Thought-provoking literary fiction from Michael DeVault, two-time Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society Gold Medal finalist.
When the good people of Cranston, Texas learn a hometown boy has been killed in Iraq, they set about mounting a proper memorial for their fallen hero.
Yet nobody thinks to ask the boy’s reclusive father, Joe Morton, if such a service is wanted, or welcome. Crippled by grief and not one to make waves, Joe goes along with the plans of the townsfolk until he can bear no more. Finally, on the Fourth of July, he tells them just how he feels.
But his sole act of independence brings unexpected and devastating consequences. The residents, and least of all Joe Morton, are wholly unprepared for what happens next: change and the outside world come to Cranston.
