the setting is amazingly rich and many-layered in "Dry September." Notice how each of the story's five parts feature a distinct movement as the characters travel through the various micro-settings of the story. The barbershop featured in Section 1 is a good example. The relative privacy of the place, mingled with the heat, the shaving-product smells, the sweat, and the stale air combine with a week's worth of frustrations to create a perfect rumor incubator, a warm place for the rumor to grow and feed. For McLendon, the rumor has already reached the full-blown monster stage. For him, the barbershop is a recruiting station. His pistol-packing presence clears the room. When the scene began the shop was packed with voices, violent energy, and men preparing for Saturday night escapades of a terrible nature. At the end of the scene the shop has transformed into a quiet place, emptied of everyone but two whispering barbers.