Columns

Reading Time: 4 minutes Jeff and Dale Hanson had spent Easter Sunday out in the yard, changing the openers on the air drill. Jeff’s nine-year-old son Connor was more help than they’d expected, until they sent him to the shop for more tools. “Run over and get the 9/16 wrench,” his grandfather asked. Connor got as far as the […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes Dale’s phone started ringing just as his toast popped out of the toaster. He managed to pick up the call after the third ring. It was his sister, Margaret. Since their father’s death, Margaret and Dale tried to keep in touch, talking on the phone at least once a month. Dale got up early, so […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes Dale Hanson muttered curses to himself as he walked across the farmyard, crossing from his house to the shop. The bright sun and cloudless blue sky were not enough to cheer him up. With the warm almost-spring air, he hadn’t bothered with a jacket, and now he was chilly as well as aggravated. He cursed […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes “How much farther?” Dale Hanson asked his wife. Donna peered at the Garmin and groaned. “The screen still says we’ll be there in four minutes.” Dale snorted and kept his eyes on the road. What he could see of it anyway. The Hansons had left Arizona in Donna’s car two days ago. After one night […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes “Guess what! Guess what!” Trina Hanson shouted to her husband Tom as she rushed into their house in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, after another long workday. “You won the lottery?” Tom guessed. “You know I don’t buy lottery tickets! Really, guess!” Trina shrugged off her backpack and pulled her sweater over her head. […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes By the kids’ week-long break from school in mid-February, Elaine was getting a little stir-crazy. “I know we’re not taking a big holiday this winter, but maybe we could just get out of here for a couple of days?” she said to her husband Jeff. “Maybe Minot?” It was the third day in a row […] Read more

Reading Time: 5 minutes “Do you think it’s because we live on the farm?” Elaine asked her husband Jeff. When he didn’t answer she turned to look at him. He was gripping the steering wheel and staring straight ahead, hypnotized by the falling snow caught in the SUV headlights as they drove down the Trans-Canada highway in the dark, […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes Mark Edwards slipped the poolside waiter one of the moist bills he’d stashed in his shoe for tips. The man passed a piña colada to Mark and one to his brother, plastic glasses filled with ice and decorated with mini paper umbrellas. “Keep them coming, Juan,” Mark said. Juan smiled and headed back to the […] Read more