Borealis Books is an imprint of the Minnesota Historical Society Press.

www.borealisbooks.org

Copyright © 2006 by Will Weaver. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, write to Borealis Books, 345 Kellogg Blvd. W., St. Paul, MN 55102-1906.

The Minnesota Historical Society Press is a member of the Association of American University Presses.

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1984.

International Standard Book Numbers

ISBN-13: 978–0–87351–556–6 (paper)

ISBN-10: 0–87351–556–0 (paper)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Weaver, Will.

Sweet land : new and selected stories / Will Weaver.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-0-87351-556-6

(pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-87351-556-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Ebook ISBN: 978-0-87351-702-7

1. Middle West—Social life and customs—Fiction.

I. Title.

PS3573.E192S94 2006

813'.54—dc22

2006022483

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Acknowledgment is given to the following publications in which versions of the following stories first appeared. “Flax,” Milkweed Chronicle (Winter Issue, 1985), Minneapolis; (revised version) in Red Earth, White Earth (Simon & Schuster, 1986); (Borealis Books, 2006). “Sheetrock,” Stiller’s Pond Anthology: Fiction from the Upper Midwest (New Rivers Press, 1991). “Dispersal,” Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine et al. (PEN Fiction Project, July 1985). “The Gravestone Made of Wheat,” Prairie Schooner (1982). “Bad Blood,” Destination Unexpected, ed. Don Gallo (Candlewick Press, 2003). “Heart of the Fields,” The San Francisco Chronicle et al. (PEN Fiction Project, 1983). “The Gleaners,” Journal of Gastronomy 5:2 (Berkeley, California, 1989). “Marked for Death,” Unexpected: Eleven Mystery Stories, ed. Laura E. Williams (Scholastic, 2005).

Cover image: Ali Selim

Cover design: Adam Waldman