The Full-Size Bar on Delancey
The house on Delancey gave out full-size candy bars for fifty years. It was the first stop children marked on the county’s trick-or-treat map. Mr. Amos passed away in June. …
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The Homework Behind the Truck
The salesman called it a fair deal for a kid whose grandmother had already done the homework. My nephew did not understand. Neither did we. He had bought his first …
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STUCK? COME ON UP.
Eleven cars pulled up the farmhouse lane before the weekend was over. They had out-of-state plates, confused GPS instructions, and rental-car tires already full of gravel dust. The drivers followed …
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The Dark Had a Shape
On the longest night of the year, the block carried the luminaries to the widow’s window. For twenty-five years, paper bags had lined both curbs on the street where she …
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The Flower at the Lowest Kneeler
The flower disappeared when the communion rail was replaced. For twenty-two years, one white flower had stood at the rail’s end every Sunday. It was placed beside the lowest kneeler, …
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The Convoy That Stopped at Both Windows
The fifteenth child did not choose a car. She chose a convoy. For nine years, the classic car club had driven children home after their final chemotherapy treatment. Each child …
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The Badge Miss Peggy Denied
The color guard had reached the third step when Miss Peggy pinned the badge to herself. She did it one-handed. Her hand did not shake. The badge read RETIRED. Miss …
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The Lamp in the Accounting Window
On Tuesday evenings, the accounting office on Court Street kept one lamp burning after close. A folding table appeared in the window. Mr. Abernathy sat behind it with pencils, tax …
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The Table They Kept Choosing
The card table by the laundry door has held “the kids” since 1987. The kids are now forty-one, forty-four, and thirty-eight. We could sit at the big table. We choose …
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The Ledgers That Never Came Even
The fire chief left the check in the donation bucket during the Okafor farm’s annual pancake feed. The check was for the fire department. The department had answered the Okafor …
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