Heroes

Abstract

What human values would you deny to save your life? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, a group of families are on vacation touring Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater when they hear gunshots. While most are confused, one attuned man realizes the danger and quickly gets the children safely into the basement. The remaining group is then confronted by men with guns looking to sort out, and kill, everyone who are not Christian. They are, they say, trying to bring America back to its true values and roots. An offended black man confronts them, but they assure him, they aren’t racists, they are good Christian men. They kill a Jewish man, who makes clear while he believes Jesus was a good man, but not the son of God. The narrator’s husband is then picked next and asked to confirm his Christian faith. His wife knows he’s an atheist and tries to will him to lie. Instead, her husband confesses both his Canadian citizenship and his lack of Christian faith, and is killed. Shortly thereafter police snipers show up and show the gunmen dead. The families are safe, but the narrator must now explain to their two children in the basement, that their father is dead.