The Barlow Boy

[Guest Dabeagle]

I was looking for a short story to read, having an extra twenty minutes or so while having my coffee, and chose this one. I have never read James Savik's work before, so this was just a random for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it because it came at me from an unusual direction. I have gotten into some stories and stopped for various reasons, and I was close on this one. I'm not a religious person and have a hard time seeing things from that perspective, so when it opened with the perspective of a man of the cloth, I almost hit 'back'.

I'm glad I didn't. It was solid read that more people should read. Its message is relevant today as much as it ever was.

[Rutabaga]

And this one is back as a Pick from the Past.

Hits home.

R

[DesDownunder]

Even we atheists can admire this story, Well done James.

[Jeff Ellis]

Oh, brilliantly done... to say more would be a spoiler.

Well done Rick for drawing our attention back to this 2010 posting... there must be lots of people who have missed out on it since... go look for it... this elderly atheist lapsed anglican says its brilliant... well done James.

Find it here... http://awesomedude.com/jamessavik/the-barlow-boy/the-barlow-boy.htm

[Nigel Gordon]

A terrific piece of writing, I'm glad it got into Dude's Picks From the Past - well worth reading.

[Cole Parker]

It's funny. Coincidences do happen. I just read this the other day, read it again, because of James's recent message here. That brought this story into stark relief. Then, to my surprise, the story shows up in the forum discussions here.

This story should be required reading in schools in this country.

C

[JamesSavik]

Thanks guys.

The only thing that's missing is that no one has ever mentioned the symbolism of the names.

Peter? Chris? I guess I could have gotten more blatant and changed Peter to Paul.

[DesDownunder]

I love that no one mentioned the names. It just goes to show how cleverly the story was written.

[JamesSavik]

Believe it or not, I got the most scathing flame I've ever seen over this story.

From what I remember about it, I think the reader must have seen some things, gone critical mass and exploded before he quite finished it.

[DesDownunder]

Probably, the flame came from a religious nut case.

At least you get responses to your stories.

Although I'm sure you could do without that flame.

Your story certainly didn't deserve it, in my opinion.

[Cole Parker]

No, it was well-imagined and well-written. But there's no stopping the religious element if they have their panties in a twist...

[JamesSavik]

Well... now I know what it's like to have the wrong buttons pushed and explode so I don't hold any grudges.

[ChrisR]

Extremely powerful. Thank you for writing and posting it.