The few trees still upright were stripped of their branches, lonely flagpoles without a nation to claim them.

I was glad nobody had noticed.I might have been offended if my uncle had punched me in the shoulder and said something inane like, “so you`re a man now.

The most important part of seeing Darla every night wasn’t the fooling around. It was the few minutes we talked while holding each other, the feeling of security I got with her, the feeling of...