The Country Ahead of Us, the Country Behind by David Guterson

Author:David Guterson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Short Stories
ISBN: 9780745149097
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 1989-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Paul, in the morning, put the piranhas in the hot tub. They died immediately; he left them there.

He told Ken about it. They skipped school in memory of the dead fish. “My parents suck,” Paul said.

“So do mine,” answered Ken.

“I hate them,” said Paul. “Big time.”

“Same here,” Ken said.

They walked across the golf course together. They cut across a sand trap to the ninth green. It had begun to rain; no one was golfing.

“I just want to kill them,” Paul said.

“I want to kill mine, too.”

“What’s the best way?”

“Poison their food.”

“Cut them up with an ax while they’re asleep.”

“Cut the brake line in the car.”

“Shoot them in the back while they’re taking a shower.”

“We can trade,” Ken said. “Like on television. You kill mine while I kill yours.”

“I know,” said Paul. “With a chainsaw.”

They sat on a bench. It was raining harder now. Cars went by on the road. Paul imagined how it might be to kill his parents. The thought caused him only minor remorse, because he felt certain they deserved it, somehow.

“Let’s head over to the arcade,” Ken said. “Maybe someone else’ll be there.”

Paul got up and pulled the collar of his coat against his neck, but the rain was inside of it now.

“All right,” he said. “Let’s.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.