When a Cheeky Boy Becomes a Missing Man

He was the cheeky but sweet boy in my Year 8 English class. He sat at the back of the classroom — as much as one could with tables grouped together — with other boys who would have considered themselves cool. Or at least popular. Or not nerdy. While he was definitely cheeky, he wasn’t disrespectful and had a good sense of humour, laughing at the jokes I made during class, cracking jokes of his own.

One day, he was being a tad disruptive and this was impacting the class  — they were finding it difficult to concentrate. ‘Michael,’ I said, with a smile, ‘Come and sit near me.’

I always had an empty chair near my desk for such occasions.

‘Why, miss?’ His question wasn’t rebellious, merely curious.

‘Because I like spending my time with you!’

He grinned and sheepishly picked up his books and meekly sat down in the empty chair by my desk. The rest of the class continued uninterrupted.

That’s why, when I turned on the news in 2016, I recognised that boy’s face, now a man. I was also horrified. The story was about the boy, now a man, who was missing. Drugs were alleged to be involved. My immediate thoughts were: what had the cheeky boy, who really was a pleasure to teach, gotten himself into or mixed up with? What twists and turns in his life led him to be a missing person, believed murdered?

I only taught Michael Modesti for one term, so I know of him only from that. I don’t know what kind of man he became, but I gleaned from the news that while he was a loving partner, he was known to the police.

I also know that I would never have wished this fate on this cheeky, sweet boy, and if I could have warned him somehow, I would have.

You can read more about Michael’s disappearence here, and if you do have information please call Crimestoppers or SAPOL.

332 words.

About the #MicroMemoir2025 Challenge

After successfully completing my #12Essays2024 Challenge — by the skin of my teeth, mind you! — I’ve set myself another writing challenge for 2025. This time, my challenge is to write 62 micro memoir pieces this year because I’ll be 62. I’ve done the maths: it’s one piece every five days or so. I got the idea from Deborah Sosin’s post on Brevity, where she wrote about the 70 x 70 word micro memoir pieces she crafted to commemorate/celebrate her 70th birthday. She ended up publishing these pieces as a book. Like Deborah, I enjoy the creative constraints of writing short pieces (and I’ve had some success writing flash fiction). I’ve done a number of Craft Talks workshops on writing micro memoir, but haven’t really written any. So, self, let’s get to it. Challenge accepted, although my word count will be a tad more lenient.

Image credit: Crimestoppers