The first time I saw Martin Hale, he was dripping wet and laughing. It was the summer of 1975. I was twenty-one years old, standing on the edge of a […]
“Stop acting poor.” That’s what my brother’s fiancée said to my grandmother at seven o’clock in the morning on her wedding day. My grandmother was standing in her own kitchen […]
It was 3:17 in the morning when Ava started crying for the third time that night. I know the exact time because I looked at the clock on the nightstand. […]
My sister broke my violin in half less than twenty minutes before the most important performance of my life, all because I refused to give her my new dress. She […]
The night my debit card declined for a twelve-dollar dinner, I was sitting in a booth at a Waffle House off Interstate 85, and the waitress was very kind about […]
I want to say plainly why I baked, because my sister thought it was foolishness and told me so on the telephone, the way she tells me most things, fast […]
“If you’re handing out free meals, cover mine too.” The whole diner went quiet. Even the old jukebox in the corner seemed to stop, though it was really just between […]
The pumpkin costume was my idea, but the cupcakes were Dustin’s. He wanted them orange all the way through, so we put food coloring in the batter, and by the […]
Our anniversary dinner went cold at 9:40 p.m. I know because I checked the clock when I lit the second set of candles. The first set had already burned down […]
At 6:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve, my husband called 17 times in 12 minutes. I watched his name light up my phone, listened to it buzz across the kitchen counter, […]