Chapter Six: A Mere Seventy-seven Degrees

Summary

• The narrator speculates that the reader thinks they were upset by a text message from "Dad" asking "Who is this?", implying either a stranger found Dad's phone or Dad had amnesia.
• The narrator explains that their brother, John, often changed contact names in their parents' phones as a prank, leading to confusion.
• The narrator and John used to frequently change each other's contact names in their parents' phones, sometimes leading to accidental reveals or funny consequences.
• When the narrator received the "Who is this?" text, they responded with an inside joke, leading to a quick response of "Mia?" from Dad, reaffirming it was indeed him.
• The narrator describes feeling relieved but then became concerned when Dad did not respond to further texts and calls went to voicemail due to a possible dead phone battery.
• When sharing the news of Dad's contact with their family, Eugene, the narrator's little brother, showed an unusual reaction and appeared to read the text messages despite never having shown the ability to read.
• Eugene then became distressed and threw the narrator's phone away, leading to the family's concern for his sudden emotional outburst.
• The landline phone rang with a call the narrator believed to be from Dad but turned out to be Detective Janus with a bad connection, before the call dropped.
• Anxiety grew when the narrator couldn't reach Janus back and Dad's location dot changed on a locator app to a nearby park.
• The narrator and John hurried to the park to find their father, inspired by their old, seamless sibling cooperation.
• On the drive, the narrator mulls over the situation, considering the possibility of their father having early-onset dementia due to his odd text and recent behavior.
• While speculating, they saw a car like Detective Janus's, but it turned out just to be a student driver, adding to the tension.
• The siblings proceeded silently toward the park, rushing to the possible location of their father.