Custer County, Montana
Custer County, Montana once again balanced its budget and retired a few shadowy municipal bonds. Gloomy auditors were sent packing, morbid men with shoes always in need of a proper shine. Nobody in the county saw the spectacle down south. Nobody heard the crash of...
Queets, Washington
Queets, Washington couldn’t remember if she had a vaguely Nordic look with a pronounced sneer or a pronounced Nordic look with a vague sneer. The young men lounging in the warmth of the convenience store had never seen anyone like her. Maybe down in Hollywood but not...
Rosette, Utah
Rosette, Utah settled for a tie. They all blamed a savage hailstorm conjured by the furies and shoved into town by colliding forces out over the Pacific. They agreed things would turn out different next time. All they needed was an opportunity. In Grossmont...
Bitter Creek, Wyoming
Bitter Creek, Wyoming had been stuck on the sidelines for more than fifty years, cruelly refused admittance to the only ceremony that mattered. Down in Mexico, the five oilmen held captive by the cartel were told that in a few days, they would be reunited with their...
Hayden, Colorado
Hayden, Colorado grasped at a vague sense of privilege, a regal birthright passed down from pious pioneers. On the outskirts of Los Angeles, in a suddenly festive house in the Santa Monica Mountains, five fugitives watched a live stream of five men sitting at a dining...
Delhi, Colorado
Delhi, Colorado was where the slow stream used to run so hard in late spring all the gold along its banks was swept downstream. It wound up in the commune where the more spiritual showgirls from Reno retired. When the showgirls hiked down to the stream to pan for...
Thatcher, Colorado
Thatcher, Colorado was no longer guided by the sensibility of the seasons and finally fell apart after an optimistic century of overgrazing. A thousand miles away, the mescaline infused oilman sat at a picnic table in a park in Grossmont, California. He was...
San Simon, Arizona
San Simon, Arizona never bothered to sweep away the dust. On the town’s windowsills a century’s worth had piled up, caked on the brittle wood, dust from the days of the Teapot Dome Scandal. “It’s too late for the frackers to atone,” said Caroline. They were all in...
Grossmont, California
Grossmont, California ignored the wistful man pacing back and forth in front of the discount furniture store that morning, his head thrown back like he’d been pulled from a car wreck. He was attempting to sing a Bob Dylan song. It was a nonchalant attempt buried in...
Avila Beach, California
Avila Beach, California grilled up another omelet stuffed with linguica, chorizo and green chili. In the morning when the sun was still low, glass faces of the big waves shimmered and their foam crests sparkled. There was always that last push up to the sky before...
Floyd, New Mexico
Floyd, New Mexico never met a rabble rouser it didn’t like. Demagogues, they were a different story, especially the ones who promised to bring back the old days. These sodden wretches spewed the bitter belief that a return to the old ways would solve every imaginable...
Overgaard, Arizona
Overgaard, Arizona lined up the empty beer kegs along the side of the road just to see how far they would stretch. One of the men in the saloon was convinced they would eventually reach all the way to Las Vegas. The rancher at the end of the bar had broken every one...
Estancia, New Mexico
Estancia, New Mexico recognized the incomplete memory, born in a cradle of promises and then somehow ground to an unsettling halt on the outskirts of town. Like a pitcher of cream, hopes for a journey back to something consequential had to be set aside. Whatever...
Victor, Idaho
Victor, Idaho liked it better back when the messages weren’t so messy, years ago when folks weren’t so riled up. A few people in town had the feeling they were being pitted against one another by concealed forces. Maybe it was the $124 million oil and gas companies...
Barstow, California
Barstow, California was still stuck in ragtag denials that had crippled it for more than a century. “No, you’re mistaken,” said the thief draped in silk. “This is not blind optimism. It’s not baseless. It’s fueled by muses and measurements, scientists and a thirst...
Eunice, New Mexico
Eunice, New Mexico danced across the slick backside of a late afternoon rainbow. Caroline told them, “There’s been progress. The cost of solar and wind power is going down. In a lot of places solar is now cheaper than coal or hydro. “But carbon dioxide and...
Malaga, New Mexico
Malaga, New Mexico settled in for another late summer storm. Caroline unexpectedly found herself jolted back into her struggles to cut through the fog layered between good and evil. She saw her struggle as mankind’s constant, the underpinning of all civilizations. But...
Ganado, Arizona
Ganado, Arizona knew all too well the dangers of a gracious man more earnest than diabolical. Nick remained quiet. The softness in his voice belied an intensity which eluded the four women. He struck them as modest, and at first, when he seemed to withdraw from their...
