Mama wasn’t dead…exactly. They all said she was, but when Elma was small, she seen Mama creep into her room at night, half-naked, head all bloodied red like when they found her by the well...

When I thought of the ferocity and strength of the fairy race, and the fact that it took all I had to open the damn blister pack and extricate the water pistols, my chosen method...

The only species of human beings that are immune to failure are those that are dead and gone. Failure is constant; just prepare to deal with it!

Only the dead, can speak about their world.

It’s not that people don’t know when they’ll die. It’s that they don’t seem to know they’ll die.

I don’t want to see no dead body. Willie ain’t in there. She put her walkin’ shoes on. She gone to see the Lord.

I’m sorry, Mamma,” I whisper to the shell in front of me. I take her hand. It could belong to a glass doll. There’s no life there anymore. So I gather rocks, one by one,...