The Warmth of a Stranger’s Hand And Why My Father’s Blizzard Exile Ended in Absolute Ruin
The snow was sticking to the window glass in thick, wet clumps when my father slammed his palm...
Author: Hollie Atkinson
The P.O. Box Key in Monroe and Why My Twenty-Four Year Marriage Ended in Absolute Silence
The laundry basket sat by the washing machine with three loads piled high because I never could seem...
The Price of Thirty Years And Why My Daughter’s Wedding Fountain Gift Ended in Bankruptcy
Thirty-four thousand two hundred and ten dollars. That was the exact total stamped in blue ink on the...
The Price of a Promotion And Why My Husband’s Slap Ended in Silence
The phone call came at 2:14 in the afternoon while I was sitting in my parked car outside...
The Forty-Seven Page File And Why My Daughter’s Four Years of Needless Seizures Ended in Dr. Okafor’s Office
The manila folder was thick enough to make a dull thud when Dr. Okafor dropped it onto the...
The Price of a Promotion And Why My Husband’s Slap Ended in Silence
The taste of chicory and stale hazelnut creamer always lingers in my memory whenever someone mentions Dayton winters,...
The Promise Kept in the Dark And Why My Seven-Year-Old Son’s Whisper Brought His Baby Brother Back to Life
The linoleum under my knees was cold, the kind of deep, winter-chill cold that stays in your bones...
The Health Nut’s Daughter And Why My Father’s Twenty Years of Mockery Ended in Medical Proof
You cannot argue with a laboratory report when the numbers are sitting right there in black and white....
The Cost of a Winter and Why My Landlord’s $4,800 Designer Coat Ended in Handcuffs
I got a lot of things wrong during those four winters, but trusting that a man like Arthur...
The Ledger in the Desk Drawer and Why My Nineteen-Year Silence With My Daughter Ended on a Porch Swing
The green ledger book stayed tucked behind the tax forms in the bottom drawer of my mahogany desk...