Erma Puckett's Moment of Indiscretion (Snippets from Cedar Hollow)

2013 Pushcart Prize Nominee Short Story

Short Story: Nineteen-forty-six was a turning point for young Erma Puckett for three reasons. First, it was the year she became rich. Second, it was the year she fell in love. And third, it was the year she was run out of town.

Brokenhearted and alone, Erma fled to the tiny village of Cedar Hollow, West Virginia, where she quickly realized she was the town’s first and only black resident. Summoning her courage and refusing to give in to the doubts that plagued her, Erma fulfilled her goal of purchasing and running the town’s only boarding home, Vines and Roses.

“I hadn’t realized you were colored,” the former owner had said, hooking thin, brown hair behind an ear with a pale hand and studying Erma through squinted eyes.

“Well,” Erma said, chin jutted forward, “now you do.” She leveled her gaze. “And does it matter? My money is the same color as yours.”

Throughout the years the townsfolk went from suspicious, to curious, to welcoming, and Erma and Vines and Roses became a beloved addition to the little town.

But after a long, fulfilled life, just as Erma begins to consider retirement, unfinished business appears in the form of a very unexpected guest.