Child of God
Chapters - Cormac McCarthy
Part 1: I
Chapter 1
A crowd arrives at a rural property in Sevier County, Tennessee, for an auction. The auctioneer, C B, delivers his pitch about the value of the land, extolling the virtues of real estate investment. The man whose property is being auctioned, Lester Ballard, emerges with a rifle and confronts the auctioneer, demanding everyone leave. C B refuses to move, calmly telling Ballard he can shoot him where he sits.
On page: C B, Lester Ballard
Chapter 2
A community member recounts how Lester Ballard was struck in the head with an axe by a man named Buster during the auction, leaving him lying on the ground bleeding from the ears. C B continued the auction as if nothing had happened. The narrator notes that John Greer, the buyer from Grainger County, purchased the property.
On page: Lester Ballard, C B, Buster·Mentioned: John Greer
Chapter 3
Ballard visits Fred Kirby at his house, hoping to get whiskey on credit. Kirby refuses credit but agrees to trade for Ballard's pocketknife. He goes off to find his hidden stash but returns empty-handed, unable to remember where he hid it. Ballard takes back his knife and leaves.
On page: Lester Ballard, Fred Kirby
Chapter 4
Ballard moves into an abandoned two-room cabin, sweeping out the filth, knocking down a hornet's nest, and clearing the hearth. He hauls in a stained mattress, cooks sliced potatoes over a lamp, and settles in for the night with his rifle beside him, lying on the mattress and dreaming of cold mountain water.
On page: Lester Ballard
Chapter 5
A community member recalls a childhood incident involving Lester Ballard: he ordered a younger boy, the Finney boy, to fetch a lost softball, and when the boy refused, Ballard punched him in the face without hesitation. The narrator remembers feeling disturbed by Ballard's casual cruelty.
On page: Lester Ballard·Mentioned: The Finney Boy
Chapter 6
Ballard lies hidden in the weeds at the Frog Mountain turnaround, spying on a couple having sex in a parked car. He is spotted by the man in the car and flees across the turnaround as a threatening voice calls after him.
On page: Lester Ballard
Chapter 7
Community members share stories and local lore. One recounts that Lester Ballard was never right after his father hanged himself in the barn when Ballard was about nine or ten years old. The boy watched as neighbours cut down the body. They all agree Ballard surpasses everyone for craziness.
On page: Lester Ballard·Mentioned: The Old Father
Chapter 8
Ballard endures a chaotic night in his barren cabin. Foxhounds in full cry pour through his cabin, filling the doorway and bursting out through the window, taking the sash with them. Ballard seizes one of the last hounds by its hind leg and flails at it in the dark, injuring his own toes in the process.
On page: Lester Ballard
Chapter 9
Ballard walks up the quarry road to the dump, where the dumpkeeper lives with his large brood of daughters. The dumpkeeper, who named his children from an old medical dictionary, has lost control of his household as the girls take up with local boys and fall pregnant one by one. Ballard has his eye on a blonde daughter who teases him openly, but she and a man sitting nearby mock him and he leaves without getting anywhere.
On page: Lester Ballard, Reubel, The Dumpkeeper, The Dumpkeeper's Daughter
Chapter 10
Ballard attends services at Sixmile Church. The congregation turns to stare when he enters late and sits alone on the rear bench. A wave of whispers passes through the pews. The preacher pauses, pours himself water, and continues while Ballard snuffles loudly through the entire service.
On page: Lester Ballard
Chapter 11
Ballard, subsisting on stolen garden produce and a few frogs, discovers bass in the creek. He rushes back for his rifle, but when he returns he finds Waldrop's cattle standing in the water, muddying the creek. In frustration he shoots one of the cattle, injuring it.
On page: Lester Ballard
Chapter 12
Community members recount more tales of Lester Ballard's reckless behaviour: how he borrowed a tractor to drag a balking cow and accidentally broke its neck, and how he had some hold over Waldrop that kept Waldrop from running him off even after Ballard burned his old place down.
On page: Lester Ballard
Chapter 13
Ballard visits the dumpkeeper, whom he calls Reubel. The old man reports that two of his daughters, including the fair-headed one Ballard fancied, have run off. Ballard leaves and wanders down into the quarry with a stray dog, searching through rubble and salvaging a kitchen knife before heading home as a storm rolls in.
On page: Lester Ballard, Reubel
Chapter 14
The seasons change as Ballard grows leaner and more isolated in his cabin. He is seen on the roads at night, solitary with his rifle. One cold morning at the Frog Mountain turnaround, he finds a woman sleeping in a white gown. When she wakes, she attacks him with a rock. He slaps her, tears away her gown, and walks off with it, leaving her naked and cursing after him.
On page: Lester Ballard
Chapter 15
A narrator recalls riding with the sheriff, referred to as Fate, describing a humorous encounter at the Frog Mountain turnaround where the sheriff discovered a young man with his trousers on inside out, pockets hanging outside. The sheriff simply told him to go on home.
On page: Fate Turner, John (Narrator)
Chapter 16
A man called Darfuzzle visits Ballard to warn him that the woman from the turnaround has gone to the sheriff, and that a man named Pless has been arrested. The woman has accused Ballard of involvement. Ballard denies everything.
On page: Lester Ballard, Darfuzzle·Mentioned: Pless
Chapter 17
The high sheriff of Sevier County goes about his morning rounds in the small county seat and then drives out with his deputy, Cotton, to arrest Ballard. The sheriff tells an anecdote about a bird dog named Suzie on the way. When they arrive, Ballard comes down off his porch without resistance, noting he knows a path through the overgrown terrain.
On page: Lester Ballard, Fate Turner, Cotton·Mentioned: John (Narrator)
Chapter 18
Ballard sits in the sheriff's office when the woman from the turnaround is brought in. She identifies him but is more interested in pursuing the other men involved. When Ballard calls her a whore, she slaps him, and a violent brawl breaks out involving Ballard, the woman, and the deputy, ending with Ballard pinned on the floor and kicked in the head.
On page: Lester Ballard, Fate Turner
Chapter 19
Ballard spends nine days in the Sevier County jail, where he talks with a black prisoner from Arkansas being held on a fugitive warrant. The sheriff eventually comes asking about the woman's county of origin. The next morning Ballard is taken before a judge and released without explanation. Outside, the sheriff confronts him on the street, listing his offences and warning him that murder may be next.
On page: Lester Ballard, Fate Turner, Cotton