Opening: One June 13, 2014, Simon Weiss came into the mechanic's shop where he worked in Brookneal, Virginia. He was a quiet kid in Carharts overalls. He had started working at Brookneal Goodyear two years before at 16. He was enrolled in the vocational school and living with a foster family.
Capsule: Extremely well-written story narratively framed as a non-fiction article (a kind of populist medical case history, or medically-themed human interest piece). This choice works beautifully to create poignancy in this exploration of a child who appears to suffer from "dissociative fugue." Focusing on the details of names, places, times grounds the story in reality and prevents the trappings of bathos. I found several passages stunning for the sense of heightened realism they achieved. Don't pass up on this beauty.
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