
Sunday School Hypotheticals
by M.J. Young
Imagine a baby you find in the street.
My imagined infant: dirt-marked skin,
swaddled in solely a diaper.
Where are its parents? Next
to the baby is a puddle of water.
The baby is dying. The puddle holds
swirls of color like those in
parking lots after it rains. I hope
the baby is far enough away to be safe.
You don’t know if the baby is baptized.
What do you do? The boy who christened
my brother and I the gay twins says I’d
call 911. Our teacher frowns. What if
you didn’t have a phone? The girl
whose father is an usher raises her
hand: Mark 16:16: Whoever believes
and is baptized is saved;
whoever refuses to believe is, um.
Damned? I’d baptize the baby so it could
go to heaven.
I imagine, as praise is presented,
the baby’s oil-stained forehead,
the picture of clumsy salvation.
M.J. Young (he/ him) is a writer who lives in Florida. He is currently pursuing a degree in English from the University of South Florida with a concentration in creative writing. In his free time he enjoys listening to Philip Glass and exploring bookstores.