Leave the Troubled Skull Behind

Summary

They say that just before you die, your life passes before you. But what if you die in an instant? What memory or few memories would you recall and which memories would not be recalled? My daughter, Lina, who is a novelist, wrote a pastiche of Tobias Wolff’s short story, “Bullet in the Brain” for me one Father's Day. What makes it special is that a few years ago I wrote an autobiography, mostly to leave for my kids. When I wrote it, I wanted to provide a library of anecdotes for her to use, possibly, in her writing. So my autobiography is not filled with political philosophy or personal essays. It's filled with my life stories. And in this short story, “Leave the Troubled Skull Behind”, she has based the possible candidate memories passing before Baxter's life just before his death on my own life memories. She has chosen the memory she thinks would be the one most likely to be recalled in that instant of time between a bullet entering Baxter’s skull and his expiration. I never would have guessed which actual memory she would select, but it makes sense. She may be right. Someday, maybe I'll find out.