by Denise McDonald (Author)
Just Saying is a dramedy set in 2018 in a middle-class suburb of Lowell, Massachusetts. The story centers on the relational dynamics between a sensitive and talented grandson (Michael "Smike," early 30s) and his bitter, idiosyncratic grandfather (Sid "Paps, "late 70s), forced together by circumstances beyond their control.
Both are in the throes of tackling separate, but parallel, emotional challenges. Smike's loss and grief, revealed through non-sequential episodic memories, are entwined throughout the
story. Paps' traumatic history of his Marine Corps Vietnam experience, disclosed through progressively troubling dreams triggered by seemingly innocuous events, strains the relationship between the men.
Discovering more similarities than differences in the spirit and core of their essential selves, they are drawn together as they face their own individual, crippling vulnerabilities and emotional anguish.
Humor, peppered throughout the plot, adds dimension and a balancing force to this heartrending story.