Nebraska, sometime in the 1960’s The child was dancing through the dimly lighted dining room, up on her naked toes, twisting and spinning, her long brown pig tails flying. She spread her skinny arms, and in her mind the scruffy blue shorts were a ball gown held out stiffly by petticoats. The long sweeping skirt hiding skinned knees and mosquito…

Rounding the curve just twenty miles over its posted speed, the tail end of my car slid. Grinding my teeth, I sped up going out of the turn. Okay, I was driving too fast for the mountain roads, not, mind you, out of any need or even desire to hurry but because there’s a grim satisfaction in taking stupid risks,…

After a moment of sleepy disorientation, Julianne knew it was the smell of coffee that had wakened her. She caught her breath and peered into the darkness of her room. There was nothing for her searching eyes to see, even if they could have broken through the blackness of the night, but she could not close them again. Slowly, the…