For their good advice and great generosity, I want to thank Andrea Barrett, Myra Goldberg, Kathleen Hill, Margot Livesey, and Chuck Wachtel. I am grateful, as ever, to my agent, Geri Thoma, and to my new editor, Jill Bialosky. For their helpful conversation, a thank you to Elspeth Leacock and Claudia Leacock. Special thanks once again to Sharon Captan for her friendship.
The story “Fools” appeared previously in Northwest Review, “Two Opinions” and “Better” appeared in Epoch, and “Buying and Selling” appeared in Agni. “Two Opinions” is included in The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2012. "Fools" is included in New America: Contemporary Literature for a Changing Society, ed. Holly Messitt and James Tolan (Autumn House, 2013).