Hosted by Jay @ Bibliophilopolis
“Just a Little Bug” by P.D. Cacek
Card picked: Six of Spades
From: David Copperfield’s Tales of the Impossible
Comments: Well, that was disturbing. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. P.D. Cacek is a Stoker award winning author. I’m not super familiar with her work, but I know the name and I’m sure I’ve read a few of her stories in the past.
Kate’s young daughter Carrie has cancer. When first undergoing diagnosis, the doctor comments that her sickness is probably due to “just a little bug.” To avoid scaring Carrie, the comment turns into a lie –“Don’t worry, we’ll swat that little bug.” In typical kid fashion, as she grows sicker, Carrie becomes more convinced that what’s growing in her chest is not a tumor, but an actual bug. Kate starts to wonder if Carrie’s not wrong.
I’m not sure that adding a horror element on top of something as bad as cancer in a child really works. There’s also a very questionable act on the part of Carrie’s doctor that destroyed the realism that Cacek had otherwise carefully crafted. Still, it was nice to encounter a horror story, a rarity within these Copperfield anthologies.
Simple Tricks & Nonsense 
Whoa! “Disturbing” and “horror” sound like very adequate descriptions for this story! But a story about a child who thinks a bug is growing in them: I could see that going somewhere.
Pingback: Deal Me In – Week 38 Wrap Up | Bibliophilopolis