Evidence of Things Unseen: A Novel

by Marianne Wiggins

And that was how to cook a catfish. There were those who’d argue to the death that no self-respecting man would batter cats with anything other than a bridal veil of stoneground wheat flour from mother Dixie with a zest of salt and at most a dash of pepper the way the Bible says Christ had it done on that occasion of the loaves and fishes. Others swore by cornmeal, some were cayenne-ites and some, god bless their fundamental souls, faced the fire plain with nothing but their faith in catfish same as every naked soul must face the fires of eternity with nothing but man’s natural juices.

Three hours later the sun had yet to reach its apogee but the immobile air sat on the valley like a laying hen.

nothing makes a man feel stranger to his kind than to feel profound emotion which the others cannot feel.