Unnatural Selection by Frederick Foote, Jr.

I was walking to school with my eight-year-old daughter
for the record, I was not walking her to school
I walk for exercise
she walks to school
sometimes we walk together

She said, “I wish I were a germ.”
“Why? Last week you said germs were the Boogie Man.”
“They’re so scary, but they’re super survivors.”
“Are you worried about surviving?”
“Aren’t you?”
“No. I think I will live out my allotted days.”
“Not if Candida auris cuts your days short.”
“Candida auris?”
“A drug-resistant fungus infection.”
“A germ?”
“Yep, a bad ass-kicking germ.”
“Do you want to be a germ to take me out?”
“Of course, not. I want to protect myself.”
“From germs?”
“Yeah, and global warming, and repressive politics.”
“Anything else you need protection from?”
“Robocalls, road rage, bigots, bullies, and school shootings.”
“Not drugs, poverty, crime, the high cost of health care, child abuse—”
“Dad, I said, ‘repressive politics.’ RP covers all that.”
“My bad. Are you working on becoming a germ?”
“Don’t worry, Dad. If I grow up to be a germ, I’ll look out for you.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“And Mom. And maybe even my brother, maybe, no promises.”
“I’m sure they will be equally grateful.”
“You should be. Germs were here long before us, and they will be here long after us.
“Amen. So, what will be your life span as a germ?”
“What?”
“It’s a tragedy to bury your offspring even if they are a germ.”
“Life span? Germs have been around forever.”
“You think individual germs are immortal?”
“Oh, there’s school. Bye, Dad.”
“See you later. You think about germ life span.”
“Okay, and you work on reducing global warming.”

I will, but first I want to look up Candida auris.

# # #

Frederick K. Foote, Jr. was born in Sacramento, California and educated in Vienna, Virginia and northern California. He started writing short stories and poetry in 2013. He has published over one-hundred-fifty stories, and poems including literary, science fiction, fables and horror genres and a collection of his short stories, For the Sake of Soul was published in October 2015 by Blue Nile Press. Another collection of short stories, Crossroads Encounter, was published on May 5, 2016, by Choose the Sword Press. To see a list of Frederick’s publications go to: https://fkfoote.wordpress.com/

Photo: Landon Arnold