Haguillory
“
He had learned, in his five years of retirement.” There was no more social life for Haguillory neither did he visit his friends nor any acquaintance dropped in his house. Even, his son and daughter were reluctant to see him. He was sick of his wife, she was sick of his face. Neither did they sleep in the same bed nor they ate at the same table.
“
If somebody tells you that somebody died, you know what you are going to say? You're not going to say “Mais so?” He killed the neighbor's pecan tree which used to drop pecans in his yard, doing something bad to Laudry's dog. During the hurricane seasons, Rita and Katrina damaged everything, especially houses in New Orleans. The thickest limb of the oak tree dropped through his roof, right over the living room. His favorite things in the room were ruined. Fortunately, his favorite hobby is still sustained. Early in the morning, he went fishing with his wife insisting to go with him although he preferred to go alone. At the fishing site, it would be a solitude environment unless a young family arrived with two boys. They didn't come for fishing but looked for the cat which the father had dumped into the marsh a week ago. A week already passed since they had begun to look for it constantly. The woman was almost crying when she couldn't find it again. Her husband claimed it's unbearable to keep it. The cat urinated on the younger boy's bed although they had to live in the tiny room since the hurricane had damaged the house. She left her phone number, just in case, before their leaving. At the fishing site, there were two scenes drawing our attention. In the first scene, “That's an ugly fish.” Haguillory said. He caught a garfish, about a foot and a half, maybe two pounds. The younger boy who was eight years old was watching him with his father. His brother and his mother went to the marsh, looking for the cat. “Watch what I can do with that fish.” he said. He used a plier to hold its snort around and squeezed until he heard a crunch. The head portion of it fell on the ground and the remaining part of it thrashed in his hand. He threw it back into the water. His action caused us to raise our brows. His behavior seemed to be nuanced that the fish deserved to die because it's ugly. His weird behavior would be easier to understand if we were reminded of human nature. The desire to be recognized would evolve to be pathetic under the circumstances. Perhaps, he was so lonely that he desperately needed to grab attention from others although his action was inappropriate and shameful for his age. In the second scene, “Haguillory tossed out his arm and flung the cat , pinwheeling, over the rail and into the canal, thinking, as it splashed.” When they saw the vanguard of the storm his wife was waiting for him in the car, closing her eyes at the moment he saw the cat sitting beside his tackle box. As soon as he saw it, he told himself “Well, I will be dammed.”At the moment of throwing the cat into the canal, he might justify himself as if he was doing something merciful for the young family's suffering. In our perspective, it was not mercy but meanness. Such egregious action was hard to swallow for us. Why did he do that? The answer would be more specific if we acknowledged how insidious the isolated life would be. Loneliness would evolve to dire consequences. As psychological science unfolded the truth, loneliness would alter human temper to be aggressive. In this case, we assumed he lost his emotional control momentarily when he saw a helpless creature. Perhaps, all the irritants which had been piled up and compressed inside him might blow up, turning to be violent at the moment. Killing the cat was more likely motivated by his isolated life first of all. Seeking motivation from the scrambled young family would be the second. Witnessing two scenes, we felt sad but sympathetic simultaneously. When time went on, there would be no exception to being aged and retired. We knew we would suffer from loneliness one way or the other eventually. Since the author selected the retiree, Haguillory, to represent a sort of dire straits in the modern society, we were enthralled with the art of mindful storytelling.
WRITTEN BY STEPHANIE SOILEAU: MARCH 28 2022, CHI B KANG.