Richard checked his watch for the third time. Then he looked past my shoulder toward the restaurant window. He was clearly nervous. I just couldn’t tell whether it was because […]
Ten Dollars Dad laid one ten in Jasper’s palm and closed his fingers over it. He did it gently. That’s the thing I keep coming back to. He wasn’t being […]
The Dock Halfway through the Meeks family reunion, my mother-in-law pushed my sixty-eight-year-old father off the dock. She said later it was a joke. She said it about a hundred […]
The first time Arthur asked for a photograph of my face without makeup, I thought it was romantic. By the fourth time, I’d started to wonder. “Another picture?” I teased […]
Between the Roast and the Pie Mom told me at Sunday dinner, between the roast and the pie. “We sold Grandpa’s ground to Vern Akers.” She said it the way […]
I heard the knock from the front porch before the truck even turned into the driveway. It was a deep, heavy clatter coming from under the hood, like somebody beating […]
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 […]
Truman leaned into the open cab of my combine, came out holding the key ring, and threw it high and hard into the standing soybeans. I watched it go. The […]
The House on Juniper Lane Part One: Saturday Coffee “We’re moving out next weekend. Mom and Dad are taking the house.” I looked up from my coffee. It was a […]
Four in the Morning It was four in the morning when I started. The stars were still out over the east ridge, hard and white, the way they get in […]