David Rogers, Janice Rubin
Description
David Rogers has a specific point of view and he lets it all out in a new, extremely enjoyable book of three marvelous long short stories, Stories by
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an Atheist. Here are paragraphs from each.Sunday Morning. There was a pond behind the house they rented, a good distance off for some legs. In the evenings sometimes, while Julia was busy in the kitchen getting supper, Jay and the boys walked down to the pond, Jay to stand on the dock and watch while the boys lay on their stomachs and peered between the planks. The pond was alive with sunnies that rushed at everything that fell into the water, especially breadcrumbs. Some had white edges on their fins and fringes on their tails and they were the best kind. The other kind, smaller, darker and quicker, got most of the bread. Once a little painted turtle appeared and paddled around and around, chasing all the fishes and though shouted at and spat upon, wouldn't go away.Seventeen. "You saw her, didn't you?" said Gus. "What more do you want? What's she hanging around here for? If it wasn't raining she'd be out of the road thumbing, for Chrisake. She's got to get to town, absolutely has to get to town, some big deal with her girl friend. If she don't get there, she'll die. Go home and get your car and come back and tell her you'll take her anywhere she wants to go and you know what you do, you take her out in the woods and tell her either she fucks or she walks and what do you bet she fucks?""I couldn't do that", said Herby. He was shocked. "She's only a kid". He was only a kid himself.The Funeral. Emily and Micky Christine were among the last to reach the celebrity. The priest pushed through the crowd as they approached, put hisarms around them, kissed them both, on the lips Everett noted, and sorrowfully shook his head. Everett was brought forward and introduced, an introduction he would rather have avoided were it possible. The priest shook his hand, patted his arm and said it was good to see him. He told the girls he had known their father for years, more years than he cared to remember and had known their mother as well, a lovely woman. It had hit him hard, her passing, and now here it was old Jim's turn, not an old man by any means and did they know what had taken him? On learning that no one seemed to know, he said the doctors might be good people, but they didn't know as much as they thought they did. They had lost a good man in Jim Turner, but it looked as if they had found another. He said this with a roguish glance at Everett, who flushed with pleasure in spite of himself and felt a damned fool for so doing.
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