Jason who will be famous by Dorothy Allison

“…what came after the snatch became more and more important…It was all about him and the basement and what he did down there, who he would become, who he was meant to become. It was set and in motion. It was coming, Jason was sure of it…he was going to be ready.”

This is one of those stories that blindsides you right about the second page when you realize it is not at all about what you thought it was going to be about according to the title, which sets up certain expectations for the reader. We assume Jason, the young man walking down the road, confidently daydreaming of the day he will be famous, is daydreaming about the typical fame and fortune attained by rock stars and celebrities. But no. His fantasy; his fate as he believes, is that he will be “snatched” from the road and kept in a basement for months, until he escapes and finds fame in the transformation he has achieved under the duress of the abduction. Physically stronger; he’s been running in place and lifting heavy things, bored out of his mind. Mentally genius; “the movie scripts, plays and dialogues between characters that will come and go when he is all gaunt and feverish.” Spiritually pure and cleansed;  “He could learn to eat imaginary meals and taste every bite- donuts and hot barbecue wings – and stay all skinny and pure. That would be something. He could teach people how to do that afterwards maybe.”

As he fences himself off in his daydream, we learn about all the shit that’s piled up on the other side  –  he is quiet and picked on at school, his dad’s dropped out of his life and doesn’t think much of him. We understand and sympathize with Jason’s escapism in the form of this perverse fantasy. He’s been beaten so low by life that this is the only way he imagines he could ever get any attention.

It is the story he has been taught by a hundred Hollywood films – a man’s suffering transforms him into the slick hero – all who are weary, misunderstood, alienated and abused, you will get yours someday – fate will quarantine you until you become something better than yourself; something everyone can love. The American Dream?

 

Americca by Aimee Bender

” I ate the lobster soup. I liked it. It had a neat texture. I liked it better than the usual plebeian chicken noodle my mom got. I liked the remaining wild rice one…it was so hearty and different. I used the cow cup I’d salvaged from the trash, and the truth was, I liked the cow holding a balloon; it was cute. When I looked in the mirror, I sneered my upper lip and said, Benedict Arnold, Benedict Arnold, your head is on the block.”

Aimee Bender is one of those writers who half way through a story you just have to wonder – Who comes up with this sort of stuff? Who thinks this?  And the fact is she makes the wacky, the original shine through on the page – here through the voice of a 10 year-old narrator whose family is being “reverse” robbed. Things are appearing on their shelves; an extra tube of toothpaste, cans of gourmet soup, an octopus hat that fits better than the one she made her mom buy her at the mall, a toy that was broken long ago. At first it is unusual and a little creepy, and then they adjust and it becomes normal to the point where the young girl spends her own money to make things “appear” when they haven’t been for awhile. Her older sister has a boyfriend, her mom is taking a class called “Learning to Focus Your Mind”, Dad is always interjecting from the other room. Ms. Bender recreates this atmosphere of “Age 10 and I am being Ignored!” so perfectly. It is about change; how we adjust as we reject and covet what has been gained and lost.

The premise of the story is so simple – no big plot, just a family, a girl growing up and stuff seemingly appearing out of nowhere. So why does it haunt me as if  it was my own memory? That is the genius of it.

 

the ascent by Ron Rash

“Because it’s so cold, that’s why they don’t smell much, he thought.” A young boy walking through heavy snow in the woods behind his house comes upon a helicopter crash. He enters and sits in the back seat. “Jared tried not to move or breathe hard, to make it even quieter, quiet as the man and woman up front.” This unusual detail sets the tone for the story. What kind of child would react to death like this?

Turns out he lives with two “dead” people. His parents are crack addicts, strung out and high from morning to night. When they find the ring he takes from the woman’s dead finger, his father sells it for drugs. They come out on the other side of the binge sick and broke without a fix to take them out of their misery. Jared returns to the scene of the helicopter for the man’s watch.

After his parent’s leave the house with the watch, Jared returns to the helicopter with a wrench and hammer. he proceeds to “repair” the helicopter so it may fly him and it’s occupants away. “He chipped the snow and ice off the windshields with the hammer’s claw. Finished, he said, and dropped the hammer on the ground, he opened the passenger door and got in. “I fixed it so it’ll fly now,” he told the man.

The language really sets the tone for this story – it is a stark, cold and quiet winter scene, heavy under a winter of snowfalls — one on top of the other. It makes you think of all things muffled, unsaid. The little boy’s brave attempts to overcome his situation and “fix” everything and be brave seem  so realistic. Raising a set of parents is not child’s play.  This is a poignant story, but never does it become oversentimental.