Two shots rang out, pierced the air, cracking and splitting my senses.

Assassination can be no more guarded against than death by lightning.

TWO SHOTS RANG OUT BY INDIGO MAGAÑA 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 106

The 20th President of the United States James Abram Garfield was shot twice on July 2nd 1881 by Charles Julius Guiteau. The President lay ill until he died on September 19. In a letter written before he was shot, Garfield had said, “Assassination can be no more guarded against than death by lightning and it is best not to worry about either.”

My name is James Garfield too. I wonder what good my parents saw in naming me after him.

I found out about him in a letter from my dad. Dad was a history professor with an encyclopedic knowledge of American presidents. He wrote to me about James Garfield but spared me the details of his death.

That was the last time dad wrote to me, but I had only to wait a few months to hear about Garfield’s assassination.

I had stolen something or broken something of my sister’s—I don’t entirely remember—and getting no proper re…