Bo Comes Back for the Gun He Shot to Save a Fox: A Tribute to the Short Story "Fox Hunters"

Abstract

Bo Comes Back for the Gun He Shot to Save a Fox:A Tribute to the Short Story "Fox Hunters" Charles A. Swanson (bio) The pistol shows rust lines, lying in wet leavesall night. Today, Sunday, the burned-out fire,an empty mason jar. Rough men and a teenagedboy, caught in the choke of his own desires,sat here last night, listened for the fox, told tales.The youth wanted his stake with Enoch who hiredhim to work on cars, so he lied as the dogs trailed,pretended he had had a woman, had been fired at,didn't tell it was just a dream about his cousin.He drank there and heard the four men, unguarded,tell what they'd each done with Dawn (his classmate)now dead, and glad of it. It could have been prison—hanging—had she talked. And this boy, retardedthey think, is back alone for whatever he can save. [End Page 85] Charles A. Swanson Charles A. Swanson pastors the Melville Avenue Baptist Church in Danville, Virginia, farms, and has just retired from teaching English at Gretna High School. He is the author of two poetry collections, After the Garden: Selected Responses to the Psalms and Farm Life and Legend. Copyright © 2012 Berea College