News at Eleven: "He is dead," [John] Burnside replied.

Mike was sad for him, sorry about his loss. "I guess you miss him," he said.

That's when Burnside told his lie--or, at least, let an untruth hang in the air.

He didn't contradict Mike. He was silent, leaving Mike with the impression that he had had a normal, everyday childhood, that he had had "a regular dad" in a normal, loving household, like Mike's. And that, yes, he missed his father.

from The Sydney Morning Herald: Words to touch the invisible

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