I love the fable-like quality of this story: an ailing father recounts the memories of his past loves to his son who attends to him at his bedside. When they get talking about “the one in Spain”, the father urges his son “to promise to go and visit her before I die”, and proceeds to give him detailed directions to her house in Puntas de Calnegre. The son decides to fulfil his father’s dying wish and sets out to pay the woman a visit. This encounter is affirmative for them both. In his absence, they have the opportunity to re-evaluate the man who brought them together. Their gain, however, is tainted by the news that the father has died.  

From Having Said Goodnight, Merlin, 2015. Available to read online here