Officer Friendly: and Other Stories
Lewis Robinson
Language: English
Pages: 248
ISBN: 0812972279
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The stories in this acclaimed debut all take place in the state of Maine—which quickly comes to stand for the state we’re all in when we face the moments that change our lives forever. Two roughneck hockey players are kicked off the team and forced to join the drama club. A young bartender at a party of coastal aristocrats has to deal with the surreal request to put a rich old coot out of his misery. Can a father defend his family if the diver helping to free the tangled propeller of their boat turns out to be a real threat?
With humor, a piercing eye, and a sense that danger often lies just around the corner, Robinson gives us a variety of vivid characters, wealthy and poor, delinquent and romantic, while illuminating the mythic, universal implications of so-called ordinary life. These stories are at once classic and modern; taken together, they bring the good news that an important, compassionate new voice in American fiction has arrived.
didn’t know he was a terrified high school kid, they just thought he was authentic. One perfect Friday there’d been this older girl from Connecticut who had been fascinated by him; they sat on the side rail by the wheelhouse as they steamed to the island and she asked him questions, rapid fire, about the boat and cormorants and fisheries and red tide and winter weather, and despite his usual terror, and despite the way the sun hit her neck, making her skin look unusually touchable, he spoke to
me a flash of self-awareness, but I forged ahead, pressing my toes against the deck boards. “Would a martini be better?” I asked. “How about a martini.” “Well, how are you?” she asked stiffly. “I’m well,” I said. “In need of a drink.” “I saw you come in,” she snipped, reaching around behind her and grabbing two bottles of gin. She slammed them on the bar. “You didn’t even look at me. Where have you been?” “I’ve—been—” I started. She leaned over and whispered, firmly. “It’s been a long time
You know you do. You get caught up and next thing, we’ve got Jehovah Witnesses in our living room.” “Oh, please,” said Margaret. “They were sweet. And it was February and they’d been walking around for hours.” “Just promise,” said Peter. “They were Mormons, by the way.” He wanted as much time alone with her as possible; he wanted to break through the lonely feeling he’d been having, and the sailing trip had been in his mind for a long time. He knew it would be good for them. He glanced over
picked up her glass. Peter felt exhausted. When he raised his glass, it was heavy in his weak hand. The evening was all wrong; the smile the diver wore—like a dog’s smile—did not bode well. “To the beauty of truth, and the truth of beauty,” the diver said, winking at Margaret. She laughed and looked at Peter. They clinked their glasses together. “Welcome to Point Allison,” the diver continued, swallowing half the rum and setting the drink down. He unfastened the knife from his leg and laid it
there was an unlit diner, without any cars in the lot. At the edge of the harbor, a long row of tarp-covered boats sat in wooden cradles, resting for the winter. The boy came to the window. Johan put his hand out to me for money, and I obliged. Then he asked the boy, “Where are all the summer homes?” “Who you looking for?” asked the boy. “No one,” said Johan. “There must be some nice houses out there, on the shore. We’re just touring.” Before answering, the boy squinted at us for a few