Long lost short story: A pride of lions. She looks so tiny in her isolette. A flock of doves.

January 10, 2008 8:34 PM

I'm trying to find a vaguely remembered short story. The story was about a woman whose baby was in the NICU and then passes away. What I distinctly remember is that peppered throughout the story were phrases such as "A pride of lions. A gaggle of geese. A flock of doves." Lists of names for collectives of animals started and ended the piece, I think. In between was a very sad story about a baby, including the line "unplug my baby like he's a toaster?" or something very similar. Sound familiar to anyone?
posted by bonheur to media & arts (5 comments total)

"People Like That Are The Only People Here" from Lorrie Moore's Birds of America, perhaps?
posted by junkbox at 5:54 AM on January 11

That's what I thought of, too, but some perfunctory googling didn't turn up any references to collective terms for animals. On the other hand, it doesn't sound like something Lorrie Moore _wouldn't_ do, and it's a terrific story, so I suggest bonheur check if that's it.
posted by escabeche at 6:58 AM on January 11

This sounds very familiar, but I have no idea what it could be - I regularly read the New Yorker and pretty much any "Best Short Stories of the Year"-type collections, so it could have been in one of those.
posted by sluggo at 9:00 AM on January 11

I think it may have been photocopied from a book of "Best Sudden Fiction 1995" or something along those lines. I'm pretty sure the author is female. It's not Lorrie Moore.
posted by bonheur at 10:45 AM on January 11

Damn, I've read this story too, and I have no idea where. If you're still following this thread, I will go through a couple of books tonight to see if I can find it.
posted by indienial at 9:45 PM on January 13