Emmet Dutrow

“I’m headed toward town,” I said. “I thought maybe you’d like a ride in and back. You can look the place over and meet some of the folks around here.”

“No, neighbor,” he said. He looked at me and then let his voice out a notch. “Sin and temptation abide in towns. When we came past I saw two saloons and a painted woman.”

“Hell, man,” I said, “you find those things everywhere. They don’t bite if you let them alone.”

Jack Schaefer delivers a powerful story of poorly expressed faith in this brief tale. The author of the superlative novel Shane shows that his powers of observation and ability to get to the heart of humanity were no one-trick pony feat.

Excellent.