Stranger Will
Caleb J. Ross
 William Lowson spends his working life in the town of Brackenwood as a Human Remains Removal Specialist, cleaning stains left over after violent deaths. He spends his home life trying to convince his pregnant fiancée, Julie, that raising a child in a world so depraved is not only ignorant but egomaniacal as well. So far, however, Julie remains strict to her motherly desires and constantly assures William that his anxiety stems from simple cynicism. When not cleaning messes or preaching the world’s distress William sits atop a highway billboard and shoots down messenger pigeons as they attempt to deliver their cargo. Over the years William has amassed a sizable collection of their fallen messages, which he pins to a wall in his home. Throughout the novel William places and rearranges these messages according to similar themes in a subconscious attempt to organize the chaos around him. During one of these outings William meets Mrs. Rose, the messenger pigeon ring’s organizer and principal of Harold Straton Elementary. Conversation drifts toward William’s hesitancies with fatherhood, and considering Mrs. Rose’s part-time work at a local adoption agency she and William quickly become good friends. One night William gets an early morning call for a cleanup in the neighboring city of Alexandria. He and his co-worker, Philip, find at the location not only a human stain but also a woman in the basement, Shelia, barely alive, and as they find out later, the recipient of a very recent back alley abortion. Philip, always the romantic, quickly takes to this woman’s plight and rides with her to the hospital. William stays back to finish the original job. Philip pretends to be the woman’s brother in order to assume responsibility for her, but as is typical with Philip and his company he asks William and Julie for a few days’ help while he prepares his home for Shelia’s potentially lengthy stay. They accept. Shelia, due to a series of medical complications originating from the back alley abortion, screams all night. Julie cannot take the screaming so William agrees to ask for help. Mrs. Rose agrees to care for Shelia. A few days later Julie goes into labor. For William this event is the culminated failure of unsuccessful attempts to persuade Julie into somehow getting rid of the child. In his desperation he calls Mrs. Rose for help, though because Julie’s contractions are close he must leave for the hospital immediately. Due to the heavy rain William is run off the road and crashes the van. He blacks out. He wakes to Mrs. Rose burying his child. She reveals that her involvement with adoptions goes much further than the passive act of answering questions and guiding parents. She plays an active role in weeding out potentially “faulty” children, while motivating other children via her unique leadership styles at Harold Straton Elementary. One of these unique methods is hiring fake homeless people to sit outside the school playground in an attempt to draw the children near, and then using the interaction to teach children not to talk to strangers. Though growing apprehensive of Mrs. Rose’s methods William agrees to take part as a stranger knowing that he can argue little considering his involvement in the death of his child. The next day he plants himself at the Harold Straton playground, dressed in torn clothing and a fake beard. He meets Frank, one of the veteran strangers, and is invited to play cards with him and the rest of the strangers. William declines so that he can visit Julie at the hospital, whom he learns is comatose. The following night, however, he accepts Frank’s invitation and joins the strangers for horseshoes. He learns that the strangers are not as passive as he has been led to believe. They, like their mentor Mrs. Rose, actively participate in weeding out children, only their methods are truly disturbing. They manipulate the children anyway they can in order for Mrs. Rose to witness the devotion the children have toward her. One particular project has the children huge a tree covered in toxic phenyl. If they hug the tree, they pass; if they don’t, they fail. During his time sitting outside the playground William meets a child named Eugene, whom Frank says doesn’t have the potential to move forward in Mrs. Rose’s program. William grows close to Eugene, ultimately embracing the idea of fatherhood via his time with the boy. Once Mrs. Rose discovers this camaraderie she asks William to join her on an “adoption” meeting with an expecting couple. By this time, of course, William has learned that “adoption” means abortion, and that Mrs. Rose’s influence runs deep: even Shelia was one of her projects. Having learned of the beauty in fatherhood William spends this meeting with the expecting couple subtly undercutting Mrs. Rose’s attempts to sway this couple into “adoption.” By the end of the meeting, however, Mrs. Rose is successful. Julie returns from the hospital unaware of where her child has gone but insistent that she find it. She spends every moment digging holes, tearing down walls, destroying everything in search for her baby. William, having changed his mind about parenthood, watches this with absolute shame. At his most depressed state William is called, along with Philip, for a cleanup job at a home William recognizes as the Miller’s. Mrs. Rose has completed her task by taking their baby and William must now clean up the bloody mess left over. In the kitchen William finds a caged messenger pigeon with a note attached. Having learned that the messenger pigeon ring is Mrs. Rose’s way of organizing her “adoptions” William hesitates to read the note but does, discovering that it was Mrs. Rose who ran him off the road causing the wreck that killed his child. In an effort to end everything William kills Mrs. Rose and goes to the police about his missing child, but when they attempt to locate his child William finds that Mrs. Rose has moved it. The police reprimand William for the wasted time. William goes home understanding that he cannot control the world, but he can embrace his time with it.