The Meeting Place. ELEVEN. — Liv waited until the class was empty of students to leave. The corner seat Mr. Bolt had assigned her made that easy. On her way out, she spotted the collection of movie posters framing the door and recognized one of them. A gold background bearing a divided shield holding the…

The Meeting Place. TEN. — Liv dreams of a giant horned-lizard that slithers out of the Ol’ Muddy where the family used to drive on Sundays after church to get root beer floats and watch the barges creep by. A horse-drawn chariot falls out of the sky and lands on the lizard’s tail. Suddenly she…

The Meeting Place. NINE. — Clouds of black fur catch the drift of her footsteps near the wall and float alongside her in feathery taunts. The dog’s shedding again in this heat. The floor needs a good cleaning and who else is going to lift the broom to the task. She tosses the rugs out…

The Meeting Place. EIGHT. — She left without a goodbye. No one to tell. No one to care. Oh, they would miss her, those left behind. Those men who had stolen the sheep and killed her brother and desecrated her mother’s grave. They would miss her when their stomachs ached and their fevers flourished, when…

The Meeting Place. INTERMISSION. —

The Meeting Place. SEVEN. — As resistant as she was to unwrapping herself from the layers of warmth that kept her from a full body chill, Evangel lifted her hips and untwisted herself from the wool blanket that was her bedroll. Was it her age that kept her faithful bladder active in deep night? She…

The Meeting Place. SIX. — With bowed heads the family repeats their practiced version of the meal prayer, which they call grace. Liv steals a glance at Dave. The gold and green floral wallpaper is all wrong against his dashiki. Dad starts the red and white cardboard bucket around the table after serving himself. The…

The Meeting Place. FIVE. — Liv’s shadow stretched before her as she ambled toward the persistent whoosh of the highway. Soon enough, dodging speed demons would become a game she dreaded on her trek to school. Pedestrian traffic was not common around here, she was quick to learn. And neither was respect for it. She…

The Meeting Place. FOUR — Sprout had returned empty-handed and dropped the coin back into Evangel’s purse with nary an explanation. The farm they’d passed had clothes still on the line and its fences intact, but no one answered when he called, and he was too small to gamble his limbs on anyone who might…