Community stories.
Stories about neighbors, small towns and strangers who show up.
The Stranger Who Tended Roy’s Grave
The frost was still on the grass at Sugar Creek Cemetery when I saw him, and my first thought was that somebody had come to... Read more
The Booth by the Window
The first time I really saw him, he had been standing in the doorway of the Prairie Rose for six full minutes, and not one... Read more
Three Children and a Pot of Soup
I had one boot laced and the other in my hand when the knock came. Marie got to the front door before I did. We... Read more
The Shoes in the Parking Lot
The sole of my left shoe let go of the leather with a sound like a page tearing, and I stood in the middle of... Read more
The Bill Our Town Paid In Secret
Amber had the calculator app open on her phone and a legal pad in front of her with three columns on it. The truck. The... Read more
The Casserole With No Name
I buried my wife on a Tuesday in October, and by that Friday I had already forgotten how to feed myself. That is not a... Read more
The Stranger Who Followed Us Home
My car died on Route 9 at eleven at night in an ice storm, and I had two babies in the back seat and no... Read more
The Teacher Who Paid My Lunch
I was seven years old the first time I understood that we were the kind of poor that other people could see. It was the... Read more
The Cap At The Counter
A man in a VFW cap eats breakfast alone at my counter every morning at six, and last week I found out he comes in... Read more
The Shop Door Opened at Seven
The card was pinned to the corkboard by the co-op door, right between a lost dog notice and a flyer for the Lutheran church pie... Read more
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