Adam Stumacher was a finalist in Narrative’s 2015 Story Contest. Among his honors are the Raymond Carver Short Story Award, notable mention in Best American Short Stories 2014, and selection for Best New American Voices. Born in New Hampshire, he received an MFA from St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California. He has taught at the University of Wisconsin, MIT, and Grub Street, and was awarded the Sontag Prize in Urban Education for his teaching in inner-city high schools.

Subject, Verb, Object

A Story

by Adam Stumacher

Anh-Thuy Nguyen, who recently bleached her hair and told everybody she wanted to be called Ashley, had her head smashed repeatedly onto the hallway floor while in the classroom Mr. Bauer’s back was turned to write on the board. Her head made a sick thud, like an overripe melon dropped onto the sidewalk. Only this was Boston Public, so the floor was linoleum. And this was ESL, so the day’s lesson wasn’t simile and metaphor, it was basic grammar. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter what it sounded like or what Bauer was planning to teach; what matters is a girl was on the floor, bleeding.

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