Free Strange Animals by Chad Kultgen Page B

thought about this at all. She knew of no specific laws she would be breaking if she made the site live, but Paul’s question gave her pause. She said, “Yeah. I mean, why wouldn’t it be legal?”
    â€œShit, I don’t know. Even if it’s not, I’m sure as soon as this thing hits mainstream news outlets there’ll be some kind of law passed or something—or, fuck, maybe whatever state she’s in will ban abortion. You know how crazy those right-wing fuckers are.”
    â€œI’d love to see them try to ban abortion. I think that type of reaction is exactly what she’s looking for, you know, something that forces the country to really dig in and say ‘Abortion has been legal for a long fucking time, the argument is over, so shut the fuck up already.’”
    â€œWell, if it’s not a hoax, I think that’s what might happen.”
    â€œIt’s not a hoax.”
    â€œHow do you know?”
    Karen lifted up her shirt to expose her belly.
    Paul said, “Are you fucking shitting me right now, Karen?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWhat the fuck?”
    â€œI know. It’s a lot to take in.”
    â€œYou’re pregnant right now? Karen, you’re having a baby? And this”—he pointed at her computer—“this is you ?”
    â€œPaul, please just stay calm and let’s talk about this rationally.”
    â€œTalk about—wait, you’re asking me to be rational? What about you? I mean, why are you waiting to tell me about this now?”
    â€œI was just going to get an abortion, so I didn’t tell you.”
    â€œWhy wouldn’t you fucking tell me you were going to get an abortion? I would have taken you and helped you. You know that.”
    â€œI know. I just . . . I didn’t think it was worth worrying you about if I was just going to take care of it anyway.”
    â€œHoly shit, Karen. That’s fucking crazy. But this is way more fucking crazy. So you obviously didn’t get the abortion. Have you gotten any response about it? Do people know it’s you, yet? Jesus fucking Christ.”
    â€œIt’s not live yet.”
    â€œOh fuck. Okay. Fuck. I thought it was out there in the world already.” He took a deep breath. “When did you come up with this?”
    â€œI was on the way to Planned Parenthood, and it just kind of came to me. I thought I could do this for my dissertation.”
    â€œYour dissertation? Karen, you’re fucking around with a life here.”
    â€œNo, I’m not. It’s not a life. It’s just a thing in my uterus. It’s not a life until it comes out.”
    â€œDon’t fuck around with semantics—not with me. You know what I mean. I mean, fuck , Karen. And beyond whatever designation you want to give to the fetus you’re now carrying inside you, you’re fucking with your life and my life and—wait, is that timeline on the site accurate?”
    â€œYeah, give or take a week, I think.”
    â€œSo you’re two months pregnant and you never told me? I mean, I’m a fucking dad. Holy shit. What the fuck? I can’t stop saying What the fuck? because I don’t even know what else to fucking say. This is insane. I don’t even know how to process any of this right now.”
    â€œI know it seems crazy, but I’m telling you now, before I make the site live, because I want you to know what I’m doing and I want you to be here with me through it.”
    â€œSo this isn’t a discussion, then? This isn’t us figuring out together if you should do this or not? This is just you telling me that you’re ransoming our unborn child on the Internet to prove some point about how fucked-up Christians are?”
    â€œI wouldn’t have put it quite like that, but, basically, yeah.”
    â€œHoly fucking shit. What am I supposed to do here? I mean, what reaction were you hoping