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1. Dinner Time
This is the first installment of Digging in the Dirt. Jim lifted a spoon to his mouth and took a taste from the pot. He paused and let the smells infuse his senses; he closed his eyes and meditated on...
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2. Church
Continued from last week’s installment of Digging in the Dirt. A rust-colored 1973 Chevy Nova was flattened underneath a smaller blue 1977 Honda Civic. Russ awkwardly climbed over them to get to the...
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3. Frogs
Continued from last week’s installment of Digging in the Dirt. Tabitha, a pale woman in her 30’s with blue-tinted black hair cut in a severe bob and–at 4pm–still in her pajamas, carried two mugs of...
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4. Mud Pies
Continued from last week’s installment of Digging in the Dirt. The sun was slipping behind distant treed mountains at the furthest viewable point of Route 118. “Entering Dirt City, PA. Pop. 329, Elev....
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5. The Things We Miss
Continued from last week’s installment of Digging in the Dirt. Sheriff Daniel Coyle huffed up the long, gradual hill a few acres from where he’d parked his gray Ford Crown Victoria by the storage barn...
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A Woman’s Blood
This happened once before. I was in 8th grade, attending a high school play, admiring Billy Gregg’s performance as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls. I wasn’t trying to get his attention. He was a...
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Click Click
She found the battered camera behind the bushes, a small silver ingot of hidden treasure that glinted in the setting sun at the just the right angle to catch her eye. The metal was tarnished to a dull...
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“How Kind of You to Come”
I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’ve forgotten her face. It’s become a disordered collage: the slope of a nose, the curve of a lip, a glow of brown eyes. Memory no longer assembles them into a face. So I...
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Engine
You wake up lying on the floor. You’re on your side. Blurred faces gather around you. “He has a hammer!” a woman yelled. There’s a sharp pain in your thigh. You lean back, shoulders stiff. You slide...
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Marionette
Jackson traced a finger along the lower lip, making some final adjustments. High cheekbones, dark eyes, and pouty lips made it the perfect head for the standard model lithe body she would roll out...
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