2008 Woodie Awards
A glimpse of Nashville in 2020
Jack Butler
Issue date: 10/31/07 Section: Perspectives
Editor's note: Please enjoy this satirical horror story. Happy Halloween!
Susan starts the fire with a couple of pieces of flint rock. It is a trick she learned as a child from her brother Broderick, never imagining she would ever use it. The straggly remnants of her once long and beautiful auburn hair, she brushes to the side as she lays her third child, Esera, on the table. Esera died this morning just before the sun peaked in the orange glow of the stratospheric dust cloud.
Susan wipes away the years of dirt from Esera's face using the cleanest water she can filter. The rag she uses was once a wedding gown she found lying in a burned out shopping mall, just east of Nashville. At first, Susan would put the dress on and dance in front of a cracked full-length mirror, pretending that one day she would find a man to fall in love with and marry. Susan, 16 at the time, rarely dances anymore.
The hardened survivor would swear she had never heard a more infectious laugh than Esera's. Even as a baby, Esera brought life and happiness into the small family with her wide grin, sparkling blue eyes and unblistered skin. She would hang onto the edges of the crumbling walls and squeal with delight at her accomplishments. Rebecca and Cody would pick her up and twirl her in the dim light of the bombed out basement and laugh with their own sparkling eyes.
Esera's father was a mass of puss-oozing open sores, insane from the diseases that had eaten most of his higher brain functions. He had raped Susan in an abandoned super-store, while she and her friend Kali scavenged for clean food. Had it not been for Kali, Susan would most likely have laid on the floor in the canned goods section, bleeding from her wounds until she died alone in the poison rubble.
"A person can't afford the luxury of sorrow in this world," Susan tells her children as they watch intently. She hums an old Beatles tune, "All you need is Love," as she bathes her dead child. From the face she moves onto the arms and torso, carefully cleaning every inch of her hairless flesh. A gentle kiss fell upon Esera's forehead as Susan remembered her own mother.
Susan starts the fire with a couple of pieces of flint rock. It is a trick she learned as a child from her brother Broderick, never imagining she would ever use it. The straggly remnants of her once long and beautiful auburn hair, she brushes to the side as she lays her third child, Esera, on the table. Esera died this morning just before the sun peaked in the orange glow of the stratospheric dust cloud.
Susan wipes away the years of dirt from Esera's face using the cleanest water she can filter. The rag she uses was once a wedding gown she found lying in a burned out shopping mall, just east of Nashville. At first, Susan would put the dress on and dance in front of a cracked full-length mirror, pretending that one day she would find a man to fall in love with and marry. Susan, 16 at the time, rarely dances anymore.
The hardened survivor would swear she had never heard a more infectious laugh than Esera's. Even as a baby, Esera brought life and happiness into the small family with her wide grin, sparkling blue eyes and unblistered skin. She would hang onto the edges of the crumbling walls and squeal with delight at her accomplishments. Rebecca and Cody would pick her up and twirl her in the dim light of the bombed out basement and laugh with their own sparkling eyes.
Esera's father was a mass of puss-oozing open sores, insane from the diseases that had eaten most of his higher brain functions. He had raped Susan in an abandoned super-store, while she and her friend Kali scavenged for clean food. Had it not been for Kali, Susan would most likely have laid on the floor in the canned goods section, bleeding from her wounds until she died alone in the poison rubble.
"A person can't afford the luxury of sorrow in this world," Susan tells her children as they watch intently. She hums an old Beatles tune, "All you need is Love," as she bathes her dead child. From the face she moves onto the arms and torso, carefully cleaning every inch of her hairless flesh. A gentle kiss fell upon Esera's forehead as Susan remembered her own mother.
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