Short Story Wednesday: "The Peach Stone" Paul Horgan from THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURY"

 In this collection, I am familiar with most of the writers although not always the story selected by John Updike. I had never heard of Paul Horgan and I guess he mostly wrote historical fiction. Originally published in the YALE REVIEW in 1943, I find the selection of this one somewhat mysterious. It is well-written but terribly sad-maybe it seemed like a story written in wartime should be sad even if it is not about the war.  

Four of them are in a car headed toward Weed, New Mexico. Well five if you could the body of a two-year old laid out between her mother and a school teacher, coming along to provide support. The child's death is due to a fire caused by the wind blowing some tumbleweeds, which the chimney then set on fire. The father was to have cleaned up this area and did not. By the time the fire is spotted and run to, the little girl is dead.

There is almost no conversation but various people break down along the way. What could they possible talk about on this long painful drive. There is no subject worth the difficulty of the words. We are told what they are thinking, one and then another. It is a relief when they reach Weed and this journey ends.