Child of God (1973. Vintage 1993)

Ballard touched his hand to his chest and glanced down quickly to check for blood but there was none. Ballard watched this ballet tilt and swirl and churn mud up through the snow and watched the lovely blood welter there in its holograph of battle, spray burst from a ruptured lung, the dark heart’s blood, pinwheel and pirouette, until shots rang and all was done. Her head was lolling and blood ran down her neck and Ballard had dragged her out of her shoes. What finally happened was that one man with a little guts stood up to em and that was Tom Davis.