I am delighted that series editor Heidi Pitlor included “Like a Good Mother” in this year’s list of honorable mentions and so excited to see my name alongside the likes of Lydia Davis and Andrea Barrett! Story excerpt posted below.
Like a Good Mother (excerpt):
THE HORSES WERE A SURPRISE in the city. That was the reason Catherine had been drawn to them in the first place—her daughter knew nothing yet of ponies or palominos—and where was the harm in that? She was taking Frankie to get her first haircut, when she spotted the dusty trailers parked in the bus lane. "Should we find out what's going on?" Catherine said, bending to the stroller. She kept her voice from swelling with excitement; worse, a need. Neither worked with Frankie, not since Catherine had stopped offering her breast at night.
She turned the stroller down a narrow driveway between two buildings and wandered into a fog of parents. Orange cones marked off a small parking lot, where an elliptical corral had been constructed out of metal gates. Inside the corral were three stout, brown horses with a child atop each one. Breeders in straw hats kept a hand on the saddles. Mothers pressed up against the corral peeked around their cameras, shouting their encouragement.
Catherine unbuckled Frankie and lifted her. They watched the horses circling, the long necks moving up and down and the hooves clapping a flat beat on the concrete. Catherine had never paid much attention to horses before, and she wondered if these were less impressive examples or if years of servitude had dulled them. Looking down at Frankie, however, she saw that the child had gone stiff and spellbound in her arms. She offered softly: "Aren't they pretty?"
Frankie didn't respond, so Catherine lifted her higher and moved closer to the corral. Instantly, the little girl twisted around and clasped her mother's neck. "Is it the horses?" Catherine said. She pressed her hand on Frankie's back and was surprised to feel her daughter trembling. "It's OK, it's OK," she began to say, finding her most soothing voice. "They're friendly. They're nice." She repeated these senseless, motherly things and became aware of a smile tugging on her lips, a thrill rippling beneath her assuagement. Soon Frankie turned away, still gripping her, to get another look at the animals. Just as quickly, she buried her head again in Catherine's shoulder. Strangers glanced their way, she hugged her daughter tighter. Once more her body pulsed a secret, tingling joy.