Indians In the Arborvitae

by Michael W. Fedo

Meet Richard Fundy—a wholly sensible 43 year-old who has tacitly accepted that his life is falling apart. His wife has left him and he’s lost his long held position as a claims adjuster at Blessed Assurance Life and Casualty. He takes a job teaching American Studies at Button Gwinnet Senior High School in his hometown (Richard happens to be a scholar of the school’s namesake, a founding father whose sole distinguishing characteristic was his curious name) and moves back in with his aged, eccentric father, Elwood. Elwood—who believes Indians spy on him from his arborvitae and people with hyphenated last names signify the downfall of modern civilization—drags Richard into a series of misadventures that include crashing a funeral, visiting a strip mall hypnotist, disrupting a wedding ceremony and taking part in a ferret-legging competition. Richard, exhausted and exasperated, plays the straight man through these escapades until a devastating revelation from Elwood forces him to fully examine and slowly rebuild his life.

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003