Summary

The short story “Child of God” by Genevieve Abravanel begins with the unnamed narrator admitting that she is drunk. She explains how Bill, who was set to marry her friend Petra, wanted to cheat on his fiancée with her. The narrator does not know how she should tell her friend so she goes out and gets drunk. 

On the drive back home, the narrator is wondering how to tackle Bill’s infidelity, when her car hits something. She pulls over and sees a body on the road. She calls an ambulance and is driven to the hospital in shock. 

The person the narrator killed was a seventeen-year-old Amish boy who was riding a scooter. The narrator thinks he should not have been on the road but then thinks that she should not have driven drunk. 

The boy’s family invites the narrator to their house and she is eventually convinced by her friends to go. She meets the boy’s parents and their other children. They offer the narrator food and tell her about Amos, their son who died. They also tell the narrator they forgive her. 

The narrator confesses that she was too drunk to remember much when the accident happened. She also confesses that she is having an affair with her friend’s fiancé. Amos’s parents insist t...