Crushed Shells

The stories range across several periods from the Civil War to the Dust Bowl of 1932. In between, there are settings from Florida to Oklahoma to Connecticut. My favorite story is about the elder woman: “Sunshine states glare with a withering stare that drag my verve into puddles of myself. It hurts my eyes. The humidity of oozy swelter pushes against my lungs . . . I can’t breathe. The happiness of the sun has always been more than I could tolerate. Too much happiness makes me feel obligated to produce. Produce something . . . I don’t know what. A lovely storm grants me space to rest and refocus. During my growing-up years in Florida, the St. Petersburg Times would give a free newspaper to everyone on any day there was not at least a little sunshine. There were few free papers. Rarely could even a hurricane make papers free. It was a hell of a place to live.”