The Book of Duels Read online

  Yes, your wife is slated to outlive you by twenty years or more and your son will grow old in his days too, don’t fear—I have my eyes on your new lad as well but that’s another story yet untold—it doesn’t have to be that way. Destiny is not written in stone. Oh no, if you wish for the elixir of immortality then pray listen and I’ll tell it true, because I know you want the same things I want—everything this world has to offer and more—you don’t have to allow it to dictate to you, son, that’s what I’m saying. You have to make of this place what you want. That’s what I did. The trouble with you mortals is this: because you can’t compare this life with another one, and because you have no chance to revise the one you do get, you are driven into despair and confusion. You all live in doubt, regret, and shame. And why not? You have only this one life to live, or so you think, but I say, leave all of those notions behind—enter the immortals, drink this elixir and know the difference between life and death, between the right way to live and the wrong ways to die, and I’ll give you all the chance you will ever need to get it right. Cradle me, swirl me in my bottle, bring me to your mouth and when you’re ready to shoot me, bring my lip to your lips, pour me into your mouth, savor the burn, and fire me down your throat, and blow out again and if you do, you will never get drunk, you will never suffer a hangover, and I promise, you will never, ever die.

  Acknowledgments

  Black Warrior Review: “Pistols at Twenty Paces”

  Faultline: “Night of the Chicken Run,” “A Scalping”

  Juked (online): “Man above Challenge”

  Louisiana Literature: “Peleas de Gallo” (as “In the Gallodrome”)

  Minnesota Review: “Into the Greasy Grass”

  New Letters: “First-Called Quits”

  Nimrod International Journal: “Fiesta de Semana Santa”

  The Southern Review: “Custody Battle for Chelsea Tammy” (as “Custody Battle in the Cabbage Patch”)

  storySouth: “Me and the Devil Blues”

  Surreal South ’09: “On Moses’s Failed Insurrection” (as “On Gabriel’s Failed Insurrection”)

  My unwavering thanks . . .

  To my people, for giving me stories to tell;

  To Milkweed, for all of your support;

  To my FSU family, for shepherding me so well;

  To Baldwin Wallace University, for my colleagues and students;

  To my Colonel, for leading the charge—hie!

  To Doug Cox and Eric Lee, for beer on the patio of LJ’s and the birth of this gun;

  To Frank Giampietro, for the long, unflinching eye;

  To Ben Barnhart, for giving this book room to run;

  To Scott Gage, for tales of brothering;

  To Chris Tusa, for older-brothering me;

  To Kent Wascom, for younger-brothering me;

  To the Drive-By Truckers for providing the soundtrack;

  To Jaume, for getting all of this, years from now;

  And to Megan, always to Megan, for everything, everything, everything, everything.

  And to all of those I have ignorantly neglected on this page:

  You know who you are and how much you mean to me. If you don’t, come by and see me soon, and I’ll tell you all about it.

  Cheers!

  Michael Garriga comes from a long line of Creole outlaws and storytellers. He has worked as a shrimp picker, a bartender, and a soundman in a blues bar. He now teaches writing at Baldwin Wallace University, in Berea, Ohio, where he lives with his wife and two sons. His work has appeared in various journals and magazines. The Book of Duels is his first collection of fiction.

  Interior design by Connie Kuhnz

  Typeset in Mrs Eaves

  by BookMobile Design and Digital Publisher Services