From Sleepingfish, the zzz issue, comes "Felted" by Jac Jemc.
Within a very short 1 1/2 pages, Jemc is able to get the reader to empathize for her characters, parents, children, a collective 'we,' without ever really stating what exactly is going on to cause them their problems.
We know they are low on food ("The elders are hungry, but feed the children one fig, one filbert apiece.") and that their shelters are not extremely well constructed ("They pulled spider webs down and packed them along the cracks in the wall for insulation."), but not the big picture cause for their problems ("They woke to their parents' lifting arms. Their expressions appeared stern, but behind their mother's eyes they saw that gossamer love they wanted so badly to prevail. In their father's brow they saw the prayer that this was the right decision.")
It wasn't until I read this story for the third time that I realized I wasn't questioning the what or where or why that might explain more what is going on. I realized that it wasn't necessary for me to know these things to really like this story and wonder if had I known them would the story have hit me as hard? I don't think so and credit Jemc for making the decision to either forgo these ideas altogether, or to revise and remove them to tighten up and strengthen this piece.
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