The Roy Stories

CONTENTS Preface.................................................................... 15 The Vast Difference....................................... 17 Alligator Story ............................................................................. 19  The Vast Difference.................................................................. 25 The Birdbath ............................................................................... 29 Real Bandits ................................................................................ 33 The Red Stuebaker ................................................................ 36 The Trumpet................................................................................40 Unspoken ..................................................................................... 44 Haircut ........................................................................................... 48 The Invention of Rock ’n’ Roll................................................ 51 Infantry.......................................................................................... 54 Drifting Down the Old Whangpoo......................................57 The Wicked of the Earth........................................................60 Christmas Is Not For Everyone............................................ 63 Memories from a Sinking Ship.............. 65 Memories from a Sinking Ship ............................................. 67 A Good Man to Know..............................................................70 The Forgotten .............................................................................73 Mrs. Kashfi.................................................................................... 76 The Old Country........................................................................ 79 The Monster ................................................................................. 81 The Ciné........................................................................................ 82 Dark Mink ..................................................................................... 86 Nanny ............................................................................................ 89 Island in the Sun ......................................................................... 91 An Eye on the Alligators ........................................................ 94 The Piano Lesson......................................................................96 The Lost Tribe............................................................................. 97 The Lost Christmas...................................................................101 My Catechism............................................................................103 Sunday Paper ........................................................................... 106 The Origin of Truth ................................................................. 108 The Trophy...................................................................................112 The Aerodynamics of an Irishman......................................117 A Rainy Day at the Nortown Theater................................119 Renoir’s Chemin montant dans les hautes herbes ....... 121 Forever After ............................................................................. 122 The Mason-Dixon Line............................................................125 The Wedding ............................................................................. 128 The Pitcher .................................................................................129 A Place in the Sun.....................................................................131 The Winner.................................................................................133 The God of Birds ...................................................................... 137 Sundays and Tibor.................................................................. 140 Poor Children of Israel ...........................................................143 The Man Who Wanted to Get the Bad Taste of the World Out of His Mouth.....................................145 Johnny Across...........................................................................148 The Secret of Little White Dove.........................................154  The Delivery...............................................................................158  The Deep Blue See ................................................................. 160  Radio Goldberg ........................................................................162 Why Skull Dorfman Went to Arkansas............................166  Wanted Man...............................................................................170 10 the roy stories The Bucharest Prize ................................................................ 174  Blows with Sticks Raining Hard..........................................177  The Chinaman ............................................................................181  The End of Racism...................................................................183  Way Down in Egypt Land.....................................................187  Bad Things Wrong....................................................................191  Detente at the Flying Horse.................................................194 Shattered.....................................................................................198 A Day’s Worth of Beauty .................................................... 200  The Peterson Fire................................................................... 204  Door to the River ................................................................... 206  Sailing in the Sea of Red He Sees a Black Ship on the Horizon..............................................210 Wyoming............................................................. 213 Cobratown .................................................................................. 215 Chinese Down the Amazon..................................................218  Bandages ....................................................................................219  Soul Talk ..................................................................................... 223 Skylark......................................................................................... 225  Flamingos ..................................................................................228  Wyoming ....................................................................................230  Saving the Planet....................................................................232  A Nice Day on the Ocean .................................................... 233  Perfect Spanish........................................................................235  Seconds ...................................................................................... 237 Roy’s World...............................................................................239 Nomads....................................................................................... 242  Ducks on the Pond.................................................................245 Sound of the River..................................................................247 Red Highway.............................................................................249 Lucky ............................................................................................ 251  K.C. So Far (Seconds/Alternate Take).............................253  Concertina Locomotion........................................................255  Imagine .......................................................................................256 The Geography of Heaven...................................................258  Man and Fate ........................................................................... 260 Where Osceola Lives.............................................................262  The Crime of Pass Christian................................................264  Cool Breeze...............................................................................267  Night Owl...................................................................................269 Islamorada .................................................................................270 On the Arm................................................................................ 273  Look Out Below....................................................................... 275  The Up and Up.........................................................................277 Black Space.............................................................................. 280 Fear and Desire........................................................................282 God’s Tornado..........................................................................284 Sad Stories of the Death of Kings.... 287 The Age of Fable.....................................................................289  The Great Failure......................................................................291 Irredeemable............................................................................. 293  Sad Stories of the Death of Kings ....................................296  The Sultan.................................................................................300  The Liberian Condition ........................................................ 304  Six Million and One.................................................................307  War and Peace...........................................................................311 Chop Suey Joint .......................................................................314 Significance ................................................................................ 318 Einstein’s Son............................................................................320  The Albanian Florist...............................................................324 The Weeper...............................................................................328  The Swedish Bakery................................................................331  The Man Who Swallowed the World...............................335  Ghost Ship ................................................................................ 340  Caca Negra................................................................................343 Roy’s First Car..........................................................................347  El Carterista...............................................................................350  Crime and Punishment .........................................................354  The American Language......................................................357 Lonely Are the Brave ............................................................ 360 Force of Evil..............................................................................364  The Choice.................................................................................367 Bad Girls ...................................................................................... 371 The Sudden Demise of Sharkface Bensky.....................376  Portrait of the Artist with Four Other Guys................. 380 The Starving Dogs of Little Croatia.................................383  In the Land of the Dead........................................................387 The Secret of the Universe..................................................389 Far from Anywhere .................................................................391 Rain in the Distance ...............................................................395 Bad Night at the Del Prado.................................................398 The Theory of the Leisure Class ....................................... 403 Innamorata ............................................................................... 406 The Exception ......................................................................... 409 Close Encounters of the Right Kind .................................413 Blue People ................................................................................418 Call of the Wild ....................................................................... 420 Arabian Nights .........................................................................424 Last Plane out of Chungking..............................................426 The Vanished Gardens of Córdoba..................................428 Benediction ...............................................................................429