Section 2: An unsolved case

Not much is known about what happened to Damon Fedderman after he left town one day. Every time one would ask his father, Nicholas Fedderman, he would turn away silently with a shake of his head. Their relationship was strained following the death of Damon’s mother, Theresa Fedderman. Most people in town say they saw Damon spend most of his time with his neighbor, the elderly Mrs. Delvey, who never mowed her glass and is rumored to have killed her husband. Some say she might have killed young Damon as well.

However, it was said by one local that Damon was spotted in New York City years later. The local was on a trip and claims to have seen the boy who has been on every milk carton in town since 2005. No one truly believed the story because it is so unlikely that Damon – who never spoke and seemed to not be a very intelligent child – would survive on his own in such a great city. 

The disappearance of Damon Fedderman is not the only case of a missing person in our town. In fact, it is not very rare at all for kids to disappear at Damon’s age. Many say that they leave to start a new town together, but others claim more dangerous outcomes. Whatever the case, local police are still taking any and all information known about Damon Fedderman’s disappearance, as well as all other cases of missing persons. Please see Appendix E for a full list.

Well, I got a little creative with this one. I decided to use this writing assignment as the one dedicated to my noir character. For that reason, I wrote this more as an excerpt from a town’s history book rather than a traditional textbook.

I enjoyed using this assignment because it allowed me to add to my character in a roundabout way. By writing from the perspective of other people viewing my character’s life, it adds a new factor of mystery and confusions – an important aspect of noir. 

I also liked writing about the town as another noir-esque character. A lot of noir examples we’ve looked at have exhibited the ways that settings are used to convey the feeling and theme of noir. In many of the examples, the setting plays a major role in the plot and influences both the players and the storyline. Therefore, I liked having the opportunity to add more to my story in this way.