From Opium Magazine 2 comes the story Vanishing Acts by Steven Gillis. I've not read Gillis' novels yet (though will be during 2006 as he has a short story collection coming out this fall and there will be a Steven Gillis BRC at that point), but it is my understanding that the second one has to do with the loss of a parent. I greatly look forward to getting to it if he did anywhere near as good a job with that topic as he has done here with Vanishing Acts.
The story is a scant three pages, but it packs a huge wallop of emotion, probably moreso for males with either really great, or really horrible, relationships with their fathers. Dad in this story is on the verge of passing on - cancer and the chemo apparently did not work. Dad tosses out events from their history together - just words or phrases really - and the son replies with greater detail, though with some regret as it appears he believes once they finish the history recollections his father will die.
It's an interesting approach, and Gillis is able to infuse an incredible amount of emotion, something I questioned when I began reading, into the story. Well worth your time to track down (as is the rest of the issue of Opium 2).
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