The Cellist of Sarajevo

by Steven Galloway

Then there are the things one doesn’t mention about the dead. It will not be said that he had a quick temper, or that he sometimes cheated at his monthly card game. He was cheap. When drunk, he was cruel. None of this will ever be said again, has simply vanished from existence. But these are the things that make a death something to be mourned. It’s not just a disappearance of flesh. This, in and of itself, is easily shrugged off. When the body of the hatless man is shown on the evening news to people all over the world, they will do exactly that. They may remark on the horror, but they will, most likely, think nothing of it at all, like a dog with somewhere else to be.