The seven of us stood there with a dumbstruck look on each of our faces. As we watched, sticky with sweat and tacky popsicle juice, the dust cleared enough to reveal a shoddy white sign that read: “WELCOME TO HOG… Continue Reading
I’m going to tell on her. Like the time we were in third grade and I saw her snatch someone’s mechanical pencil and slide it into her pocket, the ones where you can twist an eraser up the back. But… Continue Reading
I break my first leg when I’m eleven. It belongs to Pil Hinkley, the druggist’s boy. A white boy. That’s what Pa says as he smacks me, you don’t break no white man’s leg. Ain’t no man, I say. Pil… Continue Reading
The first winter, she was ten. The world was made white. She watched the glass fog up around her face, and her nose grew numb. She closed her eyes and heard her grandmother’s voice from far away, from the summer,… Continue Reading
The podium is uneven on the grassy outdoors, and Anthony feels it wobble slightly as he rests his notepad and palms atop it. The hum of the wind lilts as he clears his throat and loosens his black tie just… Continue Reading
I think I’m supposed to kiss her now. She’s staring intently into my eyes, and I can feel her breathing on me, her bubblegum lip gloss coming too close, too close. I pretend to be fascinated by the water cooler… Continue Reading
Jenny saw the cat on a March afternoon that was blustering full-on with a rare Texas snowstorm. She had been staring out into the blue-white dissonance beyond her apartment window, lulled by the gentle drift of the flakes. Snow came… Continue Reading
My grandmother kept a satchel in her room. It sat by the door collecting dust. Inside she had packed a change of undergarments, a nightgown, several pairs of knee-high socks, a cotton blouse, a plain skirt with an elastic waistband,… Continue Reading
Every October twenty-seventh, my in-laws are the first ones to call. They’re early risers who think it’s perfectly okay to dial the phone and wish someone a happy birthday before the sun’s even come up. I was running late this… Continue Reading
“The first thing you should know,” Scott McRae said before he paused to light his cigarette with an old-fashioned metal Zippo lighter, snapping it closed and extinguishing its flame with a sharp ping, “is that I’m somewhat shy and modest.”… Continue Reading