American by Day by Derek B. Miller

Author:Derek B. Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Melinda tucks her shirt deeper into her pants as she stands at the corner of the small property trying to decide which door to use. At her left, uninviting, is the proper and formal front door. The lawn has not been cut all summer and the flat stones are obscured by the overgrowth. The pots on the steps are cracked and empty and the doormat is rotted and weather-worn.

To her right is a set of steps leading from the driveway to a screen door. They are shorn of paint at the edges as a thousand ascents have worn them through, exposing the soft wood at their centers and leaving them bare and unprotected.

Melinda looks behind her and Irv nods her up the stairs.

At the top Melinda grasps the aluminum handle of the screen door intent on opening it so she can knock on the wooden door behind. Instead she finds it held in place by a tiny slide lock woefully outclassed by the hostile world it faces.

Irv and Sigrid join her on the landing and stand behind her.

Melinda raps gently on the sheet metal as if to alert the people inside of their presence but not wake any listening spirits.

When the door is opened and the screen unlatched, a tired black woman with a drawn face looks out at them. She does not open the outer door immediately. Instead she looks at the three white faces through the rusty screen. Cops on her doorstep have never had good news for anyone. Her countenance is stone behind the flimsy screen that separates them. She looks to be beyond the insincere use of words and pleasantries now; words she may once have valued for their kindness and civility. Irv removes his hat as the woman opens the door without ushering them in. Melinda crosses the threshold first, her eyes cast to the kitchen floor.

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