That stump sat in my backyard about fifteen years and drove me half crazy the whole time. Old cottonwood I had cut down when it started dropping limbs, and I …

That stump sat in my backyard fifteen years — I would take it fifteen more over what the excavator turned up under it Read More

After the river came up and went back down here in Paducah, our church group went out to help clean up the bank, the mud, the trash, all the sorry …

After the flood in Paducah our church group cleaned the bank — the suitcase I pulled from the driftwood I almost left for the river Read More

After the storm blew through here in Galveston, I got called out to pull a car that had been shoved up against the seawall by the waves. Sitting crooked, half …

After the storm in Galveston I got called to pull a car off the seawall — what was in the glovebox had me radioing the Coast Guard Read More

Twenty-two years I have driven a school bus here in Dubuque, and every evening after the last kid is off, I walk the aisle and sweep out from under the …

Twenty-two years I have driven a school bus in Dubuque — what I found under the back bench I still cannot put down Read More

I run a little dry cleaners here in Bakersfield, been mine eighteen years, just me and one girl part-time, the smell of steam and pressing fluid soaked into everything I …

I run a little dry cleaners in Bakersfield — what was hand-stitched into the lining of an unclaimed coat sat me down at the computer Read More

I have driven nights in Chattanooga twelve years now, cab first, one of the apps now, and stuff left in the back seat is just how every shift ends. Phones, …

I have driven nights in Chattanooga twelve years — the bag that scared woman left at two in the morning I could not forget Read More

I clean the rooms at our hospital here in Youngstown, and after a patient is discharged, it is my job to clear out whatever is left and get the bed …

I clean the rooms at our hospital in Youngstown — what I found in the Room 214 drawer sent me running down the hall Read More

I am retired now, but I still sub on the mail route here in Spokane when one of the young carriers is out sick. Thirty-one years I carried that bag, …

I still sub on the mail route in Spokane after thirty-one years — what was left on that porch put a bad feeling straight through me Read More

The bottom drawer of my daddys dresser stuck and would not come, and he would have fixed it in five minutes with a bar of soap on the runners if …

The bottom drawer of my daddys dresser would not come — what was taped behind it kept me on the floor a long while Read More

My grandson took up fishing this summer, got the bug bad, wants to be out on the water every day his mama will let him. So I went up in …

My grandson took up fishing so I dug out my fathers old tackle box — what was under the lures made me sit down on a rafter Read More