"Arletta (and the Fetus in Fetu)" by Laura Freudig / Prime Number Magazine

"Too big and not enough at the same time."

When writing a new story—long or short—I try to present a clear enough path that a reader can form an expectation for an ending. My goal is to then deliver something different and more exciting / moving / shocking / revealing in that ending than the reader’s expectation. We are, all of us, overwhelmed by a constant flow of stories. So much so that the average reader, movie-goer, television-watcher is inured to most genre tropes. They have to (and I’d argue they desperately want to) be pulled out of the rut their story-wagon-wheel continually rolls in.

Re: the above, Laura Freudig is a woman after my own heart, and “Arletta (and the Fetus in Fetu)” (5,000 words) is a home run. It’s in the latest issue of Prime Number Magazine and it is must reading.

The opening quarter of the story introduces us to a family; Arletta, her husband Ed, their daughter Clary. Arletta wants to travel to Mexico to get her stomach stapled. Two decades of other attempts at significant weight loss (herb pills, diet books, colonics, exercise videos) have failed her.

Freudig’s deft depiction of the family’s home, of the small, specific habits and idiosyncratic communications between husband, wife and child (quiet silences, exasperated shouts, “the little squint which was code for a smile”) frames Arletta’s life with both care and brutal honesty.

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Then we’re with her in Mexico for the procedure, back home in its aftermath, and along for the ride on Arletta’s weight loss journey.

Freudig’s prose sparkles throughout. It’s a mix of stark, truth-telling observation and poetic word choice that engages every sense, that shakes out deep psychological nuances.

“Every day a thin t-shirt of flesh dissolved. By the end of a week, she was thinner by a sweater;

by the end of a month, a winter jacket. Two months later, it was as though she had taken off the costume she had worn her entire life.”

Shortly before the story’s mid-point, we get a dramatic turn. A physical complication; one hinted at in the story’s title. Save researching that real world phenomenon, though, until you’ve completed the tale. The story works just as well as fantasy. And when it takes another more surreal twist-of-a-turn, you’ll find yourself squarely in David Lynchian territory.

Any expectation you might have for where Freudig is taking you is upended and you’re treated to a close that exceeds any expectation. It’s the best possible place to land.

Prime Number Magazine is published by Press 53, and they do not find the authors they work with by way of an open submission process. Instead, they run a series of writing competitions for short fiction, poetry and short fiction collections. The submission window for individual works of short fiction runs through March 31st. There’s a $15 entry fee, and 1st prize is $1,000 and publication in the Sept-Dec ‘26 issue of Prime Number. They’ll accept word counts up to 5,300.

Their advice: “Authors who do not enter our contests can gain our attention by publishing widely in journals and magazines, including our own quarterly journal Prime Number Magazine, and by winning or placing in other contests (we keep an eye on who is winning and placing in a number of contests). We are always looking for voices that connect with us on a variety of levels. We do not publish works that are overtly political or religious, but a sprinkling of either within a manuscript is fine.”

Thank you, Press 53, for the work you do, and for introducing us to Laura Freudig and "Arletta (and the Fetus in Fetu)”.

~*~

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