Ramona Ausubel - A Guide to Being Born - Stories

For PJ Mark—books and authors don’t get better friends than you.

Every single person at Riverhead. Special thanks to Geoff Kloske, Sarah Stein, Kate Stark, Glory Plata, and Lydia Hirt. And to Sarah McGrath and Jynne Martin, magicians both.

My family. My friends. How unbelievably good you all are.

For generous support, tremendous thanks to Glenn Schaeffer, the International Center for Writing and Translation at UC Irvine, the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, the Tin House Writers’ Conference, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.

And to Teo—I love you from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the Mekong River, Balboa Island to the Gobi desert. From me and you to me and you and Clay. Let’s always run away together.

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

New York, New York 10014, USA

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:

80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

For more information about the Penguin Group visit penguin.com

Copyright © 2013 by Ramona Ausubel

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Published simultaneously in Canada

The following stories have been previously published in slightly different form: “Atria” ( The New Yorker ), “Poppyseed” ( FiveChapters ), “Safe Passage” ( One Story and Best American Fantasy 2009 ), “Saver” ( pax americana ), “Snow Remote” ( Slice magazine), “The Ages” ( Orange Coast Review ), “Tributaries” ( Electric Literature ), “Welcome to Your Life and Congratulations” ( Green Mountains Review )

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ausubel, Ramona.

[Short stories. Selections]

A guide to being born / Ramona Ausubel.

p. cm

ISBN 978-1-101-61461-7

I. Title.

PS3601.U868G85 2013 2013002037

813'.6—dc23

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.