My English professor Anthony Hilfer, in the midst of teaching J.D. Salinger’s works, asked our class, “Can any of you think of any good stories that are about happy people?” He paused only long enough for us to blink.Read More »
“But who are you married to?” the older woman asked again.
“The German across the road,” I said for the third time.
She shook her head and frowned.
“He’s my husband,” I insisted.
She stared at me. “But . . .”
She just couldn’t believe that I, a white woman, was married to a German.*Read More »
“Are you ready to search for the blue heron?” I asked my daughter.
Thekla narrowed her eyes and looked warily out the open garage door.Read More »
A Texas Ranching Adventure: Chicken EmployeesDefinition of chicken moat: a double-fenced area surrounding a garden where chickens are allowed to roam and feed, thus creating a bug-free zone.
Driving through the dark on a Texas highway, I shone the flashlight at my book and read:
“Chickens can be decidedly stupid about finding their home after it’s been moved.Read More »
When I first heard that Scott Blackwood was going to write something based on the unsolved 1991 murders of a group of teenaged girls in Austin, Texas, I thought, oh no, leave it alone. We’ve all had enough. Because after that infamous crime, for years, we all saw those girls’ faces on a billboard and on TV, with a message offering a reward for information leading to the killers. The victims’ faces are with me still. I was once a teenager in that city. I had friends who worked at ice cream shops as teenagers. It could have been us.Read More »
You may think we hang upside down from the rafters at Christmas, or throw purple socks in the air for New Year’s.Read More »
Behind our ranch house and across a dry creek bed was a long rectangular pasture. There was something strange in that place—it could be felt.
