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A Matter of Life

Buford at sixteen is snapped up by the Georgia Majesty ballet as their principal danseur.

Figi the artistic director adored young Bu, whose agility and grace became Atlanta's legend.

Buford de Rose himself, even at a young age, had that tenderness of otherworldliness that when angel dust fell upon him in The Nutcracker seemed to make him always born anew.

The trouble for Bu however came when his mother, Violet Shanks, due to her husband's womanizing and gambling shenanigans along the Mississippi was forced to become a foster mother to Boze.

Boze was everything Buford was not – tough-minded, calculating, serpentine, a boxer and brown belt. Yet the tattooed, unshirted Boze was the favorite of Mr. Joseph Shanks.

"He's my real son, Boze is."

"What do you mean, Joe?"

"Of my late lover Georgia and I."

After that, Violet's well-known melancholy became worse. She would suffer from mercurial migraines, especially when Buford was taken to the woodshed.

Soon Boze was put in charge of Buford. Boze was the complete rednecked sadist. He took great pleasure in punishing and humiliating his younger brother, especially on Wednesdays, his ballet class day, trying to prevent him from even getting to the studio.

"You are late, again?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Figi."

"Is it that brother of yours doing this? Last week you were all black and blue."

"Yes, Mr. Figi."

Buford starts to cry.

"He tried to break my shoulder."

"I'm worried about your life."

"And Mr. Figi, the Nutcracker is coming up for Christmas…"

"I spoke to your mother on the phone. She doesn't want you to hide behind her skirts. She wants you to be the principal dancer and for me to take you under my wing."

"Yes, Mr. Figi. I'd like that."

When Buford got back home, Boze is cooking some barbecue. Boze hardly cooked the hamburgers, and tried to burn one of Bu's hands when he wouldn't eat one.

Bu calls up Mr. Figi and he comes down, very excited and angry. Violet greets him.

"Thank you for helping my Buford."

"I love him. I see a wonderful future for him. He is my life."

"Take him away from here."

Boze, in his war-torn khaki shorts he got from a flea market, runs over holding burning tongs.

"Get that burning faggot out of here. And get lost, Figi."

Boze gets a gasoline can and tries to set Mr. Figi's car on fire.

Figi and Buford rush to the car. Violet, unseen by Boze, throws the heated barbecue on him.

The Nutcracker was the greatest for the ballet company. Figi and Bu move to Vermont.

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