Melissa Ferguson

Melissa Ferguson's new novel proves that good fences make good neighbors---and that sometimes love and hate share a backyard.

The Cul-De-Sac War

Claire

Grief was a cruel jack-in-the-box. Sometimes it popped out at the least desirable moments: at the codes department. ins you're stepping in for a building permit. In front of vour mother, just when you see her dry-eyed for the first time in months ie hadn't opene just when she's thinking of something else for once. 

But of course, there was never a time, really, that Jake wasn't in the back of their minds. Standing there in the corner as they talked about recipes for egg salads and his niece's latest achievements.  Jake was always there. Over time, Chip had accepted and integrated that fact into his life. This world wasn't all he had grown up to think it was. Nothing was stable. Not the years of playing make-believe in the backyard with his brothers, the barbecues and fireflies, the comfort of warm duvets on soft beds. Not his family, friends, money, possessions, intellect, status, abilities. None of it was secure. None of it could he stand upon and know it would hold his weight. 

Because someday, some awful day, the ground would shift beneath his feet. The ground had shifted beneath his feet. 

As he'd learned four years ago, the world was good, but it wasn’t wholly good.

The world was beautiful, but it was also worse than his worst nightmare. 

That worldview shift was what first broke him. 

The Cul-De-Sac War quotes

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