After her parents' trailer blows up and her father goes crazy, an eighteen-year-old girl decides to follow the path of her sideshow-performer grandfather. She gets holes made in her hands, and becomes a traveling human fountain. From Teresa Milbrodt's Bearded Women: Stories, this tale is one in a "phenomenal collection" (Asimov's Science Fiction) of short fiction about the so-called "freaks" trying negotiate a world that is quicker to stare than sympathize.

ChiZine Publications (CZP) curates the best of the bizarre, bringing you the most excitingly weird, subtle, dark, and disturbing literary fiction. Look for more titles in the ChiZine short stories collection to build your digital library.