Driving in Cars With Homeless Men: Stories by Kate Wisel

Author:Kate Wisel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, Short Stories (Single Author)
ISBN: 9780822986980
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Published: 2019-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

Tuesday comes. Mom cuts hair at Studio 27 and Dad has to watch us. He picks us up after school on the court by the redbrick wall where James’s friends fight till there’s blood in the snow. I stay close to James, late like all the Metco kids who wait for buses.

“I’m Ambrosia,” says an older girl. “What’s your name?” When she smiles, her braces sparkle.

I lie and say, “I’m Snowy.”

We walk home in the cold. Dad walks ahead, taller than the basketball hoop in our backyard. He keeps a hand hidden in his pocket. James walks in front, Dad in front of James. Caleb’s nose is red from over Dad’s shoulder, the sky dim and orange. Before we get to go inside, Dad opens the back gate and we shrug off our coats. Our backyard is small with the rusty basketball hoop and the chain-link fences.

“Go back and do it again,” Dad says, his voice even. He keeps our time as we sprint, pacing with his watch up by his throat. “Again. Impress me.”

We kick up the slush, crash our fingers into the fence, then turn and run back. I’m slow in the cold. It burns my throat. The fence feels farther every time. My arm buzzes when Dad yanks it. He bends down so I have to look him in the eye.

“Who’s the prime mover?” he says. “Huh?” When I don’t answer, he shakes my arm. “You, you are. You understand what I’m saying?”

Dad picks up a frosted football, runs backwards, then spirals it towards me. It drops between my arms. I toss it back lazily. Dad sends it back spinning.

“Let it come to you!” he says as the ball bounces hard against the frost. “Let it come to you.”

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