Excerpt from Good Christian Girl:

On the weekends, when there was no school, I went out to the covered front porch and sat at our wobbly little metal table to read while my mom sewed dresses or altered clothing for the church ladies. I could always sense when rain was coming; a storm was the best time to be out on the porch.

In the South, the air gave clues that the sky was about to open up; there was a static sensation that hung thick and moist and heavy around me, the songs of birds and cicadas were suspended, and the air became very still. I opened my book and read as the first drops began to fall. I liked that I was separated from the storm by only a few feet of concrete at the edge of the porch; I imagined that if I stepped off and allowed my feet to touch the ground and run, I might not ever return home.