I work the graveyard shift at an all-night diner out on the highway here in Dothan, and honey, I have seen every kind of person the dark hours bring in. …
I work the graveyard shift at an all-night diner in Dothan — the girl who nurses one coffee till dawn every night finally told me why Read MoreThe city hired me to winch an old car up out of one of the abandoned mine pits on the edge of Butte, one of those glory holes folks have …
The city hired me to winch an old car out of a mine pit outside Butte — what I saw through the busted glass sent me straight to the radio Read MoreI have run a little boat dock on the river here outside Paducah ever since I retired. Fix outboard motors, sell minnows and nightcrawlers, drink my coffee and watch the …
I run a little boat dock outside Paducah, and a girl of thirteen started sitting on my pier till dark every day — the evening I asked why, she finally told me Read MoreThe phone dragged me out of a dead sleep at two-thirty in the morning. It was the night watchman from the old closed-down cannery out past Enid. He said there …
A 2 a.m. call pulled me out to a closed-down cannery outside Enid for smoke behind the wall — what I found made me set my tools down and walk out Read MoreMiss Darnell has been coming to our library here in Florence for about ten years. Pops in, grabs a couple of her romance novels, chats with me for five minutes, …
Miss Darnell started spending every day at our library in Florence, dreading closing time — when I finally asked, what she whispered got me moving Read MoreA young couple hired me to reroof the old house they had just bought here in Wausau. The shingles were curling and it had started leaking, and the place had …
A young couple hired me to reroof their old house in Wausau — what was sealed inside the boarded-up dormer stopped me on the ladder Read MoreI have been cutting Dawns hair going on eight years, and she always liked it short and open, off the neck, a nice easy style. But these last few months, …
I have cut Dawns hair for eight years — the day she flinched and I saw the marks on her neck, I set my scissors down Read MoreI climbed up the windmill to fix the pump. It had quit pushing water into the stock tank, and out here past Cortez, no water means no cattle, so it …
I climbed my windmill to fix the pump out past Cortez — what I spotted laid out on my own barn roof made me grab the chimney Read MoreI have delivered hot meals to shut-in seniors around Ashland for twelve years. You get to know your folks, driving the same route day in, day out. Mr. Tate always …
I deliver meals to shut-in seniors around Ashland — the day Mr. Tate started asking for two meals while wasting away, I finally asked who they were for Read MoreI clean and service wells. A young couple bought an old homestead up here outside Bemidji, and the water from their well had started coming up with a strange taste …
I service wells, and a young couple outside Bemidji called me about cloudy water — what my camera found at the bottom made me tell them to call the police Read More