If the Creek Don't Rise

by Leah Weiss

When I come as a bride it was enough, but time’s added a brittle coat of neglect. The

“I’m not a Christian. I don’t believe or disbelieve in your god or your devil. I simply have little use for church dogma and man-made rituals that stifle people through fear and superstition. I’ve never seen any proof to support the teachings of your Bible.” She looks me in the eye. “Nature makes a pretty strong case for its own evolution.”

“And just because injustices never end doesn’t mean they’re not worth fighting against. Women and children have rights. Education is the key.”

Eli plants hope and promise in rocky soil that holds little of either.

Emptiness fills the cabin. It stretches thin around Sadie, Birdie, and me, three women who look for the why wrapped in grief that numbs us. Hope propelled the last day’s efforts but now it evaporates. All for nothing. All for everything that matters.

All her book smarts is worth a handful of nothing when it comes to real truths. “I don’t know what