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Rita Chang-Eppig

Rita Chang-Eppig received her MFA from New York University. Her stories have appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Kenyon Review Online, Clarkesworld, Santa Monica Review, Conjunctions, and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center and the Writers Grotto, and she will be a Steinbeck Fellow at the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University starting in fall 2020. 

Author

The Miracle Girl

Summer 2020 | Fiction

On the first day of her stigmata, Xiao Chun’s palms bled so much that the school sent her home early. Xiao Xue sighed at this turn of events and gathered her things to follow her sister. Xiao Chun was already prettier, smarter, and more obedient—she just had to be holier too.

Wong Daifu, the village doctor, made a house call when he heard about the strange condition. He squinted at the puncture wounds, which were not round and smooth but thin ovals with fringes of red, protruding skin. “And you’re sure she didn’t hurt herself accidentally?” he asked.