Thank you, Gary for reading this, and for your heartfelt response. I would grieve to drag anyone through hurtful memories; this story did something of that for me, and am sorry this may have done so for you. So much of this story is bleak - the season, the landscape, the tragedy and the aftermath - and it seems to hold true for generations of men in their places and times. It is still true today. In some way, I hoped to look at sin in this story. Who sinned? And whose was greater? And where is absolution and hope in this? No answers in 1500 words. Just questions.
Thank you also for bringing Stanley Kowalski to my attention. I missed that entirely. I laughed, and blushed with embarrassment.
Thanks for your comments and for reading.