Nine Days My Aunt Ione called me on a Tuesday afternoon in January, the day after the blizzard finally blew itself out. I was in the bus garage at the […]
Chapter One: Six Inches The rain came through on a Thursday night in the middle of May, the kind of storm the Flint Hills get maybe once in ten years. […]
Tamara stood in her kitchen doorway with Jodie’s cubby bag already zipped. It was 6:40 on a Monday morning. I still had my scrubs bag on my shoulder, the one […]
My father leaned toward the iron gate as Evelyn Mercer turned the final page in the folder. The anger had gone out of his face. For the first time since […]
“Daniel, could you grab that sock for me?” It had fallen behind the dryer, one of his gray work socks, lying in the dust just out of reach. I was […]
“We’re all here waiting for you to make breakfast. Hurry up!” I read the text message standing in the cereal aisle of the grocery store, holding a box of oatmeal […]
My father ordered me to leave Boston before Thanksgiving. Not asked. Ordered. “You’re the embarrassment, not family,” he told me. “If you show up, Vivian could lose Derek’s defense deal.” […]
Room for Everyone Part One: The Red Line I’ve been riding the Red Line in Chicago for twenty-six years, and I like to think I’ve seen everything a train car […]
The doorbell rang on a Sunday afternoon while I was washing dishes. I almost didn’t answer it. On Sundays, it’s usually somebody selling something. Solar panels. Gutter cleaning. A young […]
Flat to the Rim They moved Dad from Morehead to Lexington at 7:25 on a Saturday morning in October. I stood in the hallway outside room 214 at St. Claire […]