• The Man Who Ran for God (pt. 4)

    IV. I Will Spue Thee out of My Mouth             They met not at any Waffle House but an Arby’s where two highways crossed. Dodd went alone, driving a rental car. He put on a red baseball cap and sunglasses before he went in. Now was not a good time to stop for selfies with…

  • The Man Who Ran for God (pt. 3)

    SELAH: I             In an office bigger than many men’s own homes sits a withering human being — white, male, hairless with crepe paper for skin. Fingers like rotting twigs press a button near his lap. There is a resulting buzz which summons another ancient man. They are both dressed in couture out of time…

  • The Man Who Ran for God (pt. 2)

    VI. Their Rims Were Tall and Awesome “It should be you.” In his study, Dodd, a block of pine on his knee, uncapped a bottle of industrial-strength wood varnish. At the window, his press agent Raymond Wachstetter reached on tip-toes to open the blinds and let some sunshine in. The squat man sniffed. With his…

  • The Man Who Ran for God (pt. 1)

    GENESIS I. In the Beginning Gideon Dodd, he was a preacher man. And during the first quarter of the twenty-first century in America, a preacher man with the gumption, charisma, booming voice, and winning smile of Gideon Dodd’s caliber could make a lucrative go of it. At forty-seven years old Dodd had long since been…