‘Jesus Rides Shotgun’ by Sherry Shahan

Undying Love

From Pulp Literature Issue 50, find an excerpt of ‘Jesus Rides Shotgun’ by Sherry Shahan below. Journey back to the 2000s with this story of music stardom and obsession. Then, to find out what happens next, be sure to pick up a copy of Issue 50, Spring 2026!

Jesus Rides Shotgun

by Sherry Shahan

Sometime in the early twenty-first century

It’s 4 AM.

Only Harold and the mice are active. He’s nude, leaning into the camera. Soon he’ll put his image beside Jesus on the corrugated steel wall inside the barn’s living quarters. The latter ten-by-ten glossies were downloaded from picturesofjesus4you.com.

Harold squats beside his laptop. He swigs cooking sherry, thick and syrupy like rosebud hair gel, while filling out loan docs. His hands move like an agitated bird ready for flight. Monthly income: $50,000.

As soon as escrow closes, he’ll own this two-hundred-acre horse ranch. Then he and Jesus will move from the apartment in the barn quarters to the main house. No mice in the French Country Tudor.

He fires off faxes to his banker, realtor, wedding consultant, and follows up with emails and phone calls, leaving messages about maximizing productivity. The floor lamp dances, requiring him to re-screw the bulb. The air constantly sizzles.

How do people who sleep all night ever get anything done?

Harold caresses the shimmery gold foil on a large gift box, picturing the gown inside. Sea-foam green. Silk and beaded. Beautiful. Just like Celine. The second present hasn’t been wrapped: an onyx box with an angel carved into the lid.

He shuffles through a stack of photographs, choosing a shot where he’s leaning against his Maserati Levante, licking an ice cream cone. Strawberry, Celine’s favourite. The photo goes in the onyx box with the phones — all of them programmed with his number. She’ll want to call. Thank him. Express her undying love.

Her concert schedule is safe inside the commercial refrigerator. Last week, the appliance stood in the tack room beside Billy Royal saddles. That was before evil forces tampered with the temperature controls and melted six gallons of ice cream.

Monsters! Devils!

Friends from church helped him move the fridge into the living room. Now the freezer is crammed with prenatal vitamins.

Read the rest of this story in Pulp Literature Issue 50, Spring 2026!

The 2026 Kingfisher Poetry Prize is open until August 15th! Get your entries in soon for a chance at the top prize and publication in Pulp Literature! Find all the details, and enter, here.

Sherry Shahan is a 76-year-old woman who studies pole dancing in a small California town. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and Best American Short Stories. She’s honoured to be a part of the Pulp Literature family. ‘Jesus Rides Shotgun’ is based on a true story, transported to the mid-2000s to protect innocent bystanders.