The Ascent by Ron Rash, 2009
The magic trick:
Telling the story of a child burdened with drug-addled parents
We start our mini-run of Christmas stories with a quick read today that will stay with you for a long time.
On the first day of Christmas break, a fifth-grade boy is exploring the Great Smoky Mountains in western North Carolina and comes across the wreckage of a small airplane.
Notably, the story features adults doing hard drugs around a child. So you can guess this doesn’t exactly function as a merry Christmas tale. But that difficult-to-read scenario (a child surrounded by drug abuse) adds instant poignancy to a story. It almost doesn’t matter what happens next in the plot – it’s going to be shaded by this tragic childhood trauma for the kid.
And that’s quite a trick on Rash’s part.
The selection:
At the ridge Jared pretended a bear suddenly raised up, baring its teeth and growling. He slashed at the bear with the knife and the bear ran away. Jared held the knife before him as he descended the ridge. Sometimes they’ll come back, he said aloud.
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