THE BOY IN ZAQUITOS by Bruce McAllister

I’m slowing down, which is due to reading The Ruins by Scott Smith in anticipation of the movie, The Ruins in theaters April 8th.

Anyway, my loving wife bought The Best American Short Stories 2007 for me last month for my birthday. I was hoping that because the collection was edited by the master of horror himself, Stephen King, that he would have the courage and the pull to select from outside the mainstream. The one story that does not come from the big fiction guns is McAllister’s, which was originally published in Fantasy and Science Fiction. So, I guess that I should count my lucky stars and believe that one out of twenty isn’t bad.

McAllister’s story is a timely one. The main character is an American patriot. He is the son of a retired military leader. He wants nothing more in the world than to serve his country in one of the big civilian intelligence agencies. However, his grades are not the best. He is not outstanding in anyway. While in college, he makes an important connection with one of his professors and is soon granted an interview.

The agency eventually finds a place for him. He is one of the rarest individuals on the planet. He is a carrier. He can contract the plague and spread it without himself getting sick, a Typhoid Mary. The United States then begins to use him to spread the plague and destabilize foreign governments. He is, however it is never said, an American terrorist.

What is brilliant about his story is the way in which it is told. It is a first person account of the adventures of a plague carrier told to a classroom of students. Through his account to the students, the reader comes to understand how he got himself into the plague carrier line of work and how he eventually is released from service.

In today’s political climate, I feel that this story is all too real. It rings of a corrupt government that is willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives to ensure that the political experiment can continue.

This is an excellent story that is well worth your time.

McAllister, Bruce. The Boy in Zaquitos. The Best American Short Stories 2007 (The Best American Series) Ed. Stephen King. Series Ed. Heidi Pitlor. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co, 2007. p. 248 – 267.