Smoking With Sabrina Stoessinger by Beth Thomas Epilogue by Joaquin Villaverde via Creative Commons license What are the origins of this story? I was on a flight from Denver to Winnipeg in March and there were several different families with young children on the plane. The parents were trying to entertain and comfort their babies by walking up and down the aisle, and strangers were offering sympathetic looks and kind words. I was sitting at the back of the plane watching all this transpire when the first sentence popped into my head and my imagination took over. I jotted down some ideas during the flight and sat down to write the story a couple days later. Who is "her" in the first sentence? Is there anyone who can someday answer the narrator's question? "Her" is the last person with which the narrator entrusted her baby. This unknown lady haunts the narrator and I believe she will, one day, find her. During her continued search for more information the narrator will answer her own questions. Tell us about the shift from past tense to present tense after the first paragraph. The narrator is trying to piece together this mystery, trying to make a timeline for what she can remember. Inevitably with any trauma people can become confused, can block out certain information or completely forget everything that happened. Just as you may retrace your steps to find a lost item, the narrator is replaying events over and over in her head, trying to assemble concrete facts in the hopes of reclaiming another memory and eventually discovering the truth. In the first paragraph the narrator is relatively cognisant and in control; after the plane and passengers are plunged into turmoil her thought-processes become jumbled and "everything drops and crashes." The title tells us there is a truth to be had here. Can you tell us the truth about the baby? You're correct. There is a truth here. But the title refers to the perceptions of the third parties regarding the narrator and her behaviour. The doctor dismisses her. The airline customer service agent assumes she is joking. They think she is suffering from stress or delusions or a mental disorder and has created a baby to cope with the ordeal she's survived. So for them, her current state is "explicable" and no other explanation or investigation is required. They are content to believe their own conclusions, for the sake of time and effort. But what if they're wrong? How simple would it be for identification documents and passports to be destroyed or misappropriated in the midst of mass chaos? How easy would it be to claim a baby in your possession as your own, to be taken for your word and then disappear? Do you like to fly? I love to fly. If my schedule allows, I'll book flights with connections through airports I've never been to before just for the experience. I love people-watching as well and airports are excellent for studying human behaviour. Read Explicable. Issue Twenty-Eight (July 25, 2010): Young Waitresses by Steve Almond «» Frank by Matt Baker «» The Life and Times of Dmitri Kulikov by Tobias Amadon Bengelsdorf «» Scapegoat by Thomas Cooper «» What You Could Catch Me Bumping by Craig Davis «» Complicit by Gay Degani «» What You See When You Think of Home by John Mark DeMoss «» In the Attic by Murray Dunlap «» A Flower Thing by Jen Gann «» Seahorse Sex by Molly Giles «» Gertie by Kyle Hemmings «» Vertigo by Ann Hillesland «» Rock by Stephanie Johnson «» A Shot of Whatever by David LaBounty «» Palo Alto by Paul Lisicky «» The Lake House by Michelle McMahon «» Hell Is a Headline by Emily McPhillips «» How I Liked the Avocados by Wendy Oleson «» Regrets by Bridget Pelkie «» What Passes for Normal by Michelle Reale «» Avalanche by Joseph Scapellato «» Last Seen Leaving by Laura Ellen Scott «» Explicable by Sabrina Stoessinger «» A Fistful of Buttercups by Nancy Stebbins «» My Maggie by Eugenia F. Tsutsumi «» The Ghost by Russell Whitaker «» The Strain of Collusion by xTx «» Interviews: Steve Almond «» Matt Baker «» Tobias Amadon Bengelsdorf «» Thomas Cooper «» Craig Davis «» Gay Degani «» John Mark DeMoss «» Murray Dunlap «» Jen Gann «» Molly Giles «» Kyle Hemmings «» Ann Hillesland «» Stephanie Johnson «» David LaBounty «» Michelle McMahon «» Emily McPhillips «» Wendy Oleson «» Bridget Pelkie «» Michelle Reale «» Joseph Scapellato «» Laura Ellen Scott «» Nancy Stebbins «» Sabrina Stoessinger «» Eugenia F. Tsutsumi «» xTx «» Cover Art "Wall Street Must Be Tripping" by Marty D. Ison «» Letter From the Editor Interested in subscribing to SmokeLong's weekly newsletter? Click here. An email should be created. Send it as is, and you'll be subscribed. If the link does not work for you, send an email to imailsrv@smokelong.com with Subscribe slq-info in the body of the email (no subject is necessary). You'll receive updates detailing the release of new issues, new reading periods, contests, etc. We do not make our mail list available to anyone else.