Contents

Cover

About the Author

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Epigraph

Prologue

1 THE WIDOW’S MITE
 1  A man who buys books because they’re pretty
 2  A killing, and a man who tried to walk on water
 3  Fake gold, other people’s houses, and the finest man I never knew
 4  Dreaming that a crooked man will straighten up and fly right
 5  When God blinks
 6  The free show
 7  No papers on him
 8  In the mouth of the machine
 9  On the wings of a great speckled bird
10  If you got to kill somebody, better it ain’t family
11  Under a hateful sky
12  Getting above your raising
13  Fine qualities
14  100 miles per hour, upside down and sideways
15  The usual suspects
2 LIES TO MY MOTHER
16  In the temple
17  Saturdays in October
18  White tuxedoes
19  The price tag on heaven
20  Under Vulcan’s hammer
21  Running hot
22  What if
23  Paradise
24  Miami, in madness
25  Eating life
26  Tap-tap
27  Snow in a can
28  The interview for the Ivy League
29  Perfume on a hog
30  New York
31  Coming home
32  Dining out with no money, and living with no life
33  Buying bodies, eating lobster
3 GETTING EVEN WITH LIFE
34  Gone South
35  Abigail
36  Mrs. Smith, and family
37  Monsters
38  Validation
39  1.3 acres
40  The same
41  Who we are
42  Safe in the dark

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