Stars: 4.5/5
A tale of the past and present, tangled in tragedy.
“Grieving Conversations” is a short story by author Chris Cander. The fiction piece was published on Jan. 21. Cander’s main character bounces between the past and the present. This meeting of memories and current happenings gives the reader insight into the main character Brody, who becomes relatable and accessible as the events unfold.
Brody is a sheriff in a small Wyoming town. Recently separated from his wife and child, it is clear that the sheriff is not all there while at work. He receives a call for a missing person and gets to work. The missing person is a five-month-old baby, which unsettles Brody.
Brody is the somewhat neglected younger brother. His first memory is his brother Vernon being coddled by their mother. His mother got sick and passed away while the brothers were 13 and 15. In her passing, Brody realized the distance between him and his brother, which was previously closed by their mother. Their dad was a police officer who was home even less after his wife died. Vernon started to use kinnikinnik; this plant that got him high seemed to provide Vernon with the only happiness since his mother passed. Brody realized he would have to look out for his older brother now.
In the present, Brody pulls up to three men. One man is visibly uneasy, having used some sort of drug. This half-dressed man, Luke, is frantic about his girlfriend. He claims that she left with their child after their car accident.
Back in high school, Vernon was saved by his girlfriend Sabrina. He was using any substance he could get his hands on before he met her. Brody knew it was the real deal soon after meeting Sabrina. This makes him half hate his brother for reasons left unexplained by the author. Maybe he wanted to be there for his brother because he had no one else, or maybe he wanted to feel that way about someone.
Brody continues to drag Luke around in search of the baby. A late-winter cold front is coming in as the daylight slips away, making Brody frightened for the baby. He daydreams of his child and her mother. Brody calls his former lover to pour his heart out but soon reminds himself that he was never good at articulating his feelings.
By the time of Vernon’s graduation, Sabrina was basically living at their house. Vernon took the only step left and proposed to Sabrina. His life was perfect until Sabrina drunkenly fell off the bridge right in front of him. Their celebration turned into another tragedy. The rumors surrounding her death only made things worse, causing Vernon to start abusing any substance he could find.
“Grieving Conversations” continues on in this same back-and-forth manner. It feels strange to say that I enjoyed a tale of tragedy, but it’s true. It caught my attention quickly and kept it by giving me insight into why the main character acts the way he does while the events are unfolding. I have seen this concept in some TV shows, but never in a book. Diving just as deep into a character’s past as their present is fascinating.
I particularly enjoyed seeing the characters brought to life by Cander’s words.
“His once soft body was lean and ropey, and while most of his skin was pale, his forearms were so deeply tanned that they looked like leather,” Cander describes a distraught Vernon.
I have no idea what the characters’ faces look like, yet I can see the people behind the actions.
Cander sets the scenes in the story so well that the reader never has a problem figuring out if they are with Brody in the past or the present. The reader feels every emotion in the story. You feel the pain of the brother after he loses his fiancée. You are angry at the people making up rumors about what really happened. Death is a difficult subject to capture even though it is something everyone experiences. The ending is a bit abrupt, leaving you wanting more. Cander’s writing is on point overall, immersing you in a tragic tale with a hint of hope.