Seven Doors
The only witch I knew was Marcella Coral. Marcella lived in the big plantation house on the other side of the split-rail fence that separated the 1960s from the 1860s. Our lot was next to hers
Make Us a Name
Marlena leaned against the doorjamb, tired. She needed the night air to take the sweat and steam that had gathered at her temples, that had turned her hair into black tendrils. The mouth of the bar behind her blew moist breath past her
Graves
Myrtis Graves returned from her daily walk up and down the road before her house to find the Town Car parked under her carport
Customer Service
On a Saturday night at the end of October, I drove to the Weaverville Wal-Mart with my dog Rascal and stood in line at the Customer Service desk
Revival
Lunchtime. The one hundred seventy-three students at Warren County Consolidated High School were in the cafetorium. They’d gone through the cafeteria line
Head Over Heels
Eudora sits on her front porch in a rocking chair watching cars and people pass by on the road. She cracks open pistachios with her teeth and spits the shells into a bowl
Hoover Walking
I used to go walking first thing in the morning. Good for an old woman’s heart. The muggy Alabama weather was one reason I’d head out early
Parts Unknown
Gabe could barely see the trailer from the road. The grass in front, weeds really, had grown up high. Scrubby trees stood at random intervals,
Mama’s Bird
Bird's been a-peckin on my window. Mama, she'd told me that when the bird comes a-peckin, it ain't nothin else if it ain't an old spirit come to warn
Last Sermon
By the time I got there, the church was full. I had never seen it this crowded. Even when we’d have the annual Christmas play, which was the highlight of the year, maybe 60 would show up