After the hurricane, a pink plastic flamingo landed in our yard, one leg snapped clean. Mama wanted to throw it away. I propped it beside the porch instead. For weeks, she kept straightening its crooked neck before work, like something ruined could still be expected to stand pretty.

Bethany Bruno is a Floridian author whose fiction and nonfiction often explore history, place, and the strange beauty of Florida. She holds a BA in English from Flagler College and an MA from the University of North Florida. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Threepenny Review, The Sun, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, River Teeth’s Beautiful Things, and The Huffington Post. Learn more at bethanybrunowriter.com.