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    Issue Is
    Issue Is
    Issue Is
    Ebook27 pages17 minutes

    Issue Is

    By Barb Johnson

    ()

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    About this ebook

    The lives of four unlikely friends intersect on the backstreets of New Orleans. Living amid poverty and violence, these fragile heroes of the American underclass redefine our notions of family, redemption, and love.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 20, 2009
    ISBN9780061966415
    Issue Is
    Author

    Barb Johnson

    Barb Johnson has been a carpenter in New Orleans for more than twenty years. In 2008 she received her MFA from the University of New Orleans. While there, she won a grant from the Astraea Foundation, Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New Writers, and Washington Square's short story competition. She is the fifth recipient of AROHO's $50,000 Gift of Freedom. This is her first collection.

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      Book preview

      Issue Is - Barb Johnson

      Issue Is

      Short Story

      Barb Johnson

      For Virginia Sonnier

      And for Mid-City—

      heart of New Orleans,

      heart of my heart

      Contents

      Begin Reading

      Acknowledgments

      About the Author

      Praise

      Copyright

      About the Publisher

      Issue Is

      The courtyard is crowded with locals, the humidity and the stench of a hundred-year-old sewer leak having kept all the tourists in the main building of the bistro. Delia’s table is snugged into the curved corner at the base of a winding stair. Across from the stairs is a storeroom that houses the overstock of beer and wine and olive salad, a room entered frequently by waiters who mostly emerge empty-handed, the smell of pot chuffing from their clothes. Delia loves the Napoleon House. It’s where she and Maggie had their first official date. And she loves this corner table with its unobstructed view of the whole patio. It’s their table.

      She adjusts the straps on her new sandals and knows for certain that it was a mistake to wear them. They were a gift from Maggie, who has just gotten back from a business trip to Vancouver, home to the international chain of high-end coffee shops for which she is an executive. This afternoon when Delia pulled the slingbacks from their delicate nest of tissue, she found a card tucked at the bottom of the box. M., the card said, it was lovely as always, and you’re lovely. Think of me when you wear these in that hot town of yours. Several X’s and O’s. No signature. Delia slipped the card in the pocket of

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