Switched-on Gutenberg Issue 16
Assemblage
Auto Life Fire

This is a legal policy between you and us.
 
What shall I do, because trouble comes to me and I am overwhelmed by it.
 
You are liable only for certain things.
 
I have many thoughts and they put me in danger.
 
This policy applies only to loss.
 
Give me a word.
 
This entire policy is void if, whether before or after loss, you abandon property for any reason.
 
I have committed a great fault and I cannot acknowledge it.
 
The following are not covered under this policy: animals, birds or fish.
 
Is it possible to repent? Why do you avoid me?
 
You must assign to us your rights of recovery.
 
Why are the demons so frightened of you?
 
Like other contracts, it contains certain duties and responsibilities of both parties.
 
Give me a word that I may be saved.
 
This is a non-assessable policy.
 
Give me a word.
 
Damage to the falling object itself is not covered.
 

Copyright 2010,  Rita Mae Reese

Rita Mae Reese has received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award,  a Stegner fellowship,  and a “Discovery”/The Nation award.  Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous journals and anthologies.  She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
 
"Auto Life Fire" is a dialogue between an insurance policy and supplicants to the Christian desert fathers.



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