h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Double thanks are in order What a great way to start a day. Again the folks in the thread have been extremely helpful in honing this little tale. Thank you folks

I would like to make a comment on the QA's (Quality Assurance?) comments. If this seems at all 'heartless' it's due to my lack of writing skill, not coldness on my part towards the dear old lady in the story, of whom I was very fond. This was my first effort at writing anything of this sort. Since leaving school, many years ago, all I've written is letters: my letters and my bosses' letters and once, a very long, tedious quality assurance manual. So nothing you might call creative. The thing that triggered the idea of writing these short stories was a terrifying experience I had, which amounted to one of those 'senior' moments. I did something irrational and couldn't remember doing it, even though I realized I must have done it, within moments of having done the daft thing. It was a really silly little thing - not in the least bit dramatic or dangerous. The terrifying thing was that I did it for no reason at all without knowing I was doing it. In my case, it was (I hope) caused by the medication I take rather than senility. But it gave me a horrible flash of insight into what 'Maggie' must have been going through in her final years. My heart bled for her when my aunt used to tell me about the constant fear an agitation - how, on her daily visits, she had to go round the garden, the whole house and check the bed, to prove to 'Maggie' that there wasn't a strange man there - and explain why her husband wasn't there. At the time I sympathised in a more detached way, not having a clue what it must be like. It wasn't until my incident that I got a real sense of the horror and confusion. So I tried to put myself in 'Maggie's' shoes to write the story and give the reader a sense of how she must really have felt. Also, of course, there's not a plot. It's just one day in an old lady's mental disintegration. At that point in a person's life, they lose the thread - or the plot. It must be hard to convince yourself that life has a plot when you can't remember anything. You must wonder what, if anything, it all means.

Well, that's the story behind the story. And since it was my first try, I'm cockahoop that you like and just wish I'd got it across better