H&H Magazine
Lost and Found
Summer 2018
happened, you know, happened. "What do you want to write today?" I ask, picking up the subject card and folding my legs. On the subject card are a bunch of boxes, with things like "Poem" and "Story" and "Message" written in them. I show the card to Brendan and move my finger over each box until he rolls his eyes upwards twice to indicate what he wants to write today. He wants to write a message today. I nod and put that card down. I take out a notebook and a pen from my bag and grip the alphabet card in my left hand. The thing's pretty big - about the size of a skateboard, I guess - so it took some practice when I first started to hold it up with one hand and write with the other. The alphabet card works just like the subject card - I move my finger over each letter of the alphabet and if Brendan wants me to write that letter down, he rolls his eyes twice, and I write down the letter and we start over. There's little boxes for "space," for word breaks, and "enter," for line breaks. If I make it through the whole alphabet twice without him rolling his eyes it means he wants me to read what I've got back to him. I use my pencil to point to the letters and watch for Brendan's eye rolls. Like I said, I've done this a gajillion times now, so it's kind of second nature. As my pencil drifts over the page, my mind drifts away from Brendan to the night before.
I now struggle for that absolution Away from me it floats As distant as Earth to moon As unattainable as the clouds To the ants that lay Unable to rise - Brendan Locarno
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