Page 62 - WTP Vol. X #5
P. 62
roBert Garner mCBrearty
Indulgences
I decided that for a month
I would tip more.
I left half the amount of the check.
When I was a boy, we prayed for indulgences, which was time off in purgatory,
a lesser sentence,
but given eternity, who knew
just how much time off that was?
In the cafes, I tipped for indulgences.
I wasn’t sure how guilty I was,
but I thought I’d better cover my tracks.
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McBrearty’s work has appeared in many publications, including The Pushcart Prize anthology, The Missouri Review, Narrative, New England Review and North American Review. He’s the author of five books, and has received a Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fiction Award, and fellow- ships from MacDowell and the Fine Arts Work Center.
