Editors' Prize Winner | July 25, 2017
Instructions to the Living from the Condition of the Dead
Jason Brown
The door hinges creaked, and the thudding footfalls of his family shook the beams. What were they doing here today, the day before Thanksgiving? Voices, the crackling of grocery bags, firewood clunking in front of the hearth (because they thought he was too old now to carry it from the barn himself). They swarmed into every corner of the parlor and the kitchen with no thought to the most important question, the same this year as every year: Who had brought the goddamned cheddar? Indeed. Two years ago he’d put his foot down and said he would no longer provide! So this year would be the same as last year: crackers and hummus from California.
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