THE  ABSOLUTENESS OF GIRLS

BY JASON GURLEY

In the passenger seat—big blue eyes and her mother’s hair, twisted into frizzy complicated braids—she looks at you and smiles, but it is the pink slip and the argument and the security escorts you are thinking of, and you drive away from your job a little faster than you should, and Sarah smiles and gurgles again and you think, Dear God, please don’t let her end up like my boss, and Sarah giggles, "Daddy," and you have a glimpse into those eyes and see worlds beyond these two minutes and you know with absolute certainty that: she will be just fine.
 
 
 

Jason Gurley's fiction has appeared in over 30 traditional and online literary journals, including, most recently, VOiCE Magazine, The Adirondack Review, Palimpsest Magazine, The Paumanok Review, The Bay Review, and Ceteris Paribus. He edits and publishes the literary fiction quarterly Deeply Shallow and is writing his third novel, Klamath.