لخّصلي

The Stone Boy tells the story Arnold, who has lived his whole life in the shadow of older
brother, Eugene, One morning, Arnold wakes to pick peas with his brother.he gets up and
dressed before his brother, Arnold finally wakes his brother and goes downstairs. He
takes his gun off the rack and prepares for duck shooting. When Eugie comes down, he
reminds Arnold that it's not duck season, but Arnold keeps his gun. The boys go to the
garden to pick peas as planned, which must be done before dawn.
The brothers leave the house together. They come upon a wire fence near the lake that
they need to squeeze through to get to the field. Eugie does so first, without incident.
When Arnold attempts to do the same, he accidentally sets off his gun. He flinches,
expecting that his brother will scold or make fun of him, as usual. However, Eugie says
nothing. Arnold notices that Eugie has fallen to the ground, and is bleeding from the
neck. He tries to awaken Eugie, to no avail and continues on to pick peas by himself.
Later, after the sun has fully risen, he returns to the farmstead, to find that the rest of the
family is awake and bustling. He informs them that Eugie is dead. The family, shocked,
refuses to believe him at first. Then they travel to the lake and find his body.
Arnold's father and Uncle Andy – who had always had a soft spot for Eugie, who
resembled him – take Arnold into town to meet with the Sheriff. The sheriff asks him
several questions about his brother's death; he wonders whether the boys got along well.
Arnold's father answers that they did. The sheriff asks Arnold why he didn't tell anyone
about the shooting when it happened, and Arnold has no answer. In the face of Arnold's
apparent lack of introspection, the sheriff decides that one of two things must be true:
either Arnold has no feelings, or he's just stupid. However, the sheriff makes it clear that
he belies the former – and Arnold soon realizes that his uncle Andy agrees.
Back home, the family has a quiet and tense dinner together, and then some of their
neighbors come over. Arnold overhears them tell many stories about Eugie, who was
universally loved. Eventually, Uncle Andy tells the men what the sheriff had said about
Arnold, and as they discuss Arnold, he feels emptier and emptier. Finally, he goes to bed,
hollowed out and numb, but not regretful.
At breakfast the next day, tension fills the air. Arnold's sister pointedly ignores him, until
their father intervenes. Arnold understands the gesture to mean he hasn't been completely
ejected from the family, but all is far from well. He has internalized the version of
himself projected onto him by the sheriff and his uncle. His mother asks him why he
knocked on her door the previous night, but he can only answer that he “didn't want
nothing.” He leaves the house to chase a lost calf and nothing is resolved.