City Of Churches by Donald Barthelme, 1972
The magic trick:
Church and commerce
Oh, Donnie B., you rascal. Look at you deconstructing the short story form yet again and yet again coming up with something original and awesome.
In “City Of Churches,” we have, well, you will probably guess it, we have a city of churches. Apartments in said city are being pushed onto a potential new resident by a town-proud real-estate agent.
Depending on your point of view, you can see both sides as the corrupt, cynical target of the story’s satire. It could be the folks in the city, who have established what appears to be a giant religious cult. Or it could be the would-be new resident who has arrived to make money off of the cult by renting them cars.
It being Donnie B., almost certainly both sides are the targets.
And that’s quite a trick on Barthelme’s part.
The selection:
“Still, I prefer a place of my own.”
“It’s very unusual.”
“Do you have any such places? Besides bell towers, I mean?”
“I guess there are a few,” Mr. Phillips said, with clear reluctance. “I can show you one or two, I suppose.”
He paused for a moment.
“It’s just that we have different values, maybe, from some of the surrounding communities,” he explained. “We’ve been written up a lot. We had four minutes on the ‘CBS Evening News’ one time. Three or four years ago. ‘A City of Churches,’ it was called.”
“Yes, a place of my own is essential,” Cecilia said, “if I am to survive here.”
“That’s kind of a funny attitude to take,” Mr. Phillips said. “What denomination are you?”
Cecilia was silent. The truth was, she wasn’t anything.
As always, join the conversation in the comments section below, on SSMT Facebook or on Twitter @ShortStoryMT.
Subscribe to the Short Story Magic Tricks Monthly Newsletter to get the latest short story news, contests and fun.
Short Story Magic Tricks 