The man in the Royals cap held the sunflower plate up to the light, between his thumb and forefinger, as if he were checking a bill for forgery. He was …

The Bluebird Pitcher Read More

“Yes, Lisa, I am his mother,” I said, “and I have never lived in Arizona in my life.” I took the old plum crate out of the hands of her …

The Plum Crate Read More

“I know a forged letterhead when I see one, Craig,” I said, and I held the letter from the doctor up to the window so the afternoon light came through …

The Fake Letterhead Read More

“I mean the lake, son,” I said, and I set the old brass dock key on the teak table, beside the champagne bucket. “We are on my signature. Anywhere we …

The Galley Drawer Read More

“I know, son,” I said, and I laid the pruning shears across the white tablecloth, the old ones with the wooden handles worn pale by fifty years of my hands. …

The Pruning Shears Read More

“Doug, I am sitting right here,” I said, from my wheelchair, in the center aisle of First Methodist, and the words went out over the pews like a stone dropped …

The Printed Obituary Read More

“I would like everyone to stop, please,” I said, in the voice I once used in the school cafeteria, and a kitchen full of strangers stopped moving. A woman with …

The Numbered Sticker Read More

“She signed it in a recovery room, Tyler,” I said, from my walker, in the doorway of the title office. “Or, rather, she did not. I was on a surgical …

The Walker at Closing Read More

“Mr. Whitfield, those ribs are not his,” I said, and I laid my hand flat on the business plan. “They belong to a man named Clarence Duval. He made them …

The Rusted Smoker Read More

“They match because I won, baby,” I said, softly, and I laid my hand over his on the tablecloth. “All six numbers. Saturday night. The drawing was on the television …

The Framed Ticket Read More