 by Matthew Babcock
Allan Douglas sees the luminescent face of Jesus in the sky over the Gulf of Tonkin before he ejects from his crippled fighter jet and, later during the technological upsurge of the 1980's, in a Toronto revival hall. He finds God then marries Mandie Hendershot, a beautiful travel agency director half his age. This string of supernal coincidences convinces Allan he leads a blessed life.
Then his daughter, Rebecca Ruth, begins to exhibit violent tendencies—hitting, slapping, kicking. Ignored by his wife's extended family, his sister-in-law, Rory, publicly abuses her two daughters, and therefore, Allan believes, has imprinted his innocent daughter with the behavior. Despite Hendershot clan denial, Allan chooses the day of his father-in-law's funeral to intervene with a letter to Rory.
In June on the shore of Skaneateles Lake, New York, Allan begins his letter—and discovers that someone has used his pad for the same reason and removed the top page. The impressions in the paper beneath reveal not a tortured tirade from Rory, but an undelivered letter from his wife, Mandie, that details a confession both unholy and horrific.
At a pencil's touch, first impressions threaten to shatter visions of faith and family—with fury.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Book Length: Short Story (approx. 18,000 words)
Price: $3.25
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