For Irene, After
The voice of Stan went on from the old tape player in the basement, weak but steady, and I sat down on the bottom step with my hands pressed between …
For Irene, After Read MoreBlog
The Corner Plate
The landlord son stood in the middle of my diner with his phone still in his hand and his mouth open. “Mom?” he said again. The woman in the dark …
The Corner Plate Read MoreBox 214
The folder in box 214 held eleven letters, and every one of them was signed by Walter Halvorsen, the president of Prairie Savings Bank. I sat down at the little …
Box 214 Read MoreThe Oak on Gwinnett
“Mrs. Tolliver,” said the voice at the city archive, “please do not let anyone touch that tree. Your husband was the man who saved it.” Her name was Deborah Waites, …
The Oak on Gwinnett Read MoreThe East Pin
The clerk turned the old leather ledger around so that I could read it. It was a book of surveyor payments from the county, dated 1957, and in neat brown …
The East Pin Read MoreCall Lonnie
“Madam, your husband is the reason I am still breathing,” the tow driver said. His name was Lonnie Briggs, and he stood in the parking lot of the dealership in …
Call Lonnie Read MoreThe Ride to the Bank
Kyle Dorsey stood at the teller window with the smile still frozen on his face, and Eugene Platt walked up behind him as easily as a man crossing a church …
The Ride to the Bank Read MoreThe Piano Bench
I read the clipping on the living room floor of my mother, with the late afternoon sun slanting across the carpet. The headline from 1998 said, FORMER NURSING HOME ADMINISTRATOR …
The Piano Bench Read MoreThe Flagpole Letter
Mrs. Eleanor Haskell, ninety three years old and no larger than a sparrow, laid the letter flat on her dining table and said to her housekeeper, “Get me Brent Talley …
The Flagpole Letter Read MoreLine Seven
The woman on the phone was named Patricia Alderman, and she worked for the State Department of Ecology in Olympia. “Mrs. Belcher,” she said, “do you understand what your husband …
Line Seven Read More