Fires

This review was written by Igor Bosiljcic, 18, from Valjevo, Yugoslavia

FIRES can be read in The Best American Short Stories 1996. Selected from US and Canadian Magazines by John Edgar Wideman with Katarina Kenison. With an introduction by John Edgar Wideman. Houghton Miffin Company, Boston, New York 1996

Rick Bass lives in northwest Montana with his wife and daughters. He is the author of several books of fiction and nonfiction, including an essay collection about Montana's imperilled Yaak Valley, The Book of Yaak. In 1997 Houghton Miffin published a collection of novels entitled The Sky, The Stars, The Wilderness. Rick Bass is currently working on a novel, Where the Sea Used To Be.

Joe Barry, the main male character, lives alone somewhere near Canada in a not so big lonely place situated in a valley. The valley is surrounded with big forests, and it has the mountain cold Yaak River. Joe doesn't need much money for his life. He is well past his teenage days. He likes animals, and he enjoys nature. His very high respect for women fits in the story. It looks like he is almost afraid of women. He doesn't want to hurt them in any way. Because of his life as a loner his battle not to get closer to Glenda is very hard. Joe meets Glenda, his friend Tom's sister. Tom has a wife Nancy, and they are all very good friends. Glenda is a runner in her 32nd year or age and she has some 6 to 7 years of effective competing. So Glenda came to the valley to train for her competitions. Joe's "job" is to take care of Glenda's safety while she in on the road running. He rides a bike while she runs. She has "yellow hair that is short cut and lake-blue eyes" as Joe describes her. Other women don't like her very much because she is too original for this small valley-town. Joe and Glenda fall in love the minute they meet. Almost every day she practices and Joe is there so their love grows. They try to cover it up, and they don't want to get attached to each other because Glenda is going away in a few weeks. Their non-love meets the biggest challenge when Glenda sets a nearby field on fire and they end up in a lake. Their bodies are so close in a must-kiss situation but Joe manages to keep his emotions under control. This story is a battle of mind and heart. It has exquisite descriptions of nature. The words that describe the valley, the hills, the forests are very colorful and strong in some way. But they don't seem to make a nuisance because of their number. This story is romantic. Rick doesn't pay much attention describing Joe, Tom or Nancy but he does describe Glen in so many different ways. Some of them are cleverly hidden. You have to read the story couple of times to discover all the beautiful hidden details.

The characters and their relationship are built so gradually and so convincingly, the story is so romantic and with balanced erotic overtones that the reader wishes at the end they had really got together.