I enjoyed reading the story Gentleman's Agreement by Mark Richard. The way Richard shows his character through actions and unique description is what I enjoyed most. I found satisfaction in the following bits of the story:
..dripping seed-sized gravel from tiny hourglass of fist...
..near the gully where the good rocks grew..
..extended a middle finger toward the child and the child waved back..
..On a nail hung a drip of steel helmet melted by mad-dog fire..
The description of the child throwing the rocks on to the top of the shed. Comparing it to a war.
When the kid shouts "Adam Bomb"
The description of the "best white doctor" and how the doctor behaves.
The whole scene where his mother drives him to the doctor. "Something else fell...flapping against his neck."
The description of his father when he shows up after being burned. ..."shriveled roasts of people..."
The story his father told him about having to hide from a fire with a bear.
All these details gave a sense of reality to the story and I really appreciated it. When the story winds down with "The rock throwing hand had finally costed the father more than he had earned." and the father then apologizing to his got to me. It was an image that stayed with me throughout the week.
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I really loved this story as well. I thought Richard did an amazing job of creating characters that were referred to in a detached manner and were never named, and made them whole. If he was less skilled as a writer, they would have been one dimensional, but the details, many of which you noted, really made the story real. The innocence of childhood was captured so well, with the middle finger/wave interaction, as well as the boy being terrified that bats would fly out of his head when his stitches were removed.
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