Gilead

The egg now looked like a surgeon, no two ways around it. Everyone said so. Marla sat, fuming, crushing her first place ribbon for Best Egg Decorating in her fist. "I specifically wrote ‘censored’ on the mask that is gagging him," she spat furiously at the judges, who smiled in polite confusion, then swiftly moved on to the second place recipient. "GAGGING!" she called after them, to make sure they heard right.

Marla’s parents were unable to attend the contest that day, so Mrs. Chapel was unable to explain why she had first asked Marla not to write "I Am The Iraqi War Dead" on her egg.