Commentary - Valley of Shadows

I just received my professor's comments on the short story posted below. Before I say anything else, I need to say that my professor - Dr. David B. Calhoun - is regarded by most as an exemplar of the pastor-scholar. I whole-heartedly agree. Unlike many seminaries, Covenant requires its professors to have pastoral experience as well as teaching credentials. Even among this collection of pastor-scholars, Dr. Calhoun stands out and is recognized as such by his peers.

As for his comments, his primary suggestion was that I add more sensory detail in a few key places - describe the owl nest with more texture and sound, and bring more life to the scene in the hotel bar toward the end of the story. He also said I could add more suspense to build up to the end. Very helpful suggestions. And, truth be told, the suspense was cut short a little by the assignment due date.

I said earlier that I would provide some commentary on my intended meaning. Here goes. The idea for the dam came out of an illustration an old mentor shared with me 12 years ago. He compared sin to alligators in a swamp. He said, you don't really know how many alligators are there, or how big they are, until you drain the swamp. Obviously the reservoir created by the dam is a type of swamp that hides sins.

Beyond that, I wanted to portray two particular ways that I am tempted to create reservoirs and effectively bury my sin. The first is wealth, the second is knowledge. These are obviously personified in the persons of Jack and Prof. Brown. I was considering the question of what happens to people when these reservoirs just continue to build, having little or no outlet to drain the swamp and reveal what is under the surface.

I know that too much interpretation can spoil a story, so that's enough. Thanks again to Dr. Calhoun. And thanks to anyone who read the story.