Tuesday
Note: Originally published in The Hawaii Review.
Author's Note
"Uncle Seth" was inspired by an old family letter. The letter describes the accidental shooting death of a cousin by a young boy showing off with a supposedly unloaded gun. Knowing many families who have been destroyed by blame and guilt over the death of a child, I wrote this story to discover how this family survived, particularly the young boy who was responsible. The slip into present tense in the first paragraph was the way the story's fictional narrator told it to me. I think throughout his life this tragedy was "ever present" in his mind. Though he never told me his name, I honored his voice
Jeanne Althouse lives in Palo Alto, California. Her flash fiction and longer stories have appeared in various literary journals, including Shenandoah, Pif Magazine, Pindeldyboz , Flash, The International Short Story Magazine, Madison Review, Redlands Review, So to Speak, Porter Gulch Review, Red Rock Review, the MacGuffin, Menda City Review, Kind of a Hurricane Press Anthology, Referential, and Jewel, a publication of Gray Sparrow Press. Her story, "Goran Holds his Breath" was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her novel Children Left Breathing was Finalist in the Augury Books Contest.
