Volt: Stories
Page 20
I just need a little rest, she told herself. Just a few minutes to gather myself. Then she imagined God in Heaven just as weary, slouched on his golden throne and deciding to try a smaller flood or two just to see if we’d save ourselves and spare him the effort.
Helen was by no means devout, but she knew the Bible, knew the story of God drowning the wicked world. As a breeze misted in through the window, she hugged herself in her thin sheet and pondered what she’ll do if this rain keeps on and the people cry their end, the sun choked, the power towers submerged, and God’s thunderous voice pierces the gray dome, charging a volt into that sacred truth behind her eyes. Will she think herself crazy? Cower and weep? Or will she rise from her damp mattress, hold stiff her trembling chin, and be the one?
The author would like to thank the following people for their assistance and support in making this book possible: Mary O’Connell, Wendell Mayo, Richard Messer, James Park Sloan, Eugene Wildman, Robert Olmstead, Mitch Wieland, Elise Blackwell, Alvin Greenberg, Janet Holmes, Bob Kustra, Anthony Doerr, Luis Alberto Urrea, Michael Collier, Benjamin Percy, Joy Williams, Michael Cluff, Tom Weekes, Danny Cerullo, Nick Steiner, Brandon Grew, Ryan Mann, Christina Thompson, David Lynn, Ted Genoways, Michael Ray, Otto Penzler, Scott Turow, and Nat Sobel. Thanks to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Tin House Writers’ Conference, The Cabin, and the Idaho Commission on the Arts. Special thanks to Steve Woodward, Fiona McCrae, the Graywolf staff, and his agent, Sarah Burnes.
Alan Heathcock’s work has appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, the Virginia Quarterly Review, the Kenyon Review, and Best American Mystery Stories, among other places. He is the winner of a National Magazine Award in fiction. A native of Chicago, he teaches fiction writing at Boise State University.
Book design by Rachel Holscher.
Composition by BookMobile Design and Publishing Services,
Minneapolis, Minnesota. Manufactured by Versa Press
on acid-free recycled paper.
Table of Contents
Cover
Half Title Page
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Content
The Staying Freight
Smoke
Peacekeeper
Furlough
Fort Apache
The Daughter
Lazarus
Volt
About the Author