Lost and Found
In ‘The Map According to Me’, Susan Pieters reminds us that, in the generation gap, being the centre of it all might just make one more lost than found. Enjoy this excerpt from Issue 24, Autumn 2019.
The Map According to Me
Susan Pieters
Mrs Jones was lost.
She pulled into a gas station and asked for a map. The young man looked at her, perplexed.
“Don’t you have a phone?”
“I’m from out of the country,” she said. “My phone is off. Roaming charges, you know.”
“Oh.” He nodded sympathetically, suddenly on her side. “Well, there’s a paper map here, but it’s a few years old. Outdated.”
Mrs Jones was sixty-five, and she wondered what the twentiesish man would have called her if she were on his shelf. “I’ll take one anyway, thanks.”
He gave her the receipt and she asked him if he could point out where she was on the map.
He opened it gingerly. He held it upside down.
She rotated the map and flipped it over. “Here’s a grid of Austin, but I got turned around on the freeway. I need to go to the university. Is that north or south from here?”
He looked up and out the window, as if she were asking if it was going to rain, then returned to the map. He moved his finger along the lines. “I’m not sure where we are.”
For a moment, she was afraid he didn’t know how to read English. He had an accent, but surely anyone who used a phone was literate. She thought she’d help him. “What’s the name of the road outside the gas station?”
His face showed anxiety. “It’s … uh, let me check my phone.”
Read the rest of the story in Issue 24, Autumn 2019 …
Susan Pieters lives and writes in Vancouver, a city that changes so fast, it is easy to get lost. She hopes this story helps readers to get their bearings. For more of Sue’s work, visit her website, susanpieters.com or check out any of the first twenty-five issues of Pulp Literature, or the upcoming Issue 50!
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