From the collection Gryphon, Charles Baxter’s luminous story of caretaking under any circumstance.
Burrage never thought he’d be the responsible one. When his brother and sister-in-law die in a car accident, he becomes caretaker to his young nephew, a fragile boy who wants to know what the future will be. Burrage begins writing the boy’s horoscope—stars, trains, and hide-and-seek—until his predictions begin to fail, in a rowboat, in the middle of a lake.
Charles Baxter is one of our finest short story writers, a modern master. “The Would-be Father” is one of his first published short stories.
From the collection Gryphon, Charles Baxter’s luminous story of caretaking under any circumstance.
Burrage never thought he’d be the responsible one. When his brother and sister-in-law die in a car accident, he becomes caretaker to his young nephew, a fragile boy who wants to know what the future will be. Burrage begins writing the boy’s horoscope—stars, trains, and hide-and-seek—until his predictions begin to fail, in a rowboat, in the middle of a lake.
Charles Baxter is one of our finest short story writers, a modern master. “The Would-be Father” is one of his first published short stories.
