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Kick the Latch

Kathryn Scanlan
Chapters (92)
  1. KICK THE LATCH
  2. ONE
  3. SOLID PLASTER
  4. THE OLD MAN
  5. IT WASN’T HIS FAULT
  6. MILK BONES
  7. BICYCLE JENNY
  8. TWO
  9. THE JOCKEY
  10. THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE
  11. BANG!
  12. I HAD MY SPILLS
  13. MY PAINT HORSE
  14. KIND OF FUNNY, A REAL CLOWN, AN ORNERY SON OF A BUCK
  15. THREE
  16. A LITTLE WIND-UP CLOCK
  17. SHORT-IRON
  18. DIRT TRACK, FLAT LAND, RAMSHACKLE BACKSTRETCH
  19. I WOULDN’T BARELY BREAK
  20. NOTHING NICE
  21. KEY TO THE QUARTER POLE
  22. GALLON OF BLOOD
  23. NUTS AND BOLTS
  24. BIG OLD HOLE
  25. I SEEN HIM EVERY DAY
  26. FOUR
  27. PICKLED BOILED EGGS
  28. THANKSGIVING
  29. ENOUGH
  30. CALL YOUR OWNERS, CALL HOME
  31. HAMBURGERS
  32. OUR PERSONAL ATTITUDES
  33. FIVE
  34. I OUTGREW THE POSITION
  35. THEY GET CHILLY
  36. THIS JOCK PACKS, THAT JOCK PACKS
  37. GRANDSTANDING
  38. BLACK SHOE POLISH
  39. SIX
  40. EVERYTHING MYSELF
  41. WASHED, BATHED, GOOD CARE
  42. YOU CHECK IT, YOU SHAKE IT
  43. A THOUSAND POUNDS OF PRESSURE
  44. WE’RE HUNGRY!
  45. STRAIGHT OFF THE GOAT
  46. SEVEN
  47. I KNOW WHAT I KNOW
  48. THEY GET THEIR HEADS JERKED OFF
  49. I THINK YOU’LL BE SAD
  50. BOBBLE, BOBBLE
  51. YOU CAN’T BLAME A MAN
  52. THIS HORSE, THIS RACE
  53. EIGHT
  54. RACETRACKERS
  55. FANCY SUITS, FANCY BOOTS
  56. PAUPER’S HILL
  57. THE OLD LADY
  58. JAKE THE PRINCE
  59. C’MON, CHARLIE!
  60. THE BIG DRINK
  61. WHERE’S THORBY?
  62. MIRACLE PERSON
  63. HE WAS LIVING HIGH
  64. I DIDN’T WANT NO DRAMA
  65. NINE
  66. THE RODEO STUNT
  67. HUNTERS AND JUMPERS
  68. TEN
  69. I WAS GIVEN A CHOICE
  70. THEY’D RATHER HAVE THE PISS
  71. STOP MY WORLD, LADY!
  72. STUPID CAMERAS, BIG LIGHTS
  73. GRAB THAT THING
  74. MILLIONS
  75. IT WAS HARD LIVING
  76. I TRIED TO BE A NORMAL PERSON
  77. THE HORSE TAUGHT ME ABOUT LIFE
  78. ELEVEN
  79. MISTER BAKER
  80. THIS SUCKER
  81. WITH THE MEN
  82. LA VEDETTE
  83. HER BLACK MOUSTACHE
  84. BLONDE, CUTE, BIG DIMPLES
  85. TWELVE
  86. ONAKONA
  87. BAD WEATHER OR NOT
  88. IT AIN’T LIKE A CAT
  89. PERENNIALS
  90. REMEMBER THIS?
  91. A PARTICULAR LANGUAGE
  92. AFTERWORD

KICK THE LATCH

Kick the Latch, by Kathryn Scanlan. A New Directions ebook.

Copyright © 2022 by Kathryn Scanlan

All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or website review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

Published by arrangement with the author and her agent Harriet Moore, David Higham Agency, London

Author’s Note

Thank you to Teresa Scanlan, George Scanlan, Caleb Lyons, Harriet Moore, Barbara Epler, Brittany Dennison, and New Directions for their support in the creation and publication of this book. Thank you to Emily Stokes and the Paris Review for publishing an excerpt in the Spring 2022 issue. And to Sonia—thank you for the conversations.

First published as a New Directions Paperbook (NDP1540) in 2022

Manufactured in the United States of America

Design by Erik Rieselbach

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Scanlan, Kathryn, 1980– author.

Title: Kick the latch / Kathryn Scanlan.

Description: First edition. | New York : New Directions Books, 2022. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2022018693 | ISBN 9780811232005 (paperback) | ISBN 9780811232012 (ebook)

Subjects: LCGFT: Novels.

Classification: LCC PS3619.C263 K53 2022 | DDC 813/.6—dc23/eng/20220420

New Directions Books are published for James Laughlin

by New Directions Publishing Corporation

80 Eighth Avenue, New York 10011

to Sonia

ONE

SOLID PLASTER

I was born October 1st, 1962. I was born in Dixon City, Iowa. I was born with a dislocated hip. The doctor said I’d never walk. My mom said, Oh no, there’s got to be something. So they put me in solid plaster from my chest down, with just a little spot for my mom to put a diaper. I was in there five months. Then I went to two casts on my legs with a bar in between with these special shoes. Ended up I could walk. I attribute that to Dr. Johnson. My mom always said, Well, if it wasn’t for Dr. Johnson.

THE OLD MAN

We lived in a poor part of town but we had the greatest entertainment. We had the goldfish ponds, we had Motorcycle Hill, we had the dump and Bicycle Jenny. We made rafts for the creek. We lived off the land.

Down the street was a family who’d moved off the reservation — grandfather and kids and grandkids. The grandkids were our age and we spent a lot of time with them. The grandfather liked to tell me about his religion, his beliefs. I loved his stories and his tales. I called him Grandpa.

The old man — he was very well loved but he liked to drink. His daughter and her husband locked him out of the house when he got drunk. I’d say, Grandpa can stay with us — I’ll sleep in my sister’s room so Grandpa can have mine. So the old man would stay in my room and he’d go home when he sobered up.