The Green Lunchbox
I sat down on the porch swing because my legs would not hold me. Mateo placed the lunchbox on my knees and stood turning his cap in his hands. The …
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The Blue Binders
I did not sleep that night. Ray sat with me at the kitchen table while Tripod climbed into my lap, and I told him everything David Rendell had said. Then …
The Blue Binders Read MoreThe Torn Spreadsheet
I did not open the envelope right away. Carla Brannan watched me through her sunglasses while the waitress poured coffee neither of us wanted. “Take them off,” I said. She …
The Torn Spreadsheet Read MoreThe Eleven Drivers
“Mr. Pell, sit down before you fall down,” I said. I took his elbow and walked him into the shade of our church van, and Cedric brought a folding chair …
The Eleven Drivers Read MoreThe Missing Credit
“Duncan, slow down,” I said. I was standing in my kitchen in my socks, the phone against my ear, and Lorna watched from the doorway with a dish towel in …
The Missing Credit Read MoreFourteen Notebooks
I rode in the back of that black SUV with my hands on my knees, feeling like a boy sent to the principal. The driver, whose name was Calvin, kept …
Fourteen Notebooks Read MoreThe Twelve Pages
I drove to the plant with Rhoda beside me, still in her robe, her purse on her lap, because she said she was not letting me walk through that gate …
The Twelve Pages Read MoreThe Soft Clay Piers
Dr. Okoye slid a cup of coffee toward me and let Hal catch his breath. “Two weeks ago,” she said, “our inspector found that the footings on the school do …
The Soft Clay Piers Read MoreThe Donut Box
I stood in the doorway holding my bathrobe closed. Rain ran off the chin of Dennis Krall and dripped onto the donut box. Behind him a gray sedan idled at …
The Donut Box Read MoreThe Cut Line
“Friday is the day you drive to Phoenix,” Benny said, reading the tape twice. I had forgotten. Two weeks earlier I had told Crystal at dinner that I would take …
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