Water Over The Dam (Paperback) | Released: 25 Sep 2020

Southern literature has traditionally emphasized issues concerning religion, race, family, and community. The stories that make up Jim Buford's newest collection, Water over the Dam, address these issues as young Ashley Baker navigates his way to some understanding of the world and people around him in the rural South of the 1950s.In "School Bus," Ashley confronts a convoluted racial issue tied up in appearances that matter a lot in Tucker's Mill, Alabama. But the young boy, a mixture of innocence and wisdom, rises above the pettiness of adults and works out a solution. "Game Day" also examines the awkward relationship between black and white members of the same community during the time period.Religion plays its own part in the collection. In one story, though Brother Blanchard, the Baptist preacher, warns against seeking out mediums, Ashley visits the prophetess Cassandra and is left to ponder some information that doesn't make sense-not at first anyway-about a friend's family secret. "Preacher Boys" examines the paradoxes often found in the thought processes of those as offended by the mention of dinosaurs and the sound of dance music as they are when asked to render unto Caesar."Summer Love" and "Senior Prom" not only give a glimpse into Ashley's experiences, but also inspire readers to dust off their own memories of growing up. "Baseball, Apple Pie and Beer in the Magic City" describes Ashley's experiences with his Uncle Steve, a good hearted mechanic who loves his beer. After promising his sister, Ashley's more pious mother, that he wouldn't buy beer in Birmingham, Uncle Steve, who already had a case of beer in the trunk of the car, convinced her to let Ashley go with him to Birmingham for a baseball game between Birmingham and Atlanta at Rickwood Field.In "Widower," a subtle tale with bittersweet humor, Ashley observes the territorial issues that arise when several women bearing casseroles go after the same newly available man, only to lose him to a local who had betrayed her roots years back by marrying a Yankee and moving to Ohio. "Confederate Memorial Day" suggests that history didn't always happen exactly the way we were taught that it did as Ashley prepares to make a speech about a local war hero.One of the most poignant stories, "Lonesome Whistle," is a requiem for the passing of the last steam locomotive through Grady's Crossing, a community that has become a ghost town thanks to progress. With nods to country music, a beauty pageant, and state politics, the narrative evokes the essence of growing up in Alabama during the time period of Ashley's coming-of-age.In his best stories, Buford gives insight into the lonely or dispossessed, to those who become outsiders among their own kin and community, such as Benny Trammel in "Johnny Mack" who doesn't distinguish between real life and what's playing on the television at the local cash and carry store.I urge you to join me, with Ashley as our guide, on a trip back in time, down Memory Lane, to a place called Tucker's Mill.