More in this series
When Cancer Runs in Your Family
In my frightened mind, so many people in my family had been reduced to that one word.
As a birthday gift, my mom wanted to take me shopping. I had one leg deep in a black over-the-knee boot when my phone rang. My mom, still smiling, took a fraction of a second longer than I did to realize: This could be the call we'd been waiting on. The results of my biopsy.
,
mine.
35 three
her age
.
What if you don’t get another one?
Normal.
Katie Gutierrez lives in San Antonio, Texas, with her husband, one-year-old daughter, and two dogs. Katie has an MFA from Texas State University, and her fiction and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Catapult, Washington Post, Lit Hub, Motherwell, and more. She is working on a novel while her baby naps. Find her on Twitter @katie_gutz.
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More by this author
No American School Can Promise Our Children’s Safety
Our future, the one we are living, was not inevitable. It was chosen. It is an ongoing choice.
Can Fiction Help Solve the Ethical Problems of True Crime?
True crime wants us to believe that our monsters are individual, not systemic—the errant serial killer rather than a violent and inequitable culture.
Con Suerte He Will Sleep Another Hour
Her mother had never curved a cool hand around Marilinda’s cheek and promised, Mijita, your life will be swollen with love.
More in this series
How Reading True Crime Stories Helps Us Face Our Own Fears
“Not thinking about these things doesn’t make them go away. So, instead, I choose to look. It is staring into a dim room and letting my eyes adjust to the dark.”
Mourning My Dad and the Dog He Never Wanted
If I could save her, I would. I needed to feel that it was in my power to save her, to save something. I didn’t need her to be uncomplicated. I didn’t need a good dog. I needed her.
The Mango Missile Crisis
After her arrest, I started to understand. All the racist slights and foolish men my mother had endured. More reasons to be angry than I could count.