Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 12-1998 Genuflect, Gentlemen and Other Stories Matt B. Mullins Western Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations Part of the Fiction Commons Recommended Citation Mullins, Matt B., "Genuflect, Gentlemen and Other Stories" (1998). Dissertations. 1581. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/1581 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GENUFLECT, GENTLEMEN AND OTHER STORIES by Matt B. Mullins A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan December 1998 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. GENUFLECT, GENTLEMEN AND OTHER STORIES Matt B. Mullins, Ph.D. Western Michigan University, 1998 Genuflect, Gentlemen is a novella-Iength work of fiction in which Dan Mooney, a recovering drug-addict and former rock star, has a religious awakening that inspires him to write a journal as an attempt to find meaning in his past. This journal, a soapbox for Dan’s newly realized philosophies, focuses primarily in his troublesome experiences as a student at an all-boys Catholic boarding high school; it is essentially Dan’s version of the “story” of those years just before his fame when music was replacing religion as the center of his spirituality. The ultimate conclusion Dan reaches through the reconsideration of that past and the influence it had on the course of his life becomes the central motivating force for his professed future plans. The accompanying short stories, though not directly related toGenuflect, Gentlemen, utilize similar themes of the spiritual quest, misdirected spirituality, violence, loss, and drug and alcohol abuse to contemplate the often inexpressible emotional complexities of the human condition. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9914938 Copyright 1998 by M ullins, Matt B. All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9914938 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Copyright by Matt B. Mullins 1998 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS for my mother and father Matt B. Mullins ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.......................................................................................... ii AMERDCA .................................................................................................................. 1 MOON WITH PRINCESS........................................................................................ 5 MISSING.................................................................................................................... II ERRAND.................................................................................................................... 22 THIS SHIMMERING, BLUE DIVORCE (A BEDTIME STORY)........................ 26 VOODOO.................................................................................................................... 37 RUNNING.................................................................................................................. 58 GUILTY...................................................................................................................... 65 RETREAT................................................................................................................... 79 GETTING BEATEN.................................................................................................. 100 STEAM......................................................................................................................... 118 THE BRAID................................................................................................................ 120 GOD’S SLOW BLINKING....................................................................................... 125 SHOTS......................................................................................................................... 146 THREE WAYS OF THE SAW ................................................................................. 150 GENUFLECT, GENTLEMEN................................................................................. 165 PROLOGUE...................................................................................................... 165 CHAPTER I ...................................................................................................... 172 CHAPTER H ..................................................................................................... 195 CHAPTER m ................................................................................................... 221 CHAPTER TV................................................................................................... 261 EPILOGUE........................................................................................................ 297 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. AMERKA The first time I heard my dad say fuck we were driving across America in a rented Winnebago, him, my mom, and me. We were doing this because they thought it was necessary that I understand America, that I experience for myself the homeland I’d read about in grade school and seen on the Television. So we took our time driving three weeks from Detroit all the way to San Francisco where we would catch our plane home. Of course, there were many fantastic things I remember seeing on the way, awed at eleven up in the windowed sleeper above the cab with my comic books and the rock and roll on my walkman, the mighty rivers and vast plains flowing past; the muscular mountains staring back at me with faces carved in stone; the deep, green-black forests I saw breathing with wind; the rose colored desert rocks at dawn, and so much more, all the way to odd hills of Frisco— where Fd even get to stand alone inside the very Bird Man's cell at Alcatraz before I flew back to Michigan. But the America I’m really talking about here, the one we don’t drive through but live through, begins one day in Salt Lake City with a father stopped at a stoplight. He’s trying to explain the religious subtleties of the Mormons to his bright, young son as four guys in the souped convertible one lane over lean out toward my mother in the passenger seat of our motor home and begin shouting,, "Hey, fuck you, lady. Bitch. What the fuck're you lookin at?" We drove on for a long time after that happened, trying to get between somewhere and somewhere else. I don't remember the specifics of it, I was too caught up in trying to figure out why someone would talk to my mother that way—she hadn't even done anything—and I couldn't seem to get their ugly words out of my head. 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Hours into darkness my mother and father started to squabble. "Francis, when are we going to stop, I need sleep," she complained. "Teresa, just go in the back and lie