A New Year
The New Year's Eve party was a bust. Two people showed: one neighbor Chuck and some strange new neighbor lady predicting the world's end. Ryder was…
Fancy That
"Fancy, what is wrong with you?" My earliest recollection of consciousness was the memory of my mother's hands on my shoulders shaking me violently.…
Amen
Ray Winkel donated his waist-length hair to Locks of Love. As a rock star, it was his signature look. Every day, he did 3,000 crunches to keep that…
Now and Forever
The congealed pork sat on the plate adorned with blue forget-me-nots. The irony of the little blue flowers on Lauretta's plates wasn't lost on her…
The Power and the Glory
I can almost look at his face now without cringing. It still gives me the chills when I see the dead man staring up at me from the photograph. Why I…
For Thine is the Kingdom
Seven months into wedded bliss, Valentine Harper was telling her husband Ray a slightly off-color joke she’d heard at work that day. She was stunned…
Deliver Us from Evil
Jerry opened the pastrami on rye wrapped in foil; inhaling the steam as it rose from the sandwich, he smelled the little bit of heaven on Earth. He…
Lead Us Not Into Temptation
Reverend Samuel Powell stood before his church’s pulpit, his fist raised as he began raining fire and brimstone down upon his congregation. The…
As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us
Dottie Lamer was not one of those fervent Christians who forgave the convict in jail who killed their loved one. No; she wasn’t about to forgive the…
And Forgive Us Our Trespasses
Bennett Caldwell was a poacher. He’d heard old man Grady was out of the hospital from a recent hernia surgery, which blew the man’s deer hunting this…
