"Maybe I neglected you/ Maybe I forgot that I loved you," he sings.
Maybe I forgot Kelman's novel because my life was removed from the main character's world.
If I find that pieces of furniture have relocated themselves around my house, I will not "Gaslight" myself by thinking, Oh, maybe I forgot I moved them, when it's all too obvious that they have been moved by paranormal activity.
To question after question, Mr. Abdul Majid flailed for a response and often was reduced to answering: "I do not remember," "I am not lying," "These things were many years ago," "I did not see what the C.I.A. wrote," or "Maybe I said it, or maybe I forgot".
And I remember going back into the emptied-out building one day during recess (maybe I needed the bathroom, maybe I forgot my gloves), standing still, and realizing that, with the thick walls around me, my ears were buzzing with something that I, growing up in Queens a mere field goal away from the Long Island Expressway, had never heard before: absolute silence.
I'm sorry, maybe I did forget to mention it.
But now that I'm thinking about this, maybe I should forget about it.
I am very, very happy now because maybe if I won this title at the beginning of my career maybe I would forget.
Maybe I'll forget they are there.
Or maybe a Democrat — I forget which.
