My uncle left me his old pickup, and this winter I finally set about rebuilding the engine. It had been knocking for a year, and I could not bring myself …
My uncle left me his old pickup and I finally rebuilt the engine — what was taped inside the oil pan made me set my wrench down Read MoreI opened a little cafe this spring, and to save money I bought a big commercial oven off a bakery that closed down here in Ottumwa. Novaks, been on the …
I bought a closed bakerys old oven to save money — what was hidden behind the burner panel made me sit down in my empty kitchen Read MoreI was picking my car up from the wash, one of those places where they vacuum it out and wipe it down while you wait, and the young fella at …
The kid at the car wash handed me a bundle from under the seat — it was not mine, and what I found sent me looking for her Read MoreI have worked at our little town library here in Marquette for twenty years, and in that time I have found just about everything in the returns. Cash used as …
I have worked at our little town library in Marquette for twenty years — what fell out of a book returned in the dark stopped me cold Read MoreMy uncle Tom rode motorcycles his whole life and my whole family spent that whole life waiting for the phone call. When it finally came, it was not the bike …
My uncle Tom rode motorcycles his whole life — what was welded inside the tank made me grip the workbench Read MoreMy grandmother had an upright piano that nobody in three generations ever learned to play properly, and she kept it tuned anyway, dusted anyway, in the front room where it …
My grandmother had an upright piano nobody could play — what was hidden inside it made me stop halfway Read MoreMy father read the way some people pray. Every night, an hour minimum, the same worn armchair, a wall of books he had been building since before I existed. He …
My father read the way some people pray — what was hidden behind the third shelf stopped me cold Read MoreIn twenty-eight years of marriage, I had never once seen my husband stand up to my family. Not one time. He would just leave the room. Wayne has driven a …
In twenty-eight years of marriage I never saw my husband stand up to my family — until Wayne said six words Read MoreIt happened at my mothers Sunday dinner, the way it always did, someone taking a shot at my father, and my father quietly getting up to leave the room. Dad …
It happened at my mothers Sunday dinner the way it always did — then my father looked my uncle dead in the eye Read MoreFor thirty years, my family has treated my husband like he was not quite good enough for me, and for thirty years, he just let it go. Frank walks steel …
For thirty years my family treated my husband like he was not good enough — then Frank turned to my cousin and the whole yard went silent Read More