Bridge of Clay

Matthew describes a February evening 11 years earlier when “the Murderer” arrived at their house in a suit. The five Dunbar boys live alone at 18 Archer Street and are named Matthew, Rory, Henry, Clay, and Tommy. The boys are wild and combative; they raised themselves following the death of their mother and their father’s subsequent abandonment. Among their menagerie of pets is a mule named Achilles that often breaks into the house. The night the Murderer arrives, none of the boys are home but Achilles is inside, shocking and confusing him.

Across town, Clay exercises with Tommy, Henry, and their dog Rosy. Henry insults Clay while they run upstairs, Tommy on Clay’s back. When Henry’s insults grow too intense, he and Clay wrestle until Tommy intervenes. They run up the stairs three more times before Clay is sent running to buy daisies. Matthew reflects on the rigorous training Clay has endured over the years but has no idea what he is training for. Clay arrives at the cemetery with tulips, gives one to an old woman, and rejoins Tommy and Henry at a gravestone. The boys clean it before departing.

The Murderer investigates the house. Rory encounters Carey Novac, their neighbor. She gives him a message for Clay before leaving. Rory starts toward the house. Matthew is stuck in traffic and fantasizes about relaxing for the rest of the night.

Henry leaves to pick up beer, sending Clay, Tommy, and Rosy to the Bernborough Park athletic field on foot. Clay carries Rosy and thinks about Carey. When they arrive at the athletic track, they watch other boys enter the field until Clay steps into the shade to wait.

The Murderer enters the living room, where he finds Tommy’s collection of pets: a fish named Agamemnon, a cat named Hector, and a pigeon named Telemachus. The Murderer sees the piano and is briefly overcome with emotion before Rory enters the house. Rory runs to Achilles, not noticing the Murderer, then departs just as quickly as he arrived. The Murderer sits down to recover from the shock of seeing him and is joined by Hector before Henry stops by the house for beer, not noticing the Murderer as he leaves.

Henry arrives at Bernborough Park for the evening’s activity. Six boys will line up along the track and attempt to stop Clay from running a full lap by whatever means necessary. Henry, as he always does, plans to take bets on how long it will take Clay to finish. Henry fields questions about Clay’s exhaustion levels, and he transitions the conversation to taking bets. While finalizing the bets, someone arrives who makes everyone change their minds. 

The Murderer looks inside the piano and finds two books and an old dress. He is overcome with emotion before he goes to the kitchen and starts washing the dishes while smoking a cigarette.

Clay, Tommy, and Rosy sit in the locker room with six other boys. Starkey gives Clay a roll of masking tape with which to cover his feet to prevent glass from cutting them. While he waits, he fantasizes about Carey. On the track, it is decided that Rory—the mysterious newcomer—would replace one of the other boys. They line up on the track to applause and heckling from the crowd.

Matthew arrives home and smells cigarette smoke. He stands, frozen in the entryway, as the Murderer waits to face him.

The race begins at the athletic track. Clay’s air of impassivity is interrupted by two tears as he begins to run. He reaches the first three fighters and quickly fends them off, beating them up before reaching the second pair. Clay is tackled to the ground and wrestles with the trio, but he manages to escape his captors and runs to Rory. Although he initially evades his brother, Rory grabs Clay’s leg and drags him down. Rory wrestles with him for 15 minutes before Clay smiles, indicating that he has given up.

Matthew enters the kitchen. He drags Achilles into the back yard, then faces the Murderer, warning him, “‘Just so you know, you’re next’” (51).

The boys drink beer and exchange money at the park. Starkey’s female companion asks about the point of the fighting, but when Henry claims it is “training,” it becomes apparent that Clay does not know what he is training for. The four brothers and Rosy return home. In the kitchen, Matthew and the Murderer hear their arrival, and Matthew warns him of what is to come. Matthew believes that presenting a singular front is the best way to handle the situation. The other brothers enter the house and sense that something is wrong, meeting Matthew and the Murderer in the kitchen. There is a moment of shock and silence as everyone stares at each other. Clay removes a broken clothes peg from his pocket and greets the Murderer, identifying him as their father.