The Firewood
Arne Lindgren set down the last armload of birch on the porch of my cabin outside Marquette, brushed the bark from his sleeves, and said, in the slow voice of …
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The Night Shift
From the linen closet at the end of the east hall, I held my telephone up to the crack of the door and pressed record. I am Bernice Okafor, fifty …
The Night Shift Read MoreThe Corner Booth
The lawyer who sat across from me in the corner booth of the Bull Street cafe in Savannah, with the contract spread before him, had never worked for my husband. …
The Corner Booth Read MoreThe Back Doors
The back doors of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Valdosta swung open on the second hymn, and three hundred people turned around in their pews. I am Loretta Bascom, eighty …
The Back Doors Read MoreThe Parkway Note
My mother in law Vivian sat on the porch swing of her old farmhouse in the hills outside Asheville, rocking slowly, with the folder of photographs on her knees and …
The Parkway Note Read MoreThe Church Lot
Dr. Hartmann received us in his small office above the pharmacy on Main Street in Fredericksburg, at four o clock on a Thursday afternoon, with the blinds half drawn against …
The Church Lot Read MoreThe Cold Test
The policy that my daughter Linda had spoken of on the telephone, when she thought I was out of earshot, turned out to be a life insurance policy on me. …
The Cold Test Read MoreThe Ore Captain
On Monday morning at nine, the man who called himself Dr. Sloan walked into the physical therapy clinic in Duluth carrying a leather bag, and my heart turned over in …
The Ore Captain Read MoreThe Whip Handle
The key from the handle of the whip of my grandmother opened box twenty two at Central Bank in downtown Lexington, and inside it, wrapped in tissue paper and tied …
The Whip Handle Read MoreThe Starting Gate
The chief executive of the racing company stood in the middle of the Shelbyville fairgrounds, in the golden light of the evening, with the trophy of my husband Harlan cradled …
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