Fiction
The Giftby Tom Barlow
Just as Jessica dropped off her last drunk of the evening, silently cursing the college debt and lack of full-time work with Channel Five that forced her to drive for Uber, her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the caller ID, but as a reporter she’d been taught to answer anyway, lest she miss a good lead.
The caller didn’t bother with pleasantries. “You don’t know me, but I saw you on television last Sunday, the report you did about that man abused by his priest.”
Jessica scrambled in her purse for her reporter’s notebook. “Thanks. Did you have a similar experience you’d like to talk about?” Last week’s interview of a local middle-aged man who had come forth to accuse his childhood priest had been her first “big” piece for the station. Until then, she’d don
