Blood and Circumstance
by Frank Turner Hollon
Summary
Joel Stabler takes the life of his beloved brother Danny in what appears to be a mercy killing. When Joel’s lawyers assign a psychologist to determine his sanity, the full story of the brothers’ past–and long family history of mental illness–begins to unfold.
Told entirely through Joel’s pretrial interview sessions with Dr. Andrews, Blood and Circumstance takes on the argument of nature versus nurture, closely examining the factors that prompted this murder. As the reader listens in, it becomes less and less clear whom to trust, what is certain, and where the truth actually lies.
Excerpt
He stands in the kitchen doorway, a black figure surrounded by the yellow light background, the small details of his face unseen from the darkness of the living room. His left shoulder leans slightly against the threshold, a pistol suspended from the left hand, dangling in the yellow space between the hip and the dark.
The other man sits on the brown couch in the living room, his face in one hand, crying. The sounds are muffled and light, but the anguish is deep and extreme. His breath catches in places along the line from oxygen to escape, and the body silently convulses with every catch. It is more than a bad day or even the death of a friend. It is the sight of life being gagged upon, forced upwards, and expelled into the cold air. The eyes tight-shut under the pressure of unclean fingers. The wetness and the dirt and the snot running slowly past the scars down the wrist to the elbow and soaking through a round point on the thigh of the jeans. The low smell of metal and medicine and the hum of the cylinder inside the shaved chest. A pistol in a cold hand resting in the lap.
The man in the doorway closes his eyes and remembers. The memories tell the story, and the story ends the same. There is no real purpose except the purpose we create. You make it or you don’t, and if you don’t, there’s no reason to wait. No one’s coming to the door to explain. It’s like sitting in the waiting room of an abandoned building. Eventually, you have to get up and leave. Eventually, against all hope, you must recognize the futility.
His eyes open to see his brother on the couch, the muted light touching his shaking arm and shining on the clear liquid. He has shit his pants again, and the stench overlays all other smells and drifts without restraint through pockets of air to the four walls.
The step forward is deliberate. The futility recognized. The strong are always the chosen. “Why is that?” he thinks to himself. “Why are the strong always the chosen?”
“Because they choose themselves,” he answers, five steps from the threshold, and two steps from his only brother.
And his brother looks up. And the pistol is raised, and the barrel points precisely, and there is the human hesitation, and then the pull of the trigger.
With the sound of the explosion in the cold room, misery ends, and yet for the living, only continues.
Session 1
I don’t know much about the law. Believe it or not, my experience with the criminal justice system was limited. It’s not limited anymore.
The sound of the gun was unbelievably loud. I just stood there with the noise vibrating inside my ears. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t fail to grasp the weight of the moment, having just shot my little brother in the side of his head…
Copyright © 2007 by Frank Turner Hollon. Permission granted by Macadam/Cage Publishing.
Reviews
”An intriguing look at the nature of mental capacity” –Publishers Weekly
“A study in family dysfunction…a chilling story full of unexpected twists and turns”--Booklist
A Literary Guild selection
Author's Biography
Frank Turner Hollon is the author of five previous adult novels and one children’s book. His short stories have appeared in Stories from the Blue Moon Café and The Alumni Grill. He lives with his wife and family in Baldwin County, Alabama, where he practices law.