The Lake Road Map
I unfolded the map all the way and laid it flat on the table. The paper was soft from being handled. Roy had drawn the red line carefully, the way …
The Lake Road Map Read MoreBlog
The Rochester Receipt
I lowered myself into the armchair by the window, held the receipt under the lamp, and read it three times. It came from Halvorsen Music in Rochester, stamped paid in …
The Rochester Receipt Read MoreThe Dented Tin
We sat in the cab of that pickup with the heater ticking and the windows fogging over, and I read the paper twice before I trusted myself to speak. Gene …
The Dented Tin Read MoreKey Number 114
Because the thing in my hand was not a tool or a bolt. It was a flat steel key, the kind that goes with a safe deposit box, taped to …
Key Number 114 Read MoreThe Dry Compartment
Because the dry space below the false floor held a footlocker. A real one, olive drab, with brass corners and a hasp that had rusted to the color of dried …
The Dry Compartment Read MoreThe Girls Room
Because behind that last panel, in a space no wider than a refrigerator door, sat a wooden crate with rope handles and a coffee can on top of it, and …
The Girls Room Read MoreHidden For Love
Because the panel came away in my hands with a small sigh of old wood, and behind it, wrapped in a blanket of oilcloth gone brittle as a leaf, lay …
Hidden For Love Read MoreThe Hatch Letter
Because the very first thing my flashlight found was a name, written in white paint on the lid of a green metal ammunition can, in a careful hand: RUTH. Under …
The Hatch Letter Read MoreNot Enrolled Anymore
On Friday evening, the gymnasium of Covenant Christian Academy smelled of floor wax and coffee, and my mother in law moved through it like a woman who owned the building. …
Not Enrolled Anymore Read MoreTwo Birthday Parties
The clown was a man in a rainbow wig named Pickles, and he looked at my husband with the wide, apologetic eyes of someone who had just been caught in …
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