Shadow-less     by 張益勤 Jean Chang

It all started from the note from a John Doe#13…

 “Good evening everyone. This is PBS news. I’m Tony Wolfe”

Tony Wolfe, one handsome and decent man. After graduated from Stanford University, Wolfe became a reporter in PBS. Soon, he made rapid advances in his career—won the Pulitzer Journalism Prize in the age of twenty nine, the youngest winner in Pulitzer’s history. Since then, he became one of the best reporters in the States.

“The following news is from the police department. An unidentified body was found in the slum of New York City this morning. Police named it John Doe #13. However, a file of paper was found in his pocket. Unfortunately, most of the parts were hard to read except for the last line of the page which said, ‘Keep an eye on your shadow, it is your last line of defense.’ The police is suspicious that it might have something to do with the victim, so the case is still under investigation.”

“Thank you for watching PBS news. I’m Tony Wolfe. Good night. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After work, Wolfe was exhausted. He wanted to go home, but his boss left a note on his desk and asked him to interview a lady who claimed losing her shadow a week ago. “Not SHADOWS again! When does shadow become a popular topic? Elizabeth Kean…hmm… this lady must be out of her mind,” Wolfe thought, “how can she lose her shadow?” He looked at his own shadow and said, “Would you give her a hand? Through… ‘The Shadow Union’ perhaps?”

The lady’s home was not far from the TV station, so he decided to walk. The streetlamp shone smoothly making Wolfe’s shadow longer than usual. “21, third street, this is it.” Wolfe took a deep breath and pressed the door bell. “Din-Dong” the door bell rang. A lady opened the door. “You must be Tony Wolfe, I’m Elizabeth Kean. Nice to meet you.” Elizabeth smiled, but Wolfe was stunned. The lady in front of him was young and fair. She was about six feet tall, with piercing blue eyes. The ivory pantsuit made her look professional and well-educated. When she smiled, her dimples gave her a childlike look. In fact, she did not look ill or mad, but polite and elegant.

“You want to come in?” Kean asked.

“Hnh……Ye…s. I’m sorry. I’m not myself today.” Wolfe made a cough.

“It’s fine. Come on in.” Kean smiled and the two went in the house. It was not a big house but clean and neat. The well-arranged furniture showed the grace of the hostess.

“Would you like a cup of coffee?” Kean asked.

“Huh…sure, thank you.” Wolfe answered and took a look on the floor. There was only one shadow!  He was stunned again.

“Here is your coffee.” Kean handed Wolfe the coffee and sat down. “I have been waiting this for long. You can begin whenever you are ready.” Kean smiled.

“Ok, Miss Kean?” Wolfe felt confidence again. “Is there anything strange after losing your shadow?”

“First, you can call me Elizabeth.” Kean smiled, “Second, no. Besides receiving some weird stare from some people, there is nothing wrong with my life.”

“Did you ever feel panic or…”

“I did, in the very beginning.” Kean interrupted Wolfe and said. “I was terrified. I went to see the best doctor in New York, and he asked me to do all the examinations such as x-ray, CT scan and PET scan. But it didn’t seem to work. He still couldn’t find the causes, not to mention any solutions.” Wolfe noded, Kean continued. “However, it’s been a week. And since it has no impact to my life, I guess I’m getting used to it.”

After the interview, Wolfe walked home. While the streetlamp kept on its duty, Wolfe couldn’t help but staring at his shadow and wondered, “How does it feel to live without a shadow?” Back at home, after taking a shower, Wolfe started to write the story of Elizabeth as he named the title— “Shadow-less.”

 The next morning, Wolfe went to work as usual. As he handed the interview to his boss, the boss asked, “what is this?”

“It’s the interview of Elizabeth Kean.” Wolfe replied.

“Who is she?”

“She’s the girl who lost her shadow.” Wolfe answered firmly.

“Who? Lost her shadow? Tony, are you alright?” His boss looked at him with doubt.

“This is the lady you asked me to interview yester…” Wolfe could not believe that his boss’ forgetfulness can be this serious.

“Wolfe, listen! Go back to your work.” His boss said with impatience.

“But…” Wolfe tried to say something.

“Wolfe!” The boss gave his last warning.

So Wolfe went back to his seat and started to work. However, he decided to go visit Elizabeth one more time tonight and maybe… asked her out? Later at noon, Wolfe received a telephone call.

“Hello, this is Tony Wol…”

“What can I do? I’m so helpless… Can you help me? Oh, I beg you, you must give me a hand!” a lady cried from another side of the phone.

“Excuse me, miss, do I know you?” Wolfe tried to identify the voice. After all, it sounds familiar.

“Do you remember my name? …Can you tell me who I am?” asked from another side of the phone.

“Ah…you are…” Wolfe tried hard to recall the lady’s name. It was the lady he interviewed last night. He remembered her face, but what was her name? Wait, the story! He must had mentioned her name in the story he gave to his editor in the morning! “Wait a minute, I……”

“I cannot remember my name! …name… I need my NAME!” the lady yelled desperately on the phone.

“You are E…lia…bath Ke…n?” Wolfe could hardly read his own handwriting.

“…name… I need a name…name…” The phone was hung up.

Wolfe was confused. He looked on the paper again, but the name was gone. He tried to recall his memory, “Karen? Eva?…” But it was all in vain. He could remember few details.

Five days later, as Wolfe was preparing his night news, a picture took his eyes, “What a pity. She is so young and fair. She looks so elegant and well-educated,” he thought.

“Good evening everyone. This is PBS news. I’m Tony Wolfe. The headline news today is a tragedy. This lady, as you can see from the screen, was about six feet tall with blue eyes. She was found committing suicide in an abandoned house on third street. No identifications was found. As a result, police department needs your help, if you recognize this lady, please dial 911. Your help will be appreciated. Thank you. The following news is…”