SalvationWe was all setting out on the porch, it being evening and after dinner and all, and everybody was sipping tea and telling stories. There was me, of course, my sister Bonnie and her husband Cherish, and Daddy and Mama, and his daddy and Mama, my Grandaddy and Mamaw. Then there was my best friend since we was little, Miranda, and her husband, Joe. Sun was red behind the trees, and in the distance I could hear old John Walters, Mr. Kennedy’s black lab, barking to raise the roof.
Mama said, “Why don’t you tell about that time you found that ol’ bum out by the fence?”
I flapped the fan Daddy made me right up to my face.
“Naw, Mama. I don’t wanna tell it again. Everybody already heard it before.”
Miranda said, “Nonsense girl! You know we all love that story! You go ahead now and tel
