As to the Manner Born

by Stephanie Trott

It was nothing they could have planned for, not something to be learned from a book or a blog. They’d read the manuals, consulted the experts, taken classes and received high praise. So when the couple spoke with their doctor during the start of the pregnancy’s thirty-first week, you have to understand their surprise in learning that their child did not wish to be born.

“Impossible!” said the woman. “We’ve wished for this baby and nothing more.”

“You’re a liar!” said the man. “We’ll take you to court for such fabrication.”

“It’s true,” thought the child, though no one else could hear. “I would prefer not to participate.”(More …)