CALL: A Veterinarian's Quirky Contemporary Tale of Family, Rural Life, and Hope - Softcover

Murphy, Yannick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062023144 ISBN 13: 9780062023148

Verlag: Perennial, 2011

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“Yannick Murphy, while being one of our most daring andoriginal writers, is first and foremost an exquisitely attuned observer ofhuman behavior. . . . Murphy’s work provides pretty much unexceededreading pleasure.” —Dave Eggers

Thewarm, wry, and patient voice of a veterinarian father tells the heartfelt storyof his young New England family enduring a moving trial of loyalty, hope, andfaith after they are confronted with an unthinkable crisis. Acclaimed author Yannick Murphy’s intimate narrative style and lovely prosewill enthrall readers of Rivka Galchen,Padgett Powell, and Murphy’s own Signed, Mata Hari.The Call is a “triumph of quiet humorand understated beauty” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) from anauthor that the New York Times Book Review calls “an extraordinarilygifted fabulist.”

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Yannick Murphy is the author of The Call; Signed, Mata Hari; Here They Come; and The Sea of Trees, as well as two story collections and several children's books. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Award, a Chesterfield Screenwriting Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Laurence L. & Thomas Winship/PEN New England Award. Her work has appeared in The Best American Nonrequired Reading and The O. Henry Prize Stories. She lives in Vermont with her husband and children.

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The daily rhythm of a veterinarian’s family in rural New England is shaken when a hunting accident leaves their eldest son in a coma. With the lives of his loved ones unhinged, the veterinarian struggles to maintain stability while searching for the man responsible. But in the midst of their great trial an unexpected visitor arrives, requesting a favor that will have profound consequences—testing a loving father’s patience, humor, and resolve and forcing husband and wife to come to terms with what “family” truly means.

The Call is a gift from one of the most talented and extraordinary voices in contemporary fiction—a unique and heartfelt portrait of a family, poignant and rich in humor and imagination.

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The Call

A NovelBy Yannick Murphy

Harper Perennial

Copyright © 2011 Yannick Murphy
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780062023148

Chapter One

 Call: A cow with her dead calf half-born.
Action: Put on boots and pulled dead calf out while standing in
a field full of mud.
Result: Hind legs tore off from dead calf while I pulled. Head,
forelegs, and torso are still inside the mother.
Thoughts on drive home while passing red and gold
leaves on maple trees: Is there a nicer place to live?
What children said to me when I got home: Hi, Pop.
What The wife cooked for dinner: Something mixed-up.

Call: Old woman with minis needs bute paste.
Action: Drove to old woman?s house, delivered bute paste. Pet
minis. Learned their names?Molly, Netty, Sunny, and Storm.
Result: Minis are really cute.
Thoughts on drive home: Must bring children back here sometime
to see the cute minis.
What children said to me when I got home: Hi, Pop.
What the wife cooked for dinner: Steak and potatoes, no
salad. She said, David, our salad days are over, it now being autumn
and the garden bare except for wind-tossed fallen leaves.

Call: Sick sheep.
Action: Visited sheep. Noticed they?d eaten all the thistle.
Result: Talked to owner, who is a composer, about classical music.
Admired his tall barn beams. Advised owner to fence off thistle so
sheep couldn?t eat it. Sheep become sick from thistle.
Thoughts on drive home: Is time travel possible? Maybe time
is not a thing. Because light takes a while to travel, what we?re
seeing is always in the past.
What the wife cooked for dinner: Breakfast.

Call: Castrate draft horse.
Action: Pulled out emasculators, castrated draft horse.
Result: Draft horse bled buckets. Pooled around his hooves.
Owner said she had never seen so much blood. It?s okay, he?s got
a lot of blood, I said. She nodded. She braided the fringe on her
poncho, watching the blood.
Thoughts on drive home: What?s the point of a poncho if it
doesn?t cover your arms?
What the wife cooked for dinner: Nut loaf.
What I ate for dinner: Not nut loaf.

Call: Horse is colicking.
Action: Drove to farm dodging dry, brown leaves skating across
the road because at first I thought they were mice or voles running
to the safety of the other side. Gave horse Banamine. Watched him
sweating. Watched him rolling on his stall floor. Watched owner
cry. Just a few tears down a freckled cheek. Listened to horses in
other stalls whinny, worried for the colicky horse.
Result: Stayed for hours, until night. Moon was full. Walked
horse out to field by the apple tree. Gave him a shot to put him to
sleep. Patted his neck. Left owner with her head by his head, not
saying anything. Maybe just breathing in his last exhaled breath.
Thoughts on drive home: When I go I want to go in a field by
an apple tree on a full-moon night.
What I saw when I pulled up to the house: Bright lights in
the sky, an object moving quickly back and forth. Not a plane.
What I heard from children when I got home: Gentle
snoring.
What I heard from my wife when I got home: Loud snoring.

Call: Sheep with a cut from a fence.
Action: Drove to farm. Inspected sheep. Cut was old. Small white
worms were crawling on it. Gave owner some antibiotic.
Result: Asked owner if he had seen the bright lights in the sky the
night before. Owner shrugged. I go to bed, the owner said.
Thoughts on drive home: Since people have become used to
seeing telephone wires and telephone poles everywhere, they can
get used to seeing wind turbines everywhere. It?s just a matter of
getting used to something.

Call: Alpaca down.
Action: Drove to farm. Remembered not to look alpaca in the
eye.
Result: Looked alpaca in the eye by mistake. Got spit in the
eye. Alpaca nice and angry now. Alpaca got up. Owner thankful.
Handed me a rag that smelled like gasoline. I wiped my eye. Asked
owner if he had seen the bright lights, the object moving back
and forth in the sky the night before. The owner shook his head,
he hadn?t seen anything. The alpaca came to me and put his face
in my face. I thought he was going to spit in my eye again, but he
didn?t. The owner laughed, looks like he?s trying to tell you something,
the owner said. Did the alpaca want to tell me he had seen
the object in the sky?
Thoughts on drive home: I could have been an engineer or a
fighter pilot.

Call: A pre-purchase examination on a Thoroughbred.
Action: Brought digital X-ray machine and performed a complete
set of X-rays on horse in a barn with ducks, spaniels, and kittens
walking about.
Result: Owner tried to give me a kitten to take home to the children.
No, no, I said. We have two dogs. The dogs will love the cat,
the owner said. How about a duck? the owner said. No, they shit
liquid, I said. Yes, that?s true, she said, but the eggs are golden.
Thoughts on ride home: Chickens might be nice to have. The
children could check for eggs every day. We could eat the eggs.
Chickens don?t shit liquid. This is the problem today, people don?t
know where their food comes from. My children will know where
their food comes from.

Call: A sheep needs its shots.
Action: Took bottles of vaccines and drew up shots.
Result: Old woman named Dorothy called the sheep to her. The
sheep?s name was Alice. Alice lived in the house with Dorothy. I?d
let her live outside, but she?s no bother inside, Dorothy said. Alice lay
her head in Dorothy?s lap. Go on, give the shot, Dorothy said. The
sheep was very still while I gave the shot. She is like a dog, Dorothy
said. I take her everywhere in my pickup. She waits for me until I get
back from my errands. I took her into church one day. I showed the
pastor. He made a remark about sheep. He said they were dumb. Go
get Alice from the back of your pickup, my friend said, nudging me.
I went to the parking lot and got Alice. I held the church doors open
for her. She followed me down the aisle. She looked into people?s
faces as she walked. I?d like you to meet Alice, I said to the pastor.
She looked him in the eyes. Now go on, I said. Read the part again
in your sermon about how sheep are dumb, I said.
Thoughts on drive home: I know some people who will not
look me in the eye.
What I saw when I pulled up to the house: The object
flying in the sky again. It seemed to circle the house. More likely it
was a drone the military used and remotely practiced with in our
secluded woods, but still I could not help but think it was other-
worldly, the way its lights flashed on and off, the way it flew so low,
as if it wanted to see in our windows and check on what my family
was doing. I felt that it knew me somehow.
What I felt even before I walked in the door: Warm.
Even though it was cold outside, I already began to feel warm as I
stepped onto the porch where the glass front door always seemed
to be constantly steamed over from the exhaled breaths of my wife,
my children, the dogs, and all the other creatures inside.
What children said to me when I got home: Doesn?t Alice
pee and poop on the floor in the house?
What I said: I suppose she does.
What the wife cooked for dinner: Omelets with green
...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Perennial
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2011
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0062023144
• ISBN 13: 9780062023148
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 244
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Product Safety Manager; enquiries@harpercollins.ie; ; HarperCollins, Macken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper; Dublin 1; D01 C9W8; Irland