Smoking With Thomas Cooper by Beth Thomas Epilogue by Joaquin Villaverde via Creative Commons license Where did this story come from? Is it too easy to assume it came from actual experience? Not many of my stories are based on actual experience. There's nothing in this piece that's based on my life. It's all a bunch of horsing around. I saw one of those corny "What would your baby look like?" ads on Facebook and that sparked an idea. I gave myself a day or two to work around this motif. Why did he throw the picture into the junk drawer and not the trash? I'll be honest: I'm not too sure. I don't know why many of my characters do what they do. I'm not saying they take a life of their own, because that's dumb. Paraphrasing Nabokov here. I guess throwing the picture in the trash would have been too insensitive a gesture? The woman in the story obviously felt some maternal attachment to the baby, or the idea of it. Also, the man filed away the episode in the junk drawer of his memory. So, doing the same with the photo is a corollary to that. Not that I thought about a story's elements this way during composition. Theorizing like that is anathema to creativity. At least mine. What did this argument bring to light in their relationship? What splinter did it wedge in there? I don't think it wedged a splinter. The splinter was already there. But it's the man's misbegotten notion that this was the beginning of the end, when the end had already started. The title is a huge part of this story—it would read quite differently with a more passive title. How did you decide to give the title so much power? The piece went through a few different title changes. At first, it was "Boris," which is iffy. Then it was "Little Baby Boris," which is much worse. Then it was "Our Hypothetical Baby," which is putrid. So, choosing the title was ultimately not a matter of thinking, "What's the most powerful here?" but "What sucks the least?" Read Scapegoat. Issue Twenty-Eight (July 25, 2010): Young Waitresses by Steve Almond «» Frank by Matt Baker «» The Life and Times of Dmitri Kulikov by Tobias Amadon Bengelsdorf «» Scapegoat by Thomas Cooper «» What You Could Catch Me Bumping by Craig Davis «» Complicit by Gay Degani «» What You See When You Think of Home by John Mark DeMoss «» In the Attic by Murray Dunlap «» A Flower Thing by Jen Gann «» Seahorse Sex by Molly Giles «» Gertie by Kyle Hemmings «» Vertigo by Ann Hillesland «» Rock by Stephanie Johnson «» A Shot of Whatever by David LaBounty «» Palo Alto by Paul Lisicky «» The Lake House by Michelle McMahon «» Hell Is a Headline by Emily McPhillips «» How I Liked the Avocados by Wendy Oleson «» Regrets by Bridget Pelkie «» What Passes for Normal by Michelle Reale «» Avalanche by Joseph Scapellato «» Last Seen Leaving by Laura Ellen Scott «» Explicable by Sabrina Stoessinger «» A Fistful of Buttercups by Nancy Stebbins «» My Maggie by Eugenia F. Tsutsumi «» The Ghost by Russell Whitaker «» The Strain of Collusion by xTx «» Interviews: Steve Almond «» Matt Baker «» Tobias Amadon Bengelsdorf «» Thomas Cooper «» Craig Davis «» Gay Degani «» John Mark DeMoss «» Murray Dunlap «» Jen Gann «» Molly Giles «» Kyle Hemmings «» Ann Hillesland «» Stephanie Johnson «» David LaBounty «» Michelle McMahon «» Emily McPhillips «» Wendy Oleson «» Bridget Pelkie «» Michelle Reale «» Joseph Scapellato «» Laura Ellen Scott «» Nancy Stebbins «» Sabrina Stoessinger «» Eugenia F. Tsutsumi «» xTx «» Cover Art "Wall Street Must Be Tripping" by Marty D. Ison «» Letter From the Editor Interested in subscribing to SmokeLong's weekly newsletter? Click here. An email should be created. Send it as is, and you'll be subscribed. If the link does not work for you, send an email to imailsrv@smokelong.com with Subscribe slq-info in the body of the email (no subject is necessary). You'll receive updates detailing the release of new issues, new reading periods, contests, etc. We do not make our mail list available to anyone else.