If I Vanished

What would you say when a woman you love asks a silly question like "What if I were to vanish?"

You might answer that there must be a reason, or at least a context of it, like for instance being kidnapped, or being abducted by aliens, or falling down a rabbit hole, or having amnesia. Then she would say that the answer lies in the motion picture Open Range.

You watch the movie and realize at the credits roll that the question didn't pop up. So you don't have the answer.

She then rephrases the question and asks, "What would you do if I vanished?" You would answer that you'd find her in places that she said you wouldn't be able to find her. Then she finally says that the context of her vanishing is her meeting someone else.

You are left wondering if it's her literary way of either giving you a hint that she's breaking up with you or just testing you how much you love her. So you simply answer, "That's a different question."

Read If I Vanished by Stuart Dybek.

Here are some excerpts from the story.

"Characters in American movies are just poor excuses to watch movie stars. Can you remember the name of any of the characters Marilyn Monroe played? They’re all Marilyn Monroe. Charlton Heston isn’t Moses, Moses is Charlton Heston."

"If it were true that Eskimos have a hundred words for snow, there’d be a word meaning snow-that-makes-the-familiar-unrecognizable."

"He hasn’t heard “Pictures” in years, and it occurs to him that sometimes one stops listening to a beloved masterpiece in order to continue to love it."

"...Her face was so lovely to him that he hadn’t yet allowed himself to gaze at her with the full force of recognition. That was true of her nakedness, too; it dazzled him, and he found he could take it in only in glimpses."

"If the myth about a hundred words for snow were true, there’d be a word for snow-erasing-its-own-memory."