The Scar Forever Feels the Wound

by JS O'Keefe

I am with child, praise the Lord, praise his holy name, says my wife with the subtle smile of the Madonna. Actually, she uses drastically different language and her face resembles Medusa. She calms down but then I begin to worry: my older brother was stillborn and my younger brother died barely a week old. Eight months later the only question I have for the doctor if my son’s likely to survive beyond next week. The good doctor looks at me, chuckles and walks away shaking his head. Next day when I tell the coach I have to quit jiu-jitsu, I explain my wife’s given birth to my brother.

6S

JS O'Keefe is a scientist, trilingual translator and published short-story writer.