TARRY TORNADO

The sudden death of a former high school football star shakes a small Texas community in Bills’ novella.

Deputy Lane Fisher works at the sheriff’s department in his hometown of Tarry, Texas. One day, he happens upon a parked van with a bloody body inside—certainly not something he witnesses every day in his small burg. Signs ultimately point to a likely suicide, but what’s even more shocking is the victim’s identity: The dead man is Lane’s high-school football teammate Clifton Baird, the so-called Tarry Tornado. His hulking size had made him a star on the football field in the early 1980s (“he was a tank that ran like a gazelle”). That all changed after a collision during practice left another player horribly injured. But was Clifton’s resultant guilt the reason his pro football career was so short? Was that why he felt suicide was his only choice? Lane reunites with old teammates and Clifton’s ex; answers to the mystery of this once-revered athlete’s fate may not be quite what the deputy expects. Bills zeroes in on the pressures that high school athletes face: The coach humiliated players during practices, and there’s a possibility that Tarry locals blamed the injured teammate for derailing a potentially stellar season. The somber narrative is layered with haunting images involving a man who couldn’t let his past go. An especially memorable scene finds Lane looking through Clifton’s home, where he had lived alone; the TV is on, playing an old football game, surrounded by VHS tapes of high-school games. The final act retains the overall bluntness of the narrative with a surprising but effective turn. Trailing this story is the bonus tale “Dead to Rights,” in which Texan Randy has a surreal experience—he wakes up in the middle of a road and runs into a Tex Cobb-lookalike with news Randy may not want to hear.

A gloomy but eye-opening look at the startling impact of school sports.