Useless Miracle

A classic, smart comedy in which a college professor attains mankind's oldest dream: the ability to fly...sort of...

George Entmen just turned forty, and he can't complain. He is a respected hermeneutics professor, beloved by friends and family, and ready to drift quietly into tenured middle age. But then, he discovers he can fly.

Sure, he can only fly very, very slowly, and he only flies three or four inches above the ground . . . But why does this nonetheless amazing phenomenon drive so many people into a rage? Why do he and his family find themselves dodging livid magicians, scheming billionairesses, and, perhaps worst of all, angry hermeneuticians?

Beneath all the chaos, his gift has to have a meaning. But to find it, George needs to understand one thing his friend and guru keeps telling him: "You're not flying, you're being flown."

Barry Schechter is the author of the novel The Blindfold Test. His short fiction, poetry, and criticism have appeared in the Paris Review, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Review. He's a lifelong resident of Chicago.