Mingo County War

You heard in the valley us coal miners is hard people? You don’t know the half of it. Before the union come to Mingo, the company sent up a bunch of hooligans from Baldwin-Felts, rough men toting guns and blackjacks. They aimed to keep out the union. See, they wanted to leave the coal price…

Drowned Kitten

She sets the steaming mug before me. “Soon set you to rights,” she says. “You’ll see.” My hands are shaking so badly I don’t trust them to lift the tea to my lips. Instead, I bend to sip, pursing my lips against the heat. “There’s a good girl,” she says. “Get some nice tea in…

Sixth Time’s The Charm

The judge was an old family friend or this probably would have happened sooner. “I’m sorry, Stewart,” he said over the phone. “My hands are tied. Six months is the minimum I can give you. Have somebody drive you to the courthouse at 9AM tomorrow and you can remand yourself.” One last fling, I told…

Follow Car

The whole room tilted at a steep angle. I’d noticed the corner of the double-wide was crushed like a beer can. I guess the office was a salvage job,  one that’d fallen off a flatbed. I stared across the slanting desk at last year’s calendar tacked to the warped paneling. “Eleven bucks an hour for forty…

Objects In Motion

He stood in the shadows watching her through the window as she ordered from the waiter. He watched her lips form the word martini.  The waiter went away. She fiddled with her napkin. Her eyes scanned the empty restaurant before coming to rest on him. He knew she could not see him, was in fact looking…