Dementia with added superpowers

Last year, my 90-year-old stepfather fell victim to dementia. You don’t need me to explain how hard it was for him, or how rapid his decline. What surprised me was how he created an alternative world of his own and how steadfastly he maintained his central part in it until his body gave up on him. As a tribute, I wanted to suggest in my writing that even if we, as a society or as individuals, give up on people with dementia, they do not give up on themselves, and deserve admiration for it. That may sound pretty heavy, and labouring the point would be counter-productive, so I have not made “Charlie” the protagonist, and I have given him super-powers as a way of saying that we dismiss people with dementia at our peril. Now, I also believe that the very idea of super-powers is preposterous, so I have made Charlie’s limited and unreliable. And, to emphasise his humanity, I show him using them with both caprice and vindictiveness. I hope readers will not laugh at him, but laugh with him, and emphathise with him. Let us not forget that we are all more likely to get dementia than cancer.

Charlie has dementia, superpowers and deep black humour. Meet SuperOldie! http://bit.ly/1QoVeGR