The Vanishing Half

by Brit Bennett

“White folks kill you if you want too much, kill you if you want too little.” Willie Lee shook his head, packing tobacco into his pipe. “You gotta follow they rules but they change ’em when they feel. Devilish, you ask me.”

“This big ol’ world and we only get to go through it once. The saddest thing there is, you ask me.”