short story – Page 2 – Joan Spilman

Char Glimmer, conclusion (A Harshbarger Mills Story)

The dance had been magical, for everyone had a sweetheart.

Did the nurse know who she was talking to? She’s not some floozy who fetches the morning paper in her nightgown!

Part 1 Char Glimmer sits on her porch in a ladder-backed chair, waiting for a familiar face to drive her to the doctor. She is wearing a… Read more “Charlotte Glimmer (a Harshbarger Mills Story)”

I don’t know why her father, who is a good man, didn’t walk fifty yards and stop a beating that ended a boy’s life.

For years and years, Iris was the wife of the town’s only mortician. She’s popped in, treating me like a source of income, unannounced and unafraid.

“Agnes, Woody Garrett is a married man.”
Agnes sat straight up. “But he said he loved me!”

“Why do you think I brought you here?” he shouted.
“To propose?” Agnes stepped out from behind the bush, fully clothed but mostly unbuttoned.

Agnes fell into his arms, and he’d taken off her clothes with an adeptness that was surprising for a country boy. Raw, green, fresh off the farm.

With wide eyes, Agnes listened to the most ingenious plan she’d ever heard. Cora lived in an “in case of emergency” mode.

He reads something in my face I have no words for. “Okay,” Tim says. “You can have your divorce.”