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April 18, 2006
God Smites Shiftlet.
'"The boy bent over her and stared at the long pink-gold hair and the half-shut sleeping eyes. Then he looked up and stared at Mr. Shiftlet. "She looks like an angel of Gawd" he murmured."
"Hitch-Hiker," Mr. Shiftlet explained. "I can't wait. I have to make it to Tuscaloosa."'
This may have been the craziest story I've ever read. Shiftlet marries this girl, takes the money, and then leaves her at a truck stop with little feeling of remorse, and yet still feels like it is his duty to pick up hitchikers now that he has a car. (even though it's not really his). He seems like a good guy for most of the piece, then marries a mentally challenged girl for 17.50 and car and then pretends she's a hitchiker. Wow. O'Connor really just can't stand having a good guy in a story I guess. Anyway, he turns out to be a douche, and then at the end he asked God to "break forth and wash the slime from this earth!" Except that he is the slime. Ouch. Anyway, after the story ends he probably gets struck by lightening.
Posted by PaulCrossman at April 18, 2006 04:08 AM