"Please just tell me what's wrong. I want to know what I can do to help you. I'm your mother. That's what I'm here for," Mikey said through the door.
"But that's just it. You're not my mother," Linda said, softly to herself.
"Did you say something, honey? I couldn't hear," Mikey said.
Linda couldn't possibly tell Mikey what was wrong. He wouldn't believe her. At best, he'd think that she was just playing around. At worst, he'd think that she had lost her mind. It was best to keep what was happening to herself, at least for the moment. She didn't want to be tossed into a padded cell. She wasn't crazy.
So she decided to play along, until she figured out what was happening. She may have been going through some physical changes, but she was still herself. She was still Linda Madison, mother of three.
Wait. Mother of three? Where did that come from? Mikey was her only child. She never had any other children. But there was this feeling at the back of her mind that told her that that wasn't true. That ... there were two others. James? Jeff? No ... Jon! Yes, Jon. How could she forget Jon? She thought harder for the other name. It began with a Z, as strange as that sounded. She was sure of it. She thought so hard that she was getting a headache. Zoe! That was her name. How could she forget about her only daughter?
There was certainly more going on than she originally thought. She had completely forgotten about two of her own children.
"Honey, please," Mikey said. "Talk to me."
