story: “Marta Ranunculus Wolf Calf”

author: Gillian Barlow Graham

year: 2017

where: Abu Dhabi, last day of Eid holiday

note: Reminds me of Kelly Link!

a line: “The merman and his children enjoyed playing with the clay, so they sculpted it into a slender humanoid body about one and a half times as tall as an average man. Marta’s mouth was in the face, where a human mouth would be, the wolf’s mouth was just above the crotch, Ranunculus’s mouth was in the belly, and the calf’s mouth was in the palm of the right hand. At their request, the merfolk made the calf’s tongue long and thick, so that it hung from the mouth at all times.”

theme(s): Identity, family, evolution, community