A completed beginning

I recently finished a story that I'll be including with my MFA applications. It's called "The Vessel" and this is the beginning:

"Here is how it is: My name is Roebuck and they call me a monster. I live in a humble shack on the very edge of town, farthest from the river but near the railroad, a few miles south of the little train station. Infrequently, people come out to catch a glimpse of me, tending the garden or returning from the general store, but they never stop to visit. Last November, someone hurled a broken handle from a cast iron pan through my bedroom window. They disappeared before I stepped outside so I put the handle on a shelf above the bed, beside the iron spikes I collect from the tracks."

(Maybe I'll post the ending when I've gotten it right).