A Lotta Guts

By Leigh Ward-Smith

None of us could stop Grandpa as he sprinted into the river.

How he saw that kid silently slipping beneath, I don’t know. I also wasn’t sure whether to believe his ranting about tentacles when he first hefted the child onto the riprap.

Still, Grandpa insisted on continuing the reunion picnic after the ambulance left.

But my curiosity wouldn’t let go. Later I raided his medicine cabinet and found the bottle labeled Fame Labs. In boldface, it read: Caution: active gut microbiota. Bacteroides fragilis, subspecies Ernesti Borgniniana.

For awhile after Grandpa’s new-found bravery, I pretended I’d never seen the pills.