Pen Howell
Pen hasn’t much money. That was part of the decision to stay out here, after Tree died. Only part. Pen was thinking of his girlfriend, Estelle, a lot. Estelle isn’t good with people.
The kids, Marcie and Davenport, baby girl …
Swamp Trio
She’s Leaving Home
The three of them sit around the television like a little family. Lucas giggles as a tiny meerkat attacks his sibling, missing completely and tumbling down an incline in a puff of Kalahari dust. He sighs with contentment. “The best …
Another Burial
Emotional things are always easier for Dogboy. Dogs don’t obsess about the past or worry about the future, and sometimes life is just impossible any other way.
Evonne is finally sleeping, curled in a corner of her marriage bed. Her …
Nicky’s Bar and Grill
Hal swings his truck into the parking lot of Nicky’s Bar and Grill. It’s pretty crowded, but then again, it’s a Saturday night. A week’s worth of construction pay is burnin’ a hole in the pocket of his jeans. Auntie …
Reinvention
The scissors shake in the mirror, but the blades close with a snick, and another long strand of hair drops to the ground. Crap. Why was this so hard? There was one more strand of hair at the back, …
Toil and Trouble
“Hahahaaa,” Haroldine cackles in her gravelly voice. With a flourish worthy of her nephew Hal, a box of chocolates appears on her scarred kitchen table. A soft breath of awe comes from the other two women sitting there. The store …
An Unexpected Visitor
For once, the bayou sky is a clear, pure blue, and the air isn’t so thick with humidity that you feel like you could dive in and splash around. Pen’s girlfriend Estelle is weeding the scattered plants that serve as …
Vehemence
“…or the people with flippers instead of feet,” Grace snarls. “Or the people that are bug-bit and don’t have two brain cells to rub together, or have diminished capacity because they’re animals some of the time, or have tails protruding …
Tiny Bugs Can Be Bad, Too
Teo coughs himself awake, kicks off the light cotton blanket, and pads barefoot to the floating clinic’s bathroom. Even through the disorientation of waking suddenly in the dark, he isn’t disoriented. Barefoot in the bathroom in the middle of the …
Irises
For just a second, all Grace can feel is the warm back pressed up against her face. Just a second, and then the pain comes roaring in, along her limbs, her hips. And she has to pee, too. Great.
She …