"You Must Remember This" by Gary A. Braunbeck (Chizine.com)
Gary A. Braunbeck's fiction is marked by its uniquely weird premises, by the author's knack for dramatizing the disruption of quotidian existence by the uncanny. "You Must Remember This," Braunbeck's latest short story, is no exception. Randy and his wife Cindy are watching the old home movies that they just had transferred to DVD from 8mm, when Randy makes an unsettling discovery: the scenes he views onscreen deviate strangely from the past he recalls, and in some instances prove to be outright fantasies with no connection whatsoever to his actual experiences. What possible explanation could there be this perplexing turn of events, other than Randy (who takes Zoloft to treat his depression) being mentally unstable? Well, let's just say that the story builds to a whopper of a plot twist, one that manages to be both surprising and fitting. And poignant, as Braunbeck's greatest gift--his ability to craft realistic, recognizably human characters, people nursing both physical and emotional wounds--is also on full display here.
Ultimately the imperative phrasing of the title is unnecessary, because this is one story that the reader will have no trouble remembering.
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