Commentary: The idea for this story started with the observation that among the first and last things that we do as an independent life are inhale and exhale respectively. I wanted to bring those together to complete a circle and hit on the idea of using the final exhalation as an acknowledgement of the initial inhalation. I felt that I needed a reason why that acknowledgement needed to be made. Charon the ferryman became involved by virtue of his requiring payment in exchange for boarding his ferry. Rather than accepting coin, however, one would need to give him one’s most precious memory. On the Wikipedia page for Charon, the word ‘psychopomp’ was used, a word I was completely unfamiliar with, so I looked it up. I found it an interesting concept, so Charon became the name of the psychopomp in the story, whose role was to prepare the protagonist and lead him to the river Styx.
August Rode