I spent Saturday at the Newburyport Literary Festival with my husband and he dug CB Anderson's reading from her collection, River Talk. We're going to try to share, read, and discuss a short story each week in our own personal, world's smallest book club, in recognition that in about thirteen years our son will leave the homestead and we'll need to talk about something other than him.
Our first selection is Anderson's "Taken," which is the story of Michael, his brother Sheridan, and Sebastian's ex-girlfriend Et. They live in Maine and shoot all the things, then they carve the things up and hang them on walls to honor them. That part was a little hard for my all creatures great and small loving self but Anderson's strength is setting, and she nails it. You are firmly planted in the middle of Maine where a random nighttime gunshot and a taxidermist are the norm, not the exception.
I'm looking for change, or the missed opportunity for change, in the stories I'm reading these days, and this falls into the missed opportunity bucket. Michael is the better man, the better brother, and the better hunter. He's ready to make a play for poor, dumped, white-haired, Alanis Morrisette-loving Et. He's got the scallops and wine and everything y'all. Yet he's also carting his human barnacle of a brother around town because Sheridan lost his license and he's dropping two hundred big ones on little bro at Wal-Mart. Michael can take down a wild animal in one shot but he's a fool for his brother. He knows it, Sheridan knows it, and Et knows it too. It's why she stops making pies for Michael and heads back to Sheridan's love shack. Michael's the better man, but until he figures that out, he's destined to spend most of his time with dead deer.
