The following story, which was a finalist in LitMag s Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction, is excerpted from Laura Newman s latest short story collection The Franklin Avenue Rookery for Wayward Babies
, about ordinary people struggling against extraordinary events. Newman founded the Heroin Committee, a group that produces and runs commercials to educate parents about the drugs their kids are most likely to be exposed to. She lives in Reno, Nevada.
Lake Tahoe, Nevada Late Summer
I pulled open the top of my one-piece bathing suit and poured a good amount of my ex-husband’s ashes down the front. It felt like gritty talcum. When I let go of the elastic front some ash dust puffed up into my face. I managed to resist licking my lips but I could feel it in my eyes. The best thing to do was to just hurry up and jump in the lake. So I did.