Moving this from from the original posting from 2007, when the story was sold since the issue has just been released! In 2007, Robert Morrish bought that my third short story for Cemetery Dance Magazine. To say I'm thrilled is, well, true. :-)
I wrote this piece in early '06 actually, during what I'll refer to as my "blue period." I wrote it on and off over the course of a couple of months, late at night. I started with the title. Years and years ago, about nine to be exact, I wrote another story with the same title. It was OK, not great, but I was a newbie writer and earning my chops. After I retired the story and tucked it in mothballs, the title kept itching my brain. I knew one day I'd write a completely new story with this same title. As it is, a few others pop into my head now and then that would go well with it, but this one is what I wrote. Inspired by the homes I see as I roll onto Interstate 290 in my home city, it's a moody piece, and has gone through a few iterations over the last year and a half. It garnered an Honorable Mention in the Chi-zine 2006 short story contest (was not published, however, only the winners got that honor, which in the end worked otu well). I revised it pretty extensively. And, well, the rest is history... at last.
