1.
You’ve thought about jumping.
It’s a cold winter night. You sit next to Queeny on your fire escape. The cars on the freeway come and go like waves. The lights from the George Washington Bridge reflect off the Hudson River like the shine in glassy eyes. The river is a giant bathtub without a ship or boat to save anyone who might be drowning.
Your babysitter, Nilda, says suicide is like killing someone, and if you were to survive jumping off the fire escape, the police would arrest you for attempted murder. If you do try killing yourself, you plan to live through it because suicide only works if you survive. Nilda laughed when you told her the attempt is meant to get people’s attention. She laughed because it’s true.
Read the rest in SING THE TRUTH: THE KWELI JOURNAL SHORT STORY COLLECTION
Contributor Notes
John Paul Infante (aka infanteJP) currently teaches high school. He has taught creative writing at the City University of New York Lehman College. He's earned an MFA in fiction from the New School for General Studies. He’s worked as a tutor and director at an after-school program, and as a pharmacy delivery-boy. He has worked at a lotions and perfume factory, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, and spent time selling door to door Kirby home cleaning systems (AKA overpriced vacuum cleaners), and academic essays to undergrads. He lives with his girlfriend and their daughter in New York City and spends too much time on Instagram. Follow him @infanteJP.
