In a recent list of favorite short stories, I included one by my friend Christopher Cook. He often writes about a subject that fascinates me: how people are religious.
He’s especially good at telling about the church folk of East Texas. Christopher is a native and knows the place and its people well.
Some of the ancient sages thought that the chief problem in life is anguish — wanting life to be something other than it is. I knew many people in East Texas who were like that: “If only I could get to Nashville and play my songs” or “If only my husband could get a job at the mill” or “If only we could get our boy out of jail.”
Often, the person would put religion on the ache like salve on a sore.
Christopher is best known for his novel Robbers, but I like his short stories. The aching of some of his characters is familiar to me. I don’t just know of it. I know it well, having seen it daily, talking to people as a young reporter. It’s just as he portrays it in his stories.
He writes about ordinary people who have a sense that life’s not quite right and should be better. What fascinates me is that instead of examining that anguish, that ache, that dissatisfaction, they go to church and get saved.
I've seen some good nonfiction writers take a stab that phenomenon. But I come closer to understanding it, I think, when I read a good story.
• Sources: Christopher Cook, Screen Door Jesus & Other Stories; Austin, Texas: Host Publications, 2006. The notes on favorite short stories are at “What short stories would you recommend?” Nov. 1, 2022, and “How can anyone stop at 12?” Nov. 2, 2022.
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