SSM: "Midnight Raid" by Brady Udall

When I think of Brady Udall, I typically think of "The Wig," a story I'm sure I've mentioned here before, that Dan wrote about for Short Story Month, and that just generally gets held up as a great example of flash fiction, especially for those not really familiar with the genre. And, to all of that: rightfully so. But the collection as a whole, Letting Loose the Hounds, is badass, and one of the other stories that has stuck with me is the first in the book, "Midnight Raid." Basically a story of a husband/father, post-divorce, trying to come to terms with his life and his relationship with his son. When I put it like that, I kind of want to groan a little myself, but I also like boiling it down to that as its essence because Udall infuses the story with originality. That's the "boring sounding" summary, where the better description is the narrator is in the yard of his ex-wife's new house, with a pygmy goat and talking to Roy, the dog. He's drunk, it's around midnight, it's hot as hell because he's in Arizona, and he's trying to wait for the lights in the house to get turned out so he can sneak in and give the goat to his son. Of course, it doesn't go quite as planned, though I'm not sure how "planned" it was anyway.

Actually, here's the beginning of the second paragraph, which basically says what I tried to say above, except better:

I suppose this ought to be explained: Roy is the pet of my ex-wife Amy and her new husband Howard, whose backyard I am currently lurking around in. The goat is a present for my seven-year-old son, Tate. Tate is somewhere in this immense, tacky house and my plan is to get this goat to him without Amy or Howard finding out about it. This is Scottsdale, Arizona, close to midnight and not too many degrees shy of a hundred. I would be untruthful if I didn't say I was a little drunk...

Also, there are some great "end of relationship story" type lines, which put so many other attempts to shame. Lines like:

Our divorce was an honest, smash-mouth affair based on past indiscretions and betrayals on both our parts... Then one day my wife came home and accused me of "malfeasance." Right then I knew it was all over. You don't come into your own home throwing around words like "malfeasance" unless you've been talking to lawyers. 

I also really, really love this exchange, which I still remember reading for the first time. The set up is the narrator is hanging out in the backyard, as mentioned, and he yells at the guy in the yard on the other side of the fence to be quiet.

"Are you my neighbor?"
"I could be."
"What's the yelling for?"
"It's to quiet you down."
"I think you're just jealous of this nice pool I've got. You're the only goddamn one in this whole goddamn neighborhood without a pool. It's common knowledge around here."
I don't have anything to say to that so I keep my mouth shut.
"Well, why?" he says.
"Why what?"
"Why don't you have a pool?"
I think about it for a minute. "Because I'm a horse's ass."
"Ten-four," he says.

-aaron

p.s. I just found the story online here! Damn, wish I'd done that before transcribing those excerpts myself...

Comments

[ryan]

"Midnight Raid" was my favorite story in the collection. His novel is a true asskicker, too.

[Daniel Fielding Smith]

I like the story titled "Buckeye the Elder" from that collection.