I married Jonah for two thousand dollars a month while he was serving twelve years in prison. I told myself it was survival, not love. I was twenty-seven years old. […]
Black and Paid For Part One: The Hayfield Dustin had just dropped a bale out the back of the baler when Shane’s silver sedan pulled up at the field edge. […]
Aisle Seven “Mom, Max put a cucumber in his pocket,” Sophie said. “It’s for later!” my five-year-old protested. “Put it back, honey. We have a cart.” Max looked at me […]
Four in the Morning At 4 a.m., someone pounded on my mother’s front door. Not a knock. A pounding. A fist, flat and heavy, three times, then three more. The […]
Vance Tolliver had a coffee can wired to his gatepost. It was an old red Folgers can, the big kind, with a slot cut in the plastic lid. Somebody had […]
Ruth Ellison laughed out loud when I walked into the courtroom. She covered her mouth with one hand, like she was trying to be polite about it. Her diamond bracelet […]
My sister’s new boyfriend shook my hand like he was trying to crack a walnut. He held on a second too long and squeezed a little too hard. While he […]
“Mom,” my son said, “are you really my mom?” He asked it at the kitchen table on a Tuesday afternoon in October, with a glass of chocolate milk in front […]
Brock was still laughing as he counted the bills. “Nobody bales small squares anymore, Jana,” he said, folding my three hundred dollars into his shirt pocket. “You’ll see.” We were […]
My brother laughed so hard he had to leave the room. It started small, a breath through the nose. Then it grew. He put his hand over his mouth, his […]