All Stories
Mile Marker 53, Highway 60
Mile marker 53, Highway 60. If you go, you’ll find things that used to be, boarded-up concrete gravestones for the dreams that died here. Some are obvious… the peeling paint on the Mexican restaurant sign, the fallen
The Shadow
He’s standing over there, in the corner. Don’t bother looking, you probably won’t be able to see him. Unless he wants you to, of course. In the Choctaw tradition, when a person dies, their shilombish (spirit) and shilup (shadow) leave the body. The shilombish takes off toward the West to meet ancestors in the Land of Ghosts,
Jake
I’d like to introduce you to Jake. He’s a 5th generation farmer from the Oklahoma panhandle, and he could use some help. I know, you probably don’t have much in common with a farmer. You’ve never stood in
Dear Ariel
Your calling to me keeps replaying in my head. You were in the pasture, rooted into the ground. Your guttural signal grew louder as I approached, and I could see that you were sweating and
They Got It Wrong
They got it wrong. This whole Father’s Day thing. Phone calls. FaceTimes. Cards with appreciative scrawl tucked into the bungled breakfasts in bed, followed by backyard barbeques honoring the hard beauty of being a father. For what? Being a
How Do You Thank A Dead Person?
How do you thank a dead person? They can’t hear you. They’re not on Twitter. Or TikTok. Or InstaAnything. They’re not listening to Elon Musk. Or Donald Trump. Or any of the Kardashians. They don’t
Armando
The knock was a surprise, the news a shock. The three men stood stoic on the pavers, as the younger woman struggled to stay composed. “My father, he died.” This area was mostly orange and avocado groves when
She Tasted Like Cigarettes
She tasted like cigarettes. That’s how Forrest Gump described the young lady to Lieutenant Dan. She’d been trying to make out with Forrest on New Year’s Eve, and he’d pushed her away because what she