I just hung up from talking to Dad and something’s not right.

The last two times I talked to him he didn’t even know who I was. The first time he thought I was someone named Claire, the second time it was Margaret. Who the hell are these people? Then, he hurried me off the phone because he said he was expecting an important business call.

ABOUT DAD BY LEIGH BYRNE 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 07

“I just hung up from talking to Dad and something’s not right,” my sister, Darla said, as soon as I answered my phone. “I think it has already started.”

We couldn’t bring ourselves to say the actual word, only “it”. “It” ran in the family. Our grandmother on Dad’s side had “it”. His older brother died from “it”. We had a feeling Dad might be headed down the same path. But knowing Darla’s tendency to overreact, I probed. “Why? What happened?”

“The last two times I talked to him he didn’t even know who I was. The first time he thought I was someone named Claire, the second time it was Margaret. Who the hell are these people? Then, he hurried me off the phone bec…