Saint Joe by
A carpenter named Joseph enters his shop one morning. The place is a mess: splintered wood on the floor, an axe embedded in a table, bloodstains on the wall, a small window smashed. Joseph starts to clean up, and as he does, tells us that he thinks his son may be dead. Yesterday, a traveling salesman described the execution of a young man, and Joseph thinks it may have been his son—whom he has not seen, along...
A carpenter named Joseph enters his shop one morning. The place is a mess: splintered wood on the floor, an axe embedded in a table, bloodstains on the wall, a small window smashed. Joseph starts to clean up, and as he does, tells us that he thinks his son may be dead. Yesterday, a traveling salesman described the execution of a young man, and Joseph thinks it may have been his son—whom he has not seen, along with his wife, in many years. This leads to Joseph telling the story of his family, with the promise of a special hand-carved trinket if we listen. Joseph married a virgin who became mysteriously pregnant, and Joseph raised the child as his own. Joseph works on a cradle as he recalls how an angel would visit him in dreams, how his son grew and developed a disturbing view of God and redemption. Eventually, Joseph must deal with the grief and shame he has repressed for years, as he shows us what he would have done to save his son from execution.