement clearly disappoints her, as her smile quickly turns to confusion, then sorrow.

Hoping to give her some comfort I softly say as I hand her back her photos, “It doesn’t help to dwell on things that are lost.”

She surprises me with a long hug, then she tearfully says, “I’ll be back next weekend. I love you.”

Outside her grandmothers room, Alyson wipes her tears, as she speaks to the doctor. “She didn’t recognize me. She thinks she has to pick up my mom and uncle from school.”

“It’s common with Alzheimer’s patients, they get lost in time.”

“Grandma isn’t lost. She’s still in there.”


295 difficult words