This Impossible Brightness

by Jessica Bryant Klagmann

Breaking away from one life for another did not leave a clean edge—not on either side. She could have a nice childhood and a loving family and still need to leave it behind. Both things could be true.

As a writer of stories, however, he had given thought to who and what he would be thinking of when death arrived. It seemed a particularly important aspect of one’s own story, and he wasn’t about to let it pass without heavy plotting.

“Names are important. They give things significance. How do we talk about something without the damn words for it?”