by 'Pemi Aguda
First published 2021
Pauly arrives home carrying three beautiful Masquerades, certain his mother will beam with pride at what he has accomplished. He expects praise, gratitude, perhaps even admiration for his success. Instead, his mother begins making requests of the Masquerades he has brought her. She asks them for favors, one after another. Pauly watches as the situation unfolds in ways he never anticipated. The son who wanted nothing more than maternal approval finds himself facing an impossible choice. His desire to please his mother conflicts with something deeper, something that demands he take a stand. Pauly discovers that true filial duty sometimes requires the very opposite of obedience. In this moment of reckoning, he must decide what kind of son he really wants to be.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: impossible-choice, reckoning
19 pages · Kindle Edition · Tor Books