Beckett & Son

OVERLAND

ISSUE 199

Beckett & Son

A. S. Patric

Devon’s father had a heart attack. Devon was at home with him when it happened. They were having breakfast and Roland’s eyes blinked and blinked as his mouth opened wide. He tumbled as he tried to find a hold on the kitchen bench. He hit the ground but he looked like he was falling on down through the floor, even though he was still there; back to the tiles, his mouth open, working with soundless air. His legs moved spastically and his arms reached out for something to stop his fall. Their eyes met with everything that was part of the complicated sum of Devon and Roland Beckett.

Devon went to the phone. He stood there, then bent down to take a hold of the phone jack and carefully pulled it from the wall. He walked to the front door and made sure it was locked. He went to the back door and made sure it was locked. He walked around their large family house and checked every window, making sure they were all closed. He pulled the curtains. He could faintly hear his father struggling in the kitchen when he came to the stairs that led up to his bedroom. He climbed the stairs and then he turned on his stereo. A band called Fireside Bellows played a song called I Ain’t Gonna Fall.

Devon had already showered and shaved. He and his father both had. The rule was to come to the kitchen table already prepared for work. So Roland was dressed in his crisp white shirt when his heart faltered and failed. The only concession to comfort was he hadn’t put on his tie and his top button was left undone.

Roland’s hand had tugged open that shirt and popped two perfectly white buttons out onto the tiles. They’d reminded Devon of teeth. There was a little white thread bound within the holes of one of those buttons. Nothing in the other. Those buttons had looked lovely lying on the spotless off-white tiles. He had paid attention to them as he listened to his father’s body writhe—the backs of his shoes squeaking as they moved uselessly on the kitchen floor. He’d made himself look at those two buttons on the tiles, and at nothing else.

Devon listened to Fireside Bellows play another song, and for a few moments considered not going into work. But that choice was so distant it didn’t feel like a possibility. It felt like the idea of suicide. He couldn’t imagine calling Mr. Winkler in the mailroom to tell him he wasn’t coming in. The problem was Devon couldn’t lie very well. And the truth was another kind of suicide.

YOU CAN NOW READ THE REST AT OVERLAND

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That's the intro to 'Beckett & Son' published in the current Overland. Hopefully you'll want to read the rest, in what looks like a cracker of an issue. I just got my contributor's copy this morning but I look forward to reading work by writers like Cate Kennedy, Emmett Stinson, Derek Motion, Carmel Bird, TTo, Adam Ford and Josephine Rowe. Grab a copy.