The Hymn For Someone Else
The first verse went fine. I had practiced it for nineteen days, on the upright in Gran’s bedroom and on the little keyboard in the… Read more
The Shoes the Quiet Woman Paid For
The shoe was on the second shelf of Verna Pohlman’s bedroom closet, behind a dented fruitcake tin, and I knew it before I had finished… Read more
The Baby Sister I Prayed Forty Years For
I was carrying an empty casserole dish across the gravel behind the fellowship hall at Alder Grove First Baptist when somebody said a name I… Read more
The Harvest the Neighbors Brought In
I did not decide to pull over. My hands did it for me. The Mercury went crooked onto the gravel shoulder, and I put it… Read more
The Grave Beside My Husband
Brent Dempsey did not look up from his computer screen. I stood at the office window of Oak Rest Cemetery with my envelope in my… Read more
The Tools That Came Home Early
The red chest was riding backward on a gooseneck trailer with a yellow ratchet strap across its top drawer, and I knew it before I… Read more
