- 2023-12-02to have a good idea of time, was employed to strike the
- 2023-12-02light on the yellowed walls, which were coated with a thin
- 2023-12-02It was cold in the house, and the air smelled of mold and
- 2023-12-02 Maybe the roaches here are bigger than in Phoenix,
- 2023-12-02the moving ray. Inhaling sibilantly, Max leaped after her.
- 2023-12-02 I pulled a blanket over my head and refused to come
- 2023-12-02craggy mountains, the land rolled and dipped like a sheet
- 2023-12-02and started chewing on his toes. He laughed and kicked
- 2023-12-02pouring into the cave of the dragon through the open door
- 2023-12-02which was the way Mom had taught us to get down things
- 2023-12-02no shirt on underneath it. He kept announcing over and
- 2023-12-02and explained that Erma was hitting the floor with a broom
- 2023-12-02numbers. I never saw anything more obliging and humble
- 2023-12-02out until we were beyond the Muskogee city limits. Life
- 2023-12-02with a hillbilly accent so thick it was almost as hard
- 2023-12-02and creeks everywhere, instead of the irrigation ditches
- 2023-12-02and he pulled up short, for, instinctively, he knew that
- 2023-12-02the hood, tinkered with the engine, and got it going, but
- 2023-12-02the door. She was enormous, with pasty skin and about three
- 2023-12-02the hood kept popping up, so we had to tie it down with
- 2023-12-02gruffly, explaining that he had always been fond of the
- 2023-12-02of our own.After dinner, Mom and us kids went down into
- 2023-12-02sides by such steep mountains that you felt like you were
- 2023-12-02out until we were beyond the Muskogee city limits. Life
- 2023-12-02a pound of sugar or an ordinary knife. No individual possessed
- 2023-12-02whiskey from the pocket of her housedress, and Dad looked
- 2023-12-02It was cold in the house, and the air smelled of mold and
- 2023-12-02short white hair that stood straight up. His voice was
- 2023-12-02At certain seasons they catch also, in “corrales,”
- 2023-12-02over again that he was our uncle Stanley, and he wouldn't
- 2023-12-02light on the yellowed walls, which were coated with a thin
- 2023-12-02for some feature that reminded me of Dad, but I saw none.
- 2023-12-02For three weeks Hanson had remained. During this time he
- 2023-12-02to the roof, we'd out-Okied the Okies. The thought gave
- 2023-12-02its breath on the steep, twisting roads. It was November.
- 2023-12-02 Welcome home, son, she said and gave Dad a long
- 2023-12-02golden dragon. Max pulled the keys from his pocket, and
- 2023-12-02The leaves had turned brown and were falling from the trees,
- 2023-12-02of our own.After dinner, Mom and us kids went down into
- 2023-12-02gave us each a quick, stiff hug. Her cheek was tacky with
- 2023-12-02big farm, evidently finding in the society of this rougher
- 2023-12-02and Brian and Maureen lay down with theirs at the other.
- 2023-12-02stopping from time to time to let the Oldsmobile catch
- 2023-12-02out when Okies laugh at you, she said. With our garbage-bag-taped
- 2023-12-02The other he ordered straight westward with orders to halt
- 2023-12-02 * * *We followed Erma and Stanley and Grandpa inside.
- 2023-12-02don't like it none 'cause it makes her sound old, said
- 2023-12-02had collected over the years. Under the chest of drawers
- 2023-12-02moving westward. Then, one day, he announced that half
- 2023-12-02that day, we got into the Oldsmobile, and Mom and Dad took
- 2023-12-02which was the way Mom had taught us to get down things
- 2023-12-02 She's just an old woman who's had a tough life,
- 2023-12-02reward that they would win from him if they carried his
- 2023-12-02 I pulled a blanket over my head and refused to come
- 2023-12-02it broke down again a couple of hours later. Dad got it
- 2023-12-02when I stuck my fork in them and so salty that I could
- 2023-12-02which swirled fully three feet of water, which, slowly
- 2023-12-02Kentucky, then east. Instead of the flat desert edged by
- 2023-12-02short white hair that stood straight up. His voice was
- 2023-12-02chins. Bobby pins held back her lank gray hair, and a cigarette
- 2023-12-02very slowly northward along the trail that connects with
- 2023-12-02out until we were beyond the Muskogee city limits. Life
- 2023-12-02jabbed at the hot orange coals inside. She stirred a potful
- 2023-12-02barely force myself to swallow. I pinched my nose closed,
- 2023-12-02solid wall opened before her; it was another masked door.
- 2023-12-02Louisiana, Mom had us climb up on the roof of the car and
- 2023-12-02 Erma ushered us into the kitchen, where she was fixing
- 2023-12-02and started chewing on my toes in retaliation, and that
- 2023-12-02He ducked rapidly, almost touching the muddy water with
- 2023-12-02running. More like limping, he said梑ut it never went
- 2023-12-02you saw out west, and the air felt different. It was very
- 2023-12-02cigarettes and unwashed laundry. We huddled around a potbellied
- 2023-12-02of the Eurasian. She turned and faced him, threw up both
- 2023-12-02climbing higher and deeper into the Appalachian Mountains,
- 2023-12-02he said. Only the Lord can understand it.The preacher
- 2023-12-02that had gone a little bit rotten. Erma saw me and slapped
- 2023-12-02Even as he realized the fact, the quarry vanished, and
- 2023-12-02hug. She turned to Mom. Nice of you to let me see my grandchildren
- 2023-12-02and a smiling woman with perfumed hair would welcome us
- 2023-12-02cigarettes and unwashed laundry. We huddled around a potbellied
- 2023-12-02Korak fast was becoming but a memory. That he was dead
- 2023-12-02and creeks everywhere, instead of the irrigation ditches
- 2023-12-02and started chewing on my toes in retaliation, and that
- 2023-12-02if it was his accent or if maybe he wasn't wearing his
- 2023-12-02In the morning I asked a young Indian, who was wet to the
- 2023-12-02 Mom waved at the crowd. You know you're down and
- 2023-12-02 At dusk, we approached a bend where hand-painted
- 2023-12-02barely force myself to swallow. I pinched my nose closed,
- 2023-12-02and phlox that drew him to the perfumed air of the garden,
- 2023-12-02barely force myself to swallow. I pinched my nose closed,
- 2023-12-02gave us each a quick, stiff hug. Her cheek was tacky with
- 2023-12-02 Welcome home, son, she said and gave Dad a long
- 2023-12-02and go into permanent camp just beyond the great river
- 2023-12-02Brian's feet were in my face, so I grabbed him by the ankles
- 2023-12-02no one had been to the second floor in nigh on ten years,
- 2023-12-02started talking in actual English, more or less. He spoke
- 2023-12-02unlocked the door at the foot of the steps. He turned,
- 2023-12-02been nailed to trees along the roadside. We rounded the
- 2023-12-02and a smiling woman with perfumed hair would welcome us
- 2023-12-02iron disk on top of an old coal cooking stove, lifted it,
- 2023-12-02The other he ordered straight westward with orders to halt
- 2023-12-02had collected over the years. Under the chest of drawers
- 2023-12-02because the floorboards were rotted through. Uncle Stanley
- 2023-12-02when you shook it clean. Finally, we entered hill country,
- 2023-12-02sought her out. She did not know that he had even better
- 2023-12-02made me laugh. We heard a loud thunk thunk thunk from above.
- 2023-12-02asked that you kids don't laugh while you're in her house,
- 2023-12-02That Oldsmobile was a clunker from the moment we bought
- 2023-12-02all the inhabitants came down to the beach to see us pitch
- 2023-12-02on a cot in the foyer while we were there. We'll only
- 2023-12-02of the street, and we had to descend a set of stairs to
- 2023-12-02 Erma ushered us into the kitchen, where she was fixing
- 2023-12-02fit, often wandering along in the great flower garden that
- 2023-12-02if it was his accent or if maybe he wasn't wearing his
- 2023-12-02and with her other hand grabbed a poker from the wall and
- 2023-12-02get to it. As we clattered onto the porch, a woman opened
- 2023-12-02An instant he hesitated. Through the corridor ahead of
- 2023-12-02a man who appeared beside her. He looked fragile, with
- 2023-12-02 Welcome home, son, she said and gave Dad a long
- 2023-12-02again. Mom went upstairs to investigate, then came down
- 2023-12-02before. For what was he waiting, or for whom? He heard
- 2023-12-02no one had been to the second floor in nigh on ten years,
- 2023-12-02 There were three bedrooms upstairs, Erma said, but
- 2023-12-02light on the yellowed walls, which were coated with a thin
- 2023-12-02reward that they would win from him if they carried his
- 2023-12-02a Maytag logo. He wore a red-and-black-plaid coat but had
- 2023-12-02out there who'd been helped by this here channeling of
- 2023-12-02 Erma ushered us into the kitchen, where she was fixing
- 2023-12-02before. For what was he waiting, or for whom? He heard
- 2023-12-02Beaumont, where the oil rigs bobbed like giant birds. In
- 2023-12-02and a cold mist shrouded the hillsides. There were streams
- 2023-12-02get to it. As we clattered onto the porch, a woman opened
- 2023-12-02lamp was incapable of penetrating the fog. He groped with
- 2023-12-02hair pushing out from under his baseball cap, which had
- 2023-12-02no shirt on underneath it. He kept announcing over and
- 2023-12-02voodoo, he said, that turned me into an atheist.Later
- 2023-12-02designs to a successful conclusion. One party he moved
- 2023-12-02in front of a big, worn house. It was on the downhill side
- 2023-12-02and a cold mist shrouded the hillsides. There were streams
- 2023-12-02window, our roped-down hood, and the art supplies tied