Story of the Week

Haley Carrollhach was born in Ames, Iowa, and raised in Colorado. She received a BA from the New School in New York City and is at work on an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Carrollhach lives in Iowa City with her husband and two daughters.

Beautiful Daughters

A Story

by Haley Carrollhach

The shop sells beaded moccasins and nesting dolls, tiny cuckoo clocks, chokecherry jelly, and T-shirts. I’ve visited before and bought a decorative bowl made from dried orange skins. An absurd little thing I put away.

The Amana Colonies are no longer places where people live and work according to God’s will. There’s nothing left but a place for tourists to come and try to imagine what it once was. A large woman in her car is parked in front of the church/museum, eating a bagel, with the air conditioner fanning her hair. She has Clorox disinfectant wipes on the backseat, and for some reason this makes me sad, this careful germ-free loneliness. But I’m here to make the best of things.

My two girls slump behind me. I can almost hear their words. They’re trying to make a statement.

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