This story was originally published in Day One, a weekly literary journal dedicated to short fiction and poetry from emerging writers.
Lonely and depressed by her life and surroundings in the gray Pacific Northwest, Maxine accepts a dinner invitation from an old friend. Over a meal Maxine can’t afford, glamorous and poised Pilar talks at length about her recent trip to Dubai and her new boyfriend—whom Maxine is startled to recognize as someone she last saw twenty years ago, shortly after her father’s fatal accident. Even more shocking: he hasn’t aged a day. As Maxine probes for information about this mysterious man’s origins and strange agelessness, she finds that despite the puzzle of this paranormal phenomenon, she would rather explore his memory of her father—and the hole his death has left in her life.
With a beautifully articulated self-consciousness, When October Is Almost Dead in the Ground is a story of grasping at anything—even the past—to find a way to endure.
Language
English
Pages
22
Format
Kindle Edition
Publisher
Storyfront
Release
March 25, 2015
When October Is Almost Dead in the Ground (A Short Story)
This story was originally published in Day One, a weekly literary journal dedicated to short fiction and poetry from emerging writers.
Lonely and depressed by her life and surroundings in the gray Pacific Northwest, Maxine accepts a dinner invitation from an old friend. Over a meal Maxine can’t afford, glamorous and poised Pilar talks at length about her recent trip to Dubai and her new boyfriend—whom Maxine is startled to recognize as someone she last saw twenty years ago, shortly after her father’s fatal accident. Even more shocking: he hasn’t aged a day. As Maxine probes for information about this mysterious man’s origins and strange agelessness, she finds that despite the puzzle of this paranormal phenomenon, she would rather explore his memory of her father—and the hole his death has left in her life.
With a beautifully articulated self-consciousness, When October Is Almost Dead in the Ground is a story of grasping at anything—even the past—to find a way to endure.