From Further Interpretations Of Real-Life Events: Stories by Kevin Moffett
Harper, March 2012

Death arrives, predictably or not to Dora’s father. Or quietly, even quickly depending on your perspective. Dora hasn’t been waiting that long, but she didn’t expect him to rest in peace right away. Her father has his moments told in flashback, we see him on the edge of sickness, and then only know him as he fades away from the living. Andrew is sitting on a plane bound for London when he hears the news that his father has died, via text message from his own mother. Andrew doesn’t move. It’s not as though he doesn’t care. It is callous not to get off the plane that is sitting at the gate waiting to leave. He is torn between doing what he wants, living his life without this tragedy, and doing what is right. Getting off the plane seems like the only option.

Moffett once again carves a man’s actions from his inaction. The possible from the impossible. Each character he introduces us to is being chased by a magnet. Except they don’t know it’s a magnet. It is hard to believe that this world is filled with selfish people, but essentially it is true. Andrew reads the in flight magazine front to back and even considers emailing a person who wrote a letter to the editor. Anything to take his mind off of what he should do. Andrew thinks of his life will lead him away from the one that is running down the jetway towards him. He knows, painfully so, that the world is small, but bigger than the speck of glitter that Dora peels off her father’s forehead just moments after he dies.