Skip to main content

Late Term Abortion

This is but a sample of this story.  The complete version is available in my print collection Man Against the Future.  From there, you can order signed copies, or buy it for the Kindle or the Nook.


This story can also be read in the book God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut. It is available digitally and in print.




“Honey, I want to have an abortion.”

“Again?” Harold asked his wife, Gladys. He’d been dodging her on this subject all week.

“I just can’t bear it anymore. It’s going to be more trouble if we wait any longer.” She had her heart set on abortion. What could he do?

“Can we talk about this later?” Harold turned the page of his newspaper, hoping to emphasize that he was too busy relaxing to bother with such weighty talk.

“I just want it over with. It’s hard enough, I’d rather do it while my mind is set.”

Harold tells her, not looking up from the sports section, “Now, Dear. Let’s not be hasty.”

“I’m not being hasty. I’ve been thinking about it for months. We both have. You just don’t have the nerve to say so.”

Maybe she was right, he thought. Then, resigning himself, “Maybe you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right.” She seemed satisfied.

Then Harold sternly added, “You’ll have to tell him though. I had to tell his brother. You can tell him.”
“Fine. I’ll make the appointment and then we’ll go up and tell him together.” Gladys left the room to get on the phone, to ready her late term abortion.

“Yes. My name is Gladys Harper. I’d like to schedule an abortion…” All Harold could hear from the other end was a low toned buzz humming on and off in a secretarial cadence. “Yes. His name is Jeremy Harper. He’s sixteen years old.”

Harold shook his head, still trying to read his paper; trying hard not to pay attention to the phone conversation. “Well, he’s just not turning out the way he’s supposed to. I mean… He even applied to an art school not long ago, it’s just shameful. Can you believe it?”

Harold couldn’t believe it. And the only reason he was agreeing to the abortion was his overriding morality. He’d be damned to have a child of his turn into some type of God-forsaken hippy. He’d hoped that the boy would simply straighten out; Jeremy had only gotten worse in the last three months.

The House and Senate passed the Late Term Abortion Bill into law just before Jeremy’s older brother Bobby was born. Gladys and Harold’s decision to abort Bobby stemmed from his decision to join the Communist Party in High School. They thought the idea of sharing something as sacred as money with less fortunate people was nothing short of dangerous and against God.
So they had him aborted.

The complete version is available in my print collection Man Against the Future.  From there, you can order signed copies, or buy it for the Kindle or the Nook.  It can also be read in the book God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut. It is available digitally and in print.

Comments

Robert Neddo said…
Wow! I'm not impressed very often, and I make it a point to give out a compliment only when I truly mean it, so with all sincerity, that was incredible. I'll be sure to check back for more.
Shelly said…
Love.
Carbonated Love said…
if you ever get around to it... this would make an awesome short independant film.
Unknown said…
Believe me, it's been thought about as a short film.
Jose Ugarte said…
I am completely anti abortion and this story is priceless, I hope you will let me shar it with my friends ...

Popular posts from this blog

The Missed Opportunities of Days Gone By

“Hello?” I said into the phone, accepting the call from a number I didn’t recognize. “Hey,” the feminine voice on the other replied, as though I should know the sound of her voice. At a loss, I said, “Can I help you?” “It’s Brooke.” Her name stopped me. It couldn’t possibly be her. We hadn’t spoken in years, a decade perhaps. “Brooke?” “Yeah, Brooke Baker. This is Mark, right?” Jesus Christ. It was her. “Yeah, it is Mark. Brooke. Wow. How are you? It’s been a long time since… well… since anything.” “I know.” “So, how are you doing?” “Okay, I suppose…” Her voice belied her words, though. Something was up. “I… It’s just been so long and I guess I wanted to hear your voice.” “I don’t think I had a number for you. Ever. I offered a couple of times, but…” “I was a brat back then.” And that’s how a random phone call turned into a two-and-a-half hour catch-up session. We spoke of everything under the sun: people we still knew, how different we were, h

Anatomy of a Scene: The Third Man

It's time again to break down a classic scene. One that's well-written and, in my view, a fine example of excellent craft. I've done some of these articles from books (like The End of the Affair   and Starship Troopers ) and other movies (like Citizen Kane , City Lights , Raiders of the Lost Ark , and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ), but now it's time to take a look at a scene from The Third Man . It blends the best of Orson Welles (as he's in the film and drives this scene) and Graham Greene, who wrote this particular screenplay. Before we get to the scene, we need some context. The Third Man is a tale of the black market in Vienna, just after World War II. It's about a cheap, dime-store Western novelist named Holly Martins (played by Joseph Cotton) and his friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles.) Lime offered Martins a job in Vienna, so Martins leaves America and arrives, only to find that Harry Lime is dead. Penniless, without a friend or reason to be

Anatomy of a Scene: All the President's Men

All the President's Men is one of those perfect movies. Based on a stunning true story with a brilliant screenplay from William Goldman (we've already gone through one of his scenes here with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ), it's a movie that brings all of the elements of character, plot, and drama together in a way that makes me really love and admire it.  The scene I want to go through is one that comes during a particularly trying time in the film. For those unaware, this film tells the tale of Woodward and Bernstein, the Washington Post reporters who cracked the Watergate story. And now, looking back on it, it all feels like one big victory, but it was marked by a number of defeats.  This is them reporting to their skeptical editor, Ben Bradlee (played brilliantly by Jason Robards) about where their investigation is at. Immediately preceding Woodward and Bernstein walking in, a salesman is trying to sell Bradlee on features his papers doe