"Chalk"
An excerpt from Ten Stories, my 2013 short fiction collection
In this paywalled post for paid subscribers, I’m sharing one of my short stories, “Chalk.” It was originally published almost a dozen years ago, in a collection called Ten Stories (2013). Each work in that collection was aimed at exploring particular human emotions triggered by consequential moments—sometimes big moments, sometimes small. The protagonists range from young children to retirees.
“Chalk” imagines the end of something—a teacher’s long career. I wrote it only about a decade into my own teaching, so getting it right was a long shot. But reading it after another dozen years in the classroom, and with the perspective of both middle age and mid-career to inform me, I think it’s holding up okay. Only time will tell. I imagine readers who are my age or older will likely relate more to this than those younger, but I can’t be sure.
My favorite part of “Chalk” is the final paragraph. I remember working hard, and for a long time, at getting the last sentence just right. If I had to do it over, there are aspects of the story I’d tinker with and probably change—maybe trim down. (I had a penchant for wordiness back then which, while it has improved, still haunts me.) But I’m still as proud of that last sentence as I was when it finally clicked on a late evening of writing a dozen years ago. See what you think.
