ONE FELL SWOOP
maureen traverse
That day, Dino and I saw a woman drop a baby. We held hands, walking behind her, a wailing toddler on her hip. The more she walked, the more he struggled, until he tumbled headfirst. She grabbed him up. Blood stained her shirt. She screamed and gagged, but he made no sound. Before long, an ambulance appeared. My heart felt like paper.
“Can you believe her?” Dino said.
“What?” I said, still seeing her crinkled face.
“She dropped her kid.”
“He fell.”
Dino looked at me like I’d tossed that baby off a bridge. Then I knew it wouldn’t be the same.
Maureen Traverse recently received her MFA from Ohio State University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.