Possum Trot

Book excerpt: The pieces in this collection form a lament for a way of life mostly gone. "The family farm is dead. Did you know?" says one character within. "E.B. White writes Charlotte's Web today, it takes place in a hog confinement. Imagine Wilbur living in a concentration camp for pigs." Still, these pieces are neither nostalgic nor sentimental. Boys bear burdens heavier than is just--they discover truths at too early an age. Woven through-out is the strong, unspoken love between fathers and sons, sons and fathers. But perhaps these pieces, this Possum Trot, form not a lament, but a celebration of life. There is laughter here, the laughter that comes after the funeral, when the family is gathered in the home, the casseroles have been eaten and the boys are playing catch in their church clothes. The men have taken off their jackets and rolled their sleeves, and the women are pouring coffee. "Do you remember when...?" someone says. They do remember, and they laugh. There are tears in their eyes because one of the family is missing. But those tears are mixed with tears of laughter, because look around you. Here we all are. Still here. Alive and kicking.