No Trace (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: David Madden
- First Published: 1970
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: June 4, 1968
- Setting: A college campus in the Midwest
- Principal Characters: Gordon Foster, Ernest Foster, Lydia Foster, Jason Carter
- Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
- Subjects: 1960’s, United States or Americans, Parents and children, Suicide, Midwest, Vietnam War, Death or dying, Colleges or universities, Students or student life
- Locales: Midwest (U.S.)
The Story
On June 4, 1968, graduation day at Melbourne College in the Midwest, Gordon Foster, valedictorian of his class, has set off a grenade, killing himself and others at the ceremony. His father, Ernest Foster, now climbs the stairs to his dead son's dormitory room—which had been his own room at the college some twenty years earlier. He will enter ahead of the police in order to piece together reasons, if possible, for his son's actions.
The room is replete with psychedelic paint, beer-can pyramids, records in orange crates, colored lights, underground books, and...
[The entire page is 1408 words long]
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