The first year after Henry’s death, the Blackwells cleared the hilly land. By the next spring, a half-dozen acres were ready to plant. On a frosty March morning, Mary headed to Harrisonburg. In her right pants pocket was ninety-two dollars folded over with twine into...
The boy’s skin was very pale. Arms turned down, thin strips of black wrapped around, mapping where the skin didn’t meet. He was very handsome and Murmur was glad. It was so much more romantic when beautiful people died. The lips looked white, burned, and raw. Her...
Ginnie and Roger were already planning next year’s trip, when they’d just arrived for this year’s annual family vacation, one of the lesser Caribbean islands with a Catholic-sounding name. They preferred to just call it Paradise, as in Next year in Paradise we’ll rent...
Chapter One It’s strange to grow old. I feel I’m the same person inside. All my life I was around people more or less my own age, and suddenly there are hardly any left. I think about death all the time. I guess you could say I’m apprehensive. I don’t want to suffer....
I was born by the Cross River in a little tent and just like the Cross River, I’ve been running ever since. —Phoenix Starr (from his remake of Sam Cooke’s Change Gonna Come) Snow fell again like feathers tumbling from the sky and when they hit the concrete, they...
Maggie Parr is a finalist in the 2009 Literary Awards Program. Below is an excerpt from her entry, Faith. ———– Chapter 1 Another bum, another whore, another night in the rotten city of Angels. She sneezed into the foul air. The sound bounced...
