ABSTRACT
OUISA. He wanted to be us. Everything we are in the world, this paltry thing - our life - he wanted it. He stabbed himself to get in here. He envied us. We're not enough to be envied. [FLAN. Like the papers said. We have hearts.] Having a heart is not the point. We were hardly taken in. We believed him - for a few hours. He did more for us in a few hours than our children ever did. He wanted to be your
child. Don't let that go. He sat out in that park and said that man is my father. He's in trouble and we don't know how to help him. [FLAN. Help him? He could've killed me. And you.] You were attracted to him - [FLAN. Cut me out of that pathology! You are on your own -] Attracted by youth and his talent and the embarrassing prospect of being in the movie version of Cats. Did you put that in your Times piece? And we turn him into an anecdote to dine out on. Or dine in on. But it was an experience. I will not turn him into an anecdote. How do wefit what happened to us into life without turning it into an anecdote with no teeth and a punch line you'll mouth over and over for years to come. 'Tell the story about the imposter who came into our lives - ' 'That reminds me of the time this boy - .' And we become these human juke boxes spilling out these anecdotes. But it was an experience. How do we keep the experience?
