I smelled the coal smoke before I opened my eyes. For a moment, I was eight again, in the shop where my grandfather repaired motors. Â I used to sit by his old stove and watch him work. âHannah, whatâs the piston firing order of a small block Chevrolet?â heâd ask, […]
The tents appeared in the middle of the night, without preamble. There was some heated discussion at city hall, because not even the mayor knew they were coming. They mustâve worked out something, though, because the gypsy circus stayed. Our town wasnât big enough to support even a fair, so
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The video call connected and my boyfriend smiled. Â “First, I love you and I miss you and I can’t wait until you get home.” “I love you, too, and I can’t wait either!” I peered at the computer screen. Â “Where are you? “I’m in the attic,” Brody replied. Â “When I
The anniversary of Layneâs death wasnât for another three days, but when âCochiseâ came on the radio as I approached that curve, I took it as a sign. Layneâs favorite song. I pressed the gas and shifted gears as Chris Cornell began to wail. The needle on the odometer crept
The land beyond the bridge had been in my family for generations, forty-four acres of farmland. Â My father was as rooted to it as the oak tree in our front yard. Although he was sympathetic to my plight, he was certainly not going to move just because his daughterâs college
Any mother who has more than one child will admit-if sheâs honest-that she has one child who worries her more than the others. This has nothing to do with love, but rather some childrenâs propensity to find trouble-the child most likely to get in a fight at school, or picked
âI canât sleep,â she whispered as she crawled into bed and spooned against my back. âJesus, youâre cold,â I murmured. She only snuggled closer, throwing her leg over mine. I lay there for a few beats, caught between my alcohol-induced sleep and wakefulness, until I realized whatever this cold thing
The first time I saw Bret, I was nineteen. Â Iâd found a job working security at Daveâs Storage Unit. Â My duties included keeping vagrants and thieves from disturbing the 40 rental units that were laid out in five neat rows in the middle of downtown Atlanta and helping customers with
