ACCIDENTAL FALLS by Christina Murphy
$2.00Price
My mother, returning with a bottle of wine borrowed from a neighbor for the party at which people drank more than she expected, tripped over a piece of broken pavement, fell onto the sidewalk, and took a chunk of skin off her palms. The bottle shattered. My mother, a hysteric by nature, screamed and cried and drew a crowd—my father chief among them, who discovered that a shard of the green bottle glass had imbedded itself in the center of my mother’s forehead. He removed it gingerly, telling her it was all right, she was not hurt. This was no comfort to my mother, who was fixated on that she could have been blinded. This was my mother’s world, the could-have-been of multiple horrors and outcomes. He helped her to her feet. She was still crying as the crowd gathered round, giving her comfort with the one platitude she claimed as her own—how awful that this should happen to her.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Christina Murphy's stories have appeared in a range of journals and anthologies, including A cappella Zoo, PANK, Word Riot, Spilling Ink Review, and The Last Word: A Collection of Fiction. Her fiction has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and was the winner of the 2011 Andre Dubus Award for Short Fiction.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR:
Francesco Orazzini is an Italian satirical author. His work in the visual arts comprises illustration and animation, and has appeared at the Biennial of Contemporary Art of Dakar (2010), the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (2010), and in worldwide film festival such as L.E.S Film Festival of New York, Golden Orchid Film Festival of Philadelphia, Toluca Film Festival of Mexico, and many more. In New York City, he worked as a studio assistant for Nancy Lorenz, international painter-designer (Guggenheim Fellow). His work recently appeared on Juxtapoz’s online magazine of art and culture. He lives in Mexico City, working as a freelancer.