Serena learned what lint was. She tucked some in a pouch to keep her parents close. She did the same after a sleepover, when her friends’ nightgowns were dried after a water-fight. After her mother’s miscarriage, Serena collected lint from the panties. She’d wanted a sibling. It wasn’t just lint.

James Vescovi’s work has appeared in the Hudson Review, the Georgetown Review, Newsweek, the New York Times, Saturday Evening Post, Creative Nonfiction, The Other Journal, and other publications.