N. God Savage is a writer and philosopher from Belfast in Northern Ireland. He has written fiction for over ten years, but only recently decided to let anyone other than his wife read it. More here:http://www.ngodsavage.blogspot.com

Two Short Fictions / One Short Truth (December 20, 2009. Issue 12.)

Three Things About a Ghost

One: When he was born his mother didn’t scream. She slept soundly, a carcass-casket. They peeled her open and lifted him out with mechanical
precision. He had already cut the umbilical cord with his teeth, and tied it neatly with chubby new-born digits.

Two: He held the hand of a mute skeleton in a house by the sea. The memory of it became his bones – panic became his essence. He tried to reset his amygdala by jamming wet fingers into a socket but failed.

Three: Most of the people he met gave him one good reason to mistrust them. That was all he needed. He applied a bleak logic and decided to mistrust everyone.

Two Things About Jimmy

One: His contentment was a function of his stupidity. His wrongs were pointed out to him by the incidental bystanders of his schemes – scribbled on postcards with hopelessness. He glanced at each, then shrugged and flicked his eyes skyward as if he’d heard it all before. He was raised without apology, and lived accordingly.

Two: He took every detail of his existence – every thought, every action, every gesture. He carried them in his own carcass-casket to the Bank of
Life. “We can’t give you anything for this,” they said. “This is worth nothing,” they said. Behind him in the queue was a lame dairy cow. They gave it fifty dollars.

One Short Truth

My joy is inversely proportional to my outstanding desires. My desires must be either extinguished or bought out. I must be either a Buddhist or a
millionaire.