The Woodward Review

“you wore your white gown, waded into the baptismal font resting on the statues of 12 oxen, after each short prayer, you were dunked in the water, 75 times for 75 names in 5 minutes, you were proud of it, the number of times they dunked you in the water, pushing the lungs to the limit, the names of the dead, rattling off one then another, the name and then the dunking, 75 names, it was more than Chad or Brad or Brock, 75, you were dunked so many times and you could take it, pushing your body, dunked 75 times with the names of the dead, you listened to each name and date before getting dunked, then later they handed out the names, they were the dead from the 19th century . . .”

Excerpt from my unpublished novella, The Dreamlife of Honey, just published over here at The Woodward Review at Wayne State University in Detroit. Happy Days!