I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: BARBARA MANNING-“Though with People” from Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers (2009).

I have a Barbara Manning disc, although I don’t remember it very well.  In this song, Manning’s voice is strong and good, but not terribly memorable–perhaps a less distinctive Neko Case?  It’s a catchy cover–a good 90’s era rocker.

The original is also a 90s era rocker. The song is by Portatstic, which is a side project from Superchunk’s Mac.  It doesn’t sound all that different from Superchunk (a little less manic, but Macs voice is distinctive enough that perhaps this just sounds like a slower version of their song).

I like Manning’s cover enough to go dig out 1212 to see what I haven’t listened to in a while.

[READ: April 13, 2012] “Stretch Out Your Hand”

This story came in second place in the Fall 2012 Narrative Magazine writing contest. I read this one first because it was much shorter than the other two stories and I needed a shorter piece for today !

I was disposed against the story from the start because of my own prejudices—I don’t really like stories set in the rural South from the early 20^th century.  It’s a combination of my inability to relate and to my overexposure to clichés about the time, where everyone says “Momma” and everything sucks.

And so, when in the first few paragraphs, a young girl named Ruth has finally broken a fever and the father calls the mother “Momma” and the mother can’t stop thanking Jesus, I was not excited to keep on.

But then I started paying attention to the writing.  It was wonderful.  Ruth’s brother starts watching his sister’s fever evaporate and lift into the room.  Then he gives us this observation: “And which of these things is more miraculous: the incandescent movement of my sister’s fever, or the way my father held her.  I can’t say.  There is a place in me where these things go.”

The narrator does not conform to the stereotype of rural Southerners, which makes this transcend a story of sickness and grief.

It turns out the girl is sick from drinking raw milk.  I didn’t think that was possible, as I know many people who have done so, but apparently Malta Fever is real and does come from drinking contaminated cows milk.  I wondered if this was going to be a faulty-early-20^th century diagnosis, but no.

Ruth is not the only one who has the fever, her friend Sam has it too.  Both Ruth and Sam drank raw milk that Sam’s brothers encouraged them to drink.  The story shows how the two families deal with this crisis over the dreadful three weeks of fever.  The author plays around with what we know to be true as the story progresses and it makes the ending all the more surprising.

This story hit me hard in the gut.  But it was so well written and constructed that it earned everything it did to me. A great piece.  You can read it here.