Erasure by Percival Everett

out an insurance policy on herself, but much of that went to paying off her bills. My mother had some savings, but she was not wealthy. The house was at least paid for. What had been my father’s office was a money drain. And until I could sell my sister’s share, a third of the Women’s Clinic Southeast belonged to me. The two physicians in the clinic with my sister were as young as she, terrified that they were the next targets and unwilling to commit themselves any further into the operation by buying me out.

    DOCTOR 1: This whole venture has always been iffy. I’m nearly ready to cut my losses and get out.
    DOCTOR 2: We have done some good work here.
    DOCTOR 1: What the hell does that mean? We hand out birth control pills and condoms to girls who won’t use them. We treat people who act like we owe it to them. What are we doing? Being role models? These kids laugh at us.
    DOCTOR 2: We didn’t start this to be popular.
    DOCTOR 1: But we are popular. We’re popular the way a drunken uncle is popular because he falls asleep with money falling out of his pockets.
    DOCTOR 2: You’re bitter. You’re sounding like a Republican.
    DOCTOR 1: That’s suppose to fill me with guilt. There’s a new political correctness. I go to parties and I’m afraid to admit what I do for a living. “I practice medicine at a women’s clinic,” I say. “Oh, you perform abortions,” they say and look at me like I’m the villain.
    DOCTOR 2: That’s true.
    DOCTOR 1: You’re damn right. It’s okay to say you’re pro-choice, just as long as you don’t say you’re for abortion. (Pauses) I’m terrified.
    DOCTOR 2: What about our patients?
    DOCTOR 1: They’ll divide up and go to the other clinics.
    DOCTOR 2: What would Lisa say?
    DOCTOR 1: Lisa’s dead.

    Money was tight. I went over to the English Department at American University and asked for a job. I gave them my
curriculum vitae:
Curriculum Vitae
    Thelonious Ellison
    Citizenship: USA
    Social Security #: 271–66–6961
    Address: 1329 Underwood St.
               Washington, DC 20009
Education
    University of California, Irvine, M.F.A., Creative Writing, 1980
    Harvard University, A.B., English, 1977
Publications
(books)
    Personal Knowledge,
a novel, Tower Press, New York, NY, 1993.
    The Persians,
a novel, Lawrence Press, New York, NY, 1991.
    The Second Failure,
a novel, Endangered Species Press, Chicago, IL, 1988.
    Shedding Skin,
short stories, Lawrence Press, New York, NY, 1984.
    Chaldean Oracles,
a novel, Fat Chance Press, Lawrence Press, 1983.
(short works)
    “Euripides Alibi,” short story,
Experimental Fiction,
Santa Cruz, CA, v.5, no.3, 1995.
    “The Devolution of Twain’s Memory,” fiction,
Theoretical Ropes,
Spring, University of Texas, 1995.
    “House of Smoke,” short story,
Lanyard Review, v.7
no.1, New Orleans, LA, 1994.
    “The Last Heat of Misery,” short story,
Alabama Mud,
Fall, Dallas, TX, 1994.
    “Climbing Down,” short story,
Frigid Noir Review
#45, Santa Fe, NM, Spring 1993.
    “Night Deposits,” short story,
Frigid Noir Review
#44, Santa Fe, NM, Winter 1992.
    “Façon de parler,”
short story,
Out of Synch,
University of Colorado, Winter 1992.
    “Clem’s Resolution,” short story,
Last Stand Review,
University of Virginia, v.20, no. 2, 1991.
    “Another Man’s Wife,” short story,
Esquire,
New York, NY, September 1990.
Teaching History
    Professor of English, University of California-Los Angeles, 1994–95.
    Associate Professor, UCLA, 1988–94.
    Visiting Professor of English and Honors, University of Minnesota, fall 1993.
    Faculty, Bennington Writing Workshops, Bennington College, 1992, 93.
Honors
    Timson Award for Excellence in Literature,
The Persians,
1991.
    3 Pushcart Prize
prizes, 1990, 92, 94
    National Endowment for the Arts, Fiction Fellowship, 1989.
    The D. H. Lawrence Literary Fellowship, University of New Mexico, 1987.
Selected Readings and Lectures
    1995-Rutgers University
    1993-University of Michigan
    -Bennington