I thought it was a joke:

“Did you hear,” my eleven-year-old son announced when he bounded in the house at suppertime, “that Michael Jackson is dead? He had a heart attack.”

“No way!” I replied.

Sure enough it was true…the T.V. news confirmed he was dead…but of cardiac arrest (not the same as a heart attack).

I’m stunned.

And I can’t help but reminisce about the Michael Jackson concert I saw in Vancouver in the early/mid 80’s…the Victory Tour – that was spectacular!

My sister Cindy had been shocked at the time when I told her I was going to his concert (I had stayed overnight at her place).

“He wears makeup you know,” she had scolded.

But I didn’t care. He was a pop sensation…a great performer…and who could resist that moonwalk!

Michael Jackson dead at the age of 50!

What a shock!

Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My friend
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