Family Landlords Raise the Rent to Force One Sister Out

“It will grow back,” I said, touching the soft silver edge of the wig where it met my temple. “In a few weeks, it will be long enough to style without Lucia’s help.” “You are a very strong woman,” Avery said, closing the red leather binder with a soft thud. “I am a tired woman,…

The sound of a heavy diesel engine came from the driveway, followed by the slow crunch of gravel under wide tires. Tom Murphy’s old blue farm truck rumbled past the equipment shed, towing a flatbed trailer loaded with sixty bags of sweet grain. He brought the truck to a stop near the barn doors, the…

“Morning, Olivia,” Thomas said. He spit a stream of dark tobacco juice into the snow by his front tire. “Saw your chimney smoking. Thought you might be running low on the dry stuff.” “I have two cords left under the tarp,” I said, walking down the wooden steps to meet him. “But I will always…

In the second crib, Soleil lay with her head turned to the side, one tiny fist pressed against her cheek. She looked small in the large wooden frame, but her cheeks were flushed with a healthy, warm pink. I walked over to the third crib, where Luna was just beginning to stir. I reached down…

“He didn’t wait?” I asked. “He had his bag packed before the sun was fully over the ridge,” Frank said. “He said he had some phone calls to make to his old landlord near the county line.” Frank took a pair of scissors from the drawer and wiped the steel blades with his cloth, his…

He nodded once, a quick, decisive movement, and took a drink of his milk. A white mustache remained on his upper lip, and he did not wipe it away. I watched him eat, the knot that had lived behind my ribs for six weeks beginning to loosen, thread by thread. We finished our lunch in…