Scott Emerson

The bug
was waiting for Gerald
when he came home
from school

six feet tall, mandibles
chittering as he sat at
the kitchen table

Mommy said, Gerald
This is your new Daddy

to which he replied
What happened to my
Other Daddy?

The bug clicked
his great sticky jaws
again, patting
his knee, Sit down,
son, I’ll explain
everything

Gerald went to bed
confused, scared
by the noises that emerged
from Mommy’s room
moist gasps, the paper-flutter
of wings, wondering why

she called him Daddy
too