First published by Literally Stories The man who pit this roof against rain, his best friend and owner of the final store in town, the woman who pits seed against element to feed me all my life, our humdrum hay baler, two others I didn’t know and I sit in a circle in Shopkeeper’s empty store. These are our Friday nights now after the litany of systems failures. “Supply chain-issues,” Papa mumbles when it comes up. “Just the economy cycling again, actually,” Shopkeeper grumb

First published by Punt Volat “Librarians and archivists—not to mention our beloved curators and art historians—help us grasp the organization and propagation of information; they are responsible for providing and maintaining the texts through which history will understand us, and in that sense they control the knowledge of the future.” Gulf Coast Editor’s Note, Summer 2016 1 My first feeling when I see her crumpled there is jealousy: the slog through this life is over for