Left Neglected

Sarah dreams that she is competing in a reality-TV show. Her son Charlie vies for her attention and impedes her progress. She builds a raft, but there is only room for one of them as wolves attack, so Sarah sends Charlie off and the wolves devour her.

Sarah wakes to the sound of her nine-month-old son Linus crying at 5am. She gets up and hears that her other two children are awake. Five-year-old Lucy has dressed herself and comes downstairs for breakfast. Seven-year-old Charlie is watching television, then says he is too tired for breakfast. Sarah packs lunches and finds a note from Charlie’s teacher asking for a meeting.

Sarah checks the dozens of emails she received overnight, after having been up till midnight. She finds Lucy and Linus upstairs and panics when she discovers a plastic bead in Linus’s mouth. Her husband Bob takes over the parenting duties so Sarah can shower.

As they prepare to leave, Sarah and Bob discuss their schedules, realizing that neither can attend Charlie’s last soccer game. Abby, their nanny, will go, which makes Sarah feel guilty.

Bob and Sarah gather their things and the whole family rushes out the door.

Sarah dreams that her children each take pieces of her body, while she struggles to continue working on her laptop. Her deceased father is there, demanding her appendix, since he died when his ruptured. Bob yells at her, telling her to wake up.

Sarah describes Welmont, the affluent Boston suburb where they live. Sarah and Bob bought their home there after graduating from Harvard Business School. They also own a vacation home in Cortland, Vermont.

Sarah drops off Charlie and Lucy at the early hours program at their school, leaving Linus buckled in his car seat watching a video. Charlie runs to the playground, and Sarah has trouble getting him into the building. She imagines that the other mothers are judging her for not letting her child play outside before school, because she must get to work. Inside, Sarah sees Heidi, the only other parent she knows in the program. When Heidi asks about Linus, Sarah remembers that he is alone in the car and she sprints outside.

Sarah feels guilty to see Linus crying in the car, feeling like she abandoned him. Unable to console him, Sarah drives to their daycare. Back in the car, she sees that she will be late to work again.

Digging through her bag as she drives, Sarah realizes that she left her phone at home. She rushes like a NASCAR driver to work, with the sound of Elmo talking about families coming from the back seat.

Sarah dreams that she is at the theatre, waiting for Bob. Her boss Richard sits down next to her instead. He tells her that she missed the show and Sarah sees that the audience is leaving.

At work, Sarah gets her first break between meetings at 3:30pm and hurriedly eats the salad her assistant brought her, while returning a call. While speaking to the director of their Seattle office, Sarah answers emails silently.

Sarah is the vice president of human resources at Berkeley Consulting, an international strategic consulting firm with 5,000 employees worldwide. Sarah is uniquely skilled at recruiting, assembling consultants into high-priority teams, performance evaluations, and career development. She must travel, but not as frequently as managers in her company.

The intensely demanding nature of Sarah’s job is exhausting, but she thrives on the satisfaction of fulfilling the ever-growing responsibilities given to her. When she feels overwhelmed to the point of exploding, Sarah allows herself five minutes to cry, to relieve the pressure.

Sarah notices on her schedule that Abby will not be able to stay for Charlie’s soccer game because she must pick up Lucy from piano lessons. Sarah is determined that Charlie will not be alone at his last game, so she takes a meeting from her cell phone as she drives back to Welmont. “No reason why I can’t do it all” (37).

At the soccer field, Sarah loses cell service and her meeting is disconnected. Bob greets her on the field, having snuck out of work. Sarah tries to get a signal and watches the soccer game. Charlie is spinning in circles, oblivious to the game.

Sarah tells Bob she has to return to work and hopes to be back for bedtime. Charlie joyously notices his parents and Sarah hugs him, glad now that she came.

Sarah dreams that she is strolling through Boston. A tall man is following her, keeping up with her as she walks faster and faster. She climbs a fire escape ladder, the man right behind her. On the roof, Sarah is alone, and the fire escape disappears, trapping her.

Sarah drives home through the Boston rush hour. She tries to leave every day around 6pm so that she can see her children, though most people at work stay much later. Traffic is so bad that she barely makes it home in time for bedtime stories.

After the children are asleep, Sarah and Bob eat cereal for dinner and then work on their laptops. Bob’s start-up company may fail, so he looks for job openings. Sarah feels stressed and anxious about what Bob losing his job would do to their financial situation.

After 11:00pm, Sarah and Bob put away their computers, too tired for sex, as usual. Sarah loves Bob deeply and wants to tell him, but falls asleep before he comes to bed.

Sarah dreams that she finds a mysterious door in the laundry room. Inside a strange room, she sees a lion. Bob enters and feeds the lion raw meat. Sarah sees another door and enters a new room in total darkness, and sits on the floor to wait for what comes next.

Sarah and Bob meet with Charlie’s teacher, Ms. Gavin. Sarah wonders if Ms. Gavin is an inexperienced teacher who has caused Charlie’s learning difficulties.

Ms. Gavin asks if Charlie has trouble with his homework assignments and says that he struggles in class. She says that he has a hard time following directions that include more than two steps, and Sarah realizes that this sounds like their situation at home.

Bob gets impatient when Ms. Gavin will not say why Charlie lacks focus or if she thinks he has ADD. Sarah feels angry as well and asks what they should do. Ms. Gavin explains that, as Charlie’s parents, they must ask the school for an evaluation. Sarah wants to blame Ms. Gavin for Charlie’s problems, but can see that she sincerely wants to help.

In the gym, Sarah sees Charlie holding up the line as the students head towards class.

Sarah dreams of swimming with her brother Nate at their neighbor’s pool, when they were children. Her mother chats with their friend’s mother. The water is too cold, so Sarah gets out and sits in the sun. Her mother screams Nate’s name. Nate has drowned and will not wake up.

Sarah is on her way to work in the morning, glad that Bob is driving the children. She picks up a penny on the way to her car and smiles. “Today must be my lucky day” (62).

Sarah feels energized, despite the rain and traffic. As she drives, she pulls her phone from her bag and searches for a number. Sarah glances up and sees red taillights in front of her.

Sarah slams on her brakes and hydroplanes, turns the wheel sharply, and begins to spin. The car turns over and everything feels like it is in slow motion. She hits her head and thinks that she is going to be late for work.

The car comes to a stop but Sarah cannot move. Her head hurts, then she feels nothing. Everything goes dark, but she decides that she is not dead because she can hear the rain. She strains to listen, then loses consciousness.