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sallie reynolds's avatar

Wow! I think something about Story Club is magic. Or maybe it's just George. Several times, a Q & A have hit at the very moment something similar is happening here. This time, it is a story I wrote years ago, it was published in Prairie Schooner in the 80s, but there was always something about it that haunted me. A man goes berserk and slashes his wife almost to death. His young son runs to the nearest doctor, gets help and she is saved. And the boy is taken in by the doctor's family. Well, a few days ago, I took the incident and shook it up in a bag. This changed the cultural scene, the narrator. Suddenly, everyone in the story - except the boy - is using the others. To escape, to feel not guilty, to do 'the right thing,' to feel they are 'helping.' The the man comes clearer, in all his wants and missed opportunities, and his cruelty. But most of all, the boy, in whom the others see only "fear" and a quick brave act, has longings, love, deep understanding. Which the narrator sees only at the end. I hope, I hope I can pull it off. Thanks, George, as always.

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Paul Graham's avatar

This is so lovely and encouraging George. Thank you for writing it. Wishing everyone "a spring in our step as we sprint up the hill, heading home."

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