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Author’s note: The following is in haibun form—poetic prose (microfiction with less than 200 words in this case) coupled with a haiku. It was written in response to a writing prompt to (re)tell a Christmas story in local (Michigan in this case) contemporary terms. Bronson Hospital is our local hospital, and deer are mystical creatures when encountered on foot in local parks but road hazards when encountered in vehicles at night. Indeed, we all have mystically tinged obstacles on our sacred/secular life journeys through the dark toward the light.


Journey of a Contemporary Joseph

By Mark D. Stucky
José suddenly brakes and swerves. The rusty Jeep barely misses the deer that had jumped onto the dark road and stared wide-eyed at the approaching lights. Fortunately, no other traffic obstacles slow the drive to Bronson Hospital…but he still fears the future since he and Maria have no insurance or documentation.

José feels jumpy-yet-paralyzed like that deer, haunted by fears about their long journey from their impoverished village. They had often felt unwelcome in this strange new land, but at least fewer people here were judgmental of an unwed pregnancy.

José shivers, partly from anxiety but mostly from the cold. His meager jacket hardly protects against freezing weather, conditions alien to his previous life. He reaches over and pulls the blanket up around Maria’s shoulders, and she smiles weakly. Maria murmurs to him that in spite of her discomfort and doubts in this time of trouble, she feels a miraculous peace of God, protecting them and promising a better life for their coming son. José glances at her and, for the first time in months, smiles too as he drives toward the lights ahead.

Journey of hopeful
pilgrimage into unknown
possibilities


(First published in Small Town Anthology VIII: Entries from the Eighth Annual Tournament of Writers, Vicksburg Cultural Arts Center, 2022, p. 161. Indeed, Jesus and his family left Bethlehem to become undocumented immigrants in Egypt to escape violence during his earliest years.)

(Image by Tomas Anunziata on Pexels.com.)
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