Lost and Found

by Orson Scott Card

conversational come-ons

place like shanty.’” “What I was really asking,” Father said, “was whether you could enjoy going to the beach without your mom. It’s been nine years since we lost her,

But then Father said, softly, “I’m yearning for you to find a way to be happy. And I’m thanking God for all the progress you’ve made.”

“Earning a living for us and spending time with you isn’t keeping me from anything I want to do.” “I think it is,” said Ezekiel. “OK, yes, it is,” said Dad. “It’s keeping me from despair.”

OK, thought Ezekiel. This had gone far enough. “Officer, what you’re suggesting is the sequestration of a minor without his parents’ consent. It’s not quite a crime, but it puts a serious black mark on your record, and it will keep popping up every time your name is suggested for promotion, forever. Why don’t you simplify everything, and get me out of your face, by simply picking up the phone and calling Lieutenant Shank and telling him the boy he walked with halfway

“You and Mom looked at the world through the same set of binoculars,” said Ezekiel. “As much as that’s possible, yes, we did,” said Dad. “Whereas they looked at each other with a microscope,” said Ezekiel.

“We’re all just a quick bike ride from crazy, Ezekiel,” said Dad. “It almost never requires any driving.” “Dad, I carry crazy in my pocket all the time and keep taking it out to look at it. I’m saying, this Karen thing makes me wonder if it’s sanity I keep in my pocket and it only looks like crazy because I’m already bonkers.”

So after his disappointment at the completely predictable lack of attention the finding of Renee Delamare had among high school students, Ezekiel was able to talk himself back into his normal mood of resentful loneliness, only this time with an added layer of self-condemnation for having expected things to be otherwise.

Human nature

I may have already done the most important thing in my life. That realization staggered him. Maybe adults felt that way all the time. Maybe everybody had that moment when they knew that nothing else they ever did would matter quite as much.

“If we don’t find her in time,” said Shank, “you will absolutely know that you did everything you could. Your micropower helped save one girl. That was good. But your talent isn’t a superpower. It’s small and limited. And Beth’s situation might just be outside those limits. That’s not your fault, and it wasn’t your choice.”

“Love is a complicated business,” said Father. “For every time I felt sorry for you about losing your mother, I’ve felt sorry for myself five times over. Don’t beat yourself up because your brain thinks about you more than about other people. The selfishness of the human brain is how our species has survived.” “You always told me we survive by cooperation,” said Ezekiel. “Didn’t say our motives were pure, did I?” asked Father.

You’re just trying to return yourself to her.” Right, thought Ezekiel. He had to keep this whole thing inside that frame. He was bringing himself back to Beth, like the Build-a-Bears to Renee. Here’s the thing you lost. This belongs to you, and you didn’t know where it is, but it’s right here, heading for you. Wherever you are.

Ding dong, the son-of-a-bitch is dead.

“I made a choice and then I made it work for a while,” said Beth. “That’s all we can ever do about anything.