Retrospective

1.

Libby learned of her ex-husband’s move back to the old homeplace the way such information was usually gathered in Russellville, Kentucky: through contact with a barely tolerated acquaintance, in Super Wal-Mart, at the unhappy convergence of circumstance and Frozen Foods. Nita Greene, who was supposedly kin to Libby through her mother’s side and several generations back, blocked Libby’s path with her shop ping cart, leaned in conspiratorially, and whispered, “You know about Stephen and that woman, don’t you?” before Libby had time to realize she’d been cornered. Libby was holding a bag of broccoli florets, and she dropped them into her shopping cart almost guiltily.