Ryan E. Felton

  • The Man Who Ran for God (pt. 9)

    III. Weep Bitterly for Her Who Goes Away Six days after Gideon Dodd’s sermon about Truth — and about his wife Tamera’s infamous interview with Maria Gutierrez (not yet Stenson) — he returned home late from an elders’ meeting. He was hungry. He was thinking about playing catch with his boy, maybe, after dinner. (Not…

  • The Man Who Ran for God (pt. 8)

    SELAH: III There is a stomp, a shattering of glass, and blood. The bridegroom collapses into a heap upon the bunched train of his newly-minted wife’s gown. Flat red flowers bloom on the white of her dress from under her man’s heel, where shards of a wine vessel sparkle in sunlight from the dirt —…

  • The Man Who Ran for God (pt. 6)

    SELAH: II             “Get down from there, Boogie.” Somewhere in Utah a budgie perches upon a shower curtain rod, shrouded in the vapor clouds swirling above a bathtub full of water, lavender, and sixty-eight year-old, white male flesh.             The man in the tub repeats himself, stern and authoritative:             “C’mon down, Boogie-Man. Sit on…

  • The Man Who Ran for God (pt. 5)

    VIII. A Vain Man through Pride Causeth Debate It was small, this little playhouse stage. Big enough to put on Our Town but certainly not The King and I. Two podiums were on either side, flanked by the drawn and roped curtains. Dodd looked around, heart pounding, forehead damp and chilly. But no one else…

  • 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…