Scorch Atlas: Gravel

A story from Scorch Atlas, a 2009 short story collection written by Blake Butler and published by Featherproof Books.

Recorded on location on a windy, stoney beach.

The day the sky rained gravel I watched it drum my father's car. A Corvette he'd spent years rebuilding. He liked to watch his face gleam in the hood. He kissed the key before ignition. He read the owner's manual aloud. When he lost the strength to stand he left the car uncovered in the street. Each morning I took a Polaroid and we tacked it to his headboard—a panorama of slow ruin.