Talulah

Karen E. Kachra

The day Joanie decides to live in a maple tree happens to be a Tuesday in July. She steers her grey Volvo off the highway and drives up to the construction site, her black carry-on case bouncing in the trunk.

The scene is familiar from television, the machines themselves entirely unfamiliar. To her untrained eye they might as well be the remains of abandoned spacecraft. There is one the size of her bungalow, and another with mammoth jagged-tooth discs that resemble the radial saw her husband keeps in the garage. In between these giants is an old-fashioned bulldozer, its front claw slumped on the ragged ground. There is a red and white ROAD KILL! banner draped across it with blood painted dripping from the letters, and when Joanie sees this she thinks about putting the car in reverse and driving home. Read more.