The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna

by Juliet Grames

Without faith there are no miracles, just coincidences.

I wanted to come to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I got here, I learned three things: One, the streets weren’t paved with gold. Two, the streets weren’t paved at all. Three, I was expected to pave them. —“OLD ITALIAN STORY,” ELLIS ISLAND

THE WORST PART OF BAD NEWS is sometimes not the bad news itself but having to explain the bad news over and over again, to have to endure the reactions of people who are sometimes well-meaning and sometimes only pretending to be well-meaning, and sometimes not even that.