Virgil Walker
Several weeks ago we read the short story Virgil Walker, written by Arthur Bradford. This story took us into the strange life of Virgil the octopus. In the 15 pages (including illustrations) of this story we learned of the hardships of being born to a human mother when you resemble more of an octopus. Immediately disowned by his mother and given to a pet store Virgil, gifted with a human mind, gets an interesting view at the cruelty of humans through the walls of his aquarium. Growing up in a pet store is proved to be difficult when you are an octopus and nobody wants to take you home. As a form of protest Virgil valiantly eats all of the fish who he is competing with for the affection of the potential owners that enter the store, and escapes with a fairly sophisticated turtle named, Mr. Beeker. From there the hit the town. But to learn what they do you have to read the story, included in McSweeney’s 28.
