Time and Again (short story)
Encyclopedia
"Time and Again" is a short story
by Breece D'J Pancake
which was published in 1977. This American Gothic
tale includes a murder man whose poor victims end up being fed to his hogs. The short story appears in "American Gothic Tales
" which is edited by Joyce Carol Oates
.
The narrator talks of how he wishes he did not work anymore and how he was getting to old to do it. He wants to stop work to watch his hogs grow old and die. Next the narrator goes on to talk about how Mr. Weeks brags of what a good job he does plowing the roads. While the narrator plows one side of the road Mr. Weeks plows the other so they will honk to each other as they pass on another. The two have never met though, only in their snowplows.
On this night, as he is plowing down the road, he spots a hitchhiker. The man stops to let him in and they begin to talk. As the hitchhiker continues in conversation the man thinks to himself that he talks a lot like his boy used to. Then the man sees the lights of Mr. Weeks's snowplow and tells the boy to hide because he could get in trouble for picking up hitchhikers. After that, the two converses about how a lot of hitchhikers get killed up by the mountain road. The boy tells him that bones have been found in a duffel bag, and that just talk about how creepy that is.
Now the man has reached the spot where he has to turn around, and the boy has to get out. Before he gets out the man asks the boy to look under his seat for a flashlight. As the boy is looking the narrator says to himself that he is too tired and he does not want to clean the seat. The reason for this would be because he was going to kill him while he was looking away, but the boy is very lucky on this night. The narrator is probably the one who has killed all of the hitchhikers in the past. The question is why didn't he kill this one? The answer could possibly be that this boy was his son and he did not even know it.
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Breece D'J Pancake
Breece D'J Pancake
Breece D'J Pancake was an American author of short fiction. Pancake was a native of West Virginia and published several stories in The Atlantic Monthly during his lifetime...
which was published in 1977. This American Gothic
American Gothic
American Gothic is a painting by Grant Wood, in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Wood's inspiration came from a cottage designed in the Gothic Revival style with a distinctive upper window and a decision to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that...
tale includes a murder man whose poor victims end up being fed to his hogs. The short story appears in "American Gothic Tales
American Gothic Tales
American Gothic Tales - is an anthology of "gothic" American short fiction. Edited and with an Introduction by Joyce Carol Oates, it was published by Plume in 1996...
" which is edited by Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...
.
Summary
The story opens with a nameless narrator who tells the gothic tale in first-person narrative. The narrator lets the reader know that he was once again called out to work, by Mr. Weeks, but when he leaves the old house he left the kitchen light burning just in case his boy returns. As the man walks out of the house towards his snowplow, the hogs that he owns start to squeal because they believe it is feeding time. Then he brushes the snow off of his plow and begins describing the inside to the reader. Once he has the plow warmed up and ready to go he heads to the mountain road to start plowing and salting the icy roads.The narrator talks of how he wishes he did not work anymore and how he was getting to old to do it. He wants to stop work to watch his hogs grow old and die. Next the narrator goes on to talk about how Mr. Weeks brags of what a good job he does plowing the roads. While the narrator plows one side of the road Mr. Weeks plows the other so they will honk to each other as they pass on another. The two have never met though, only in their snowplows.
On this night, as he is plowing down the road, he spots a hitchhiker. The man stops to let him in and they begin to talk. As the hitchhiker continues in conversation the man thinks to himself that he talks a lot like his boy used to. Then the man sees the lights of Mr. Weeks's snowplow and tells the boy to hide because he could get in trouble for picking up hitchhikers. After that, the two converses about how a lot of hitchhikers get killed up by the mountain road. The boy tells him that bones have been found in a duffel bag, and that just talk about how creepy that is.
Now the man has reached the spot where he has to turn around, and the boy has to get out. Before he gets out the man asks the boy to look under his seat for a flashlight. As the boy is looking the narrator says to himself that he is too tired and he does not want to clean the seat. The reason for this would be because he was going to kill him while he was looking away, but the boy is very lucky on this night. The narrator is probably the one who has killed all of the hitchhikers in the past. The question is why didn't he kill this one? The answer could possibly be that this boy was his son and he did not even know it.