Published in Southern Review

"When I was a child, my father could circle his fingers, thumb to middle, around both of my wrists. In my forties now, I feel sure that he still could if he tried. His bearish frame chuckling with the absurdity of the fact that my tiny body came in part from his, I imagined then that a simple, accidental twist might lead to a break. There was fear in the imbalance and my response to it was to find other ways to be strong, of mind and heart. With time I forgave everyone for assuming weakness and married a man who knew otherwise and better, as I did. What I did not know though is that it can all break, wrists and hearts, given the right amount of pressure."

Winner of Walker Percy Prize in Short Fiction; Published in New Orleans Review

"Melinda had seen her daughter look this way at other men, older men, men with wives. She’d wondered before what made Laura think she could have what she wanted, have another woman’s husband, even for just that moment when her eyes sought and held his. Youth, Melinda supposed, the confidence and callousness of it, and it was here again, this girl looking in this way at her husband."

Written for Alys Gazette

Bobby McAlpine . Scott Merrill . Michael G. Imber . Jeffrey Dungan . Marieanne Khoury-Vogt and Erik Vogt . Tim Slattery . Bill Ingram