First Published
Issue 1, Summer 2009
YES
by Dave Erlewine
Abe nicknamed his son Isaac; his wife, April, had grown up on a Laotian farm and saw no irony in calling Matt that. She was heavy, severe, pock-marked, but Abe stuttered and signed her up before he went bald.
The night Abe got laid off from his latest data entry job, he got hammered; he screamed at her for leaving the hallway light on, threw the sheltie out back, stood over Matthew's bed.
In the silence Abe heard God, or at least an unfamiliar voice in his head, offer a deal: pass his stutter onto Isaac and be cured himself.
After a good deal of thought, he sat down and passed out.
The next morning, when Isaac breezily asked why he was on the floor, Abe remembered his answer.
Copyright © Dave Erlewine 2009.