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Thursday, November 14, 2013

"Like Snow" by Brian Richmond

First appeared in Albedo One.

People--ghosts?--start to appear all over the community.  They are insubstantial and do not move.  Many people are confused about what to call them--the dead or aliens--but Danny is grateful for their presence, especially as his family is falling apart.  Even if they don't respond, they seem to sympathize.  Others, however, don't feel their presence is welcome.  They seem grateful when the presences fade away.  By then, Danny's parents have separated, and Danny has no one to turn to.

Interestingly,  the change is the parents' relationship comes with Danny's initial fear of the beings, which drives a wedge between his parents (or seems to).  We appear to have an omniscient narrator, but whether Danny is the inciting incident of parental separation remains unclear.  Pretty good magical realism.

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