“Smoking Demon,” by Leslie C. Youngblood
Inside our lime-green Buick Regal, Mama hid from God. She had promised the Holy Rock Baptist Church and sworn directly to Him three weeks before that she’d stop smoking. On the night of her vow our short, stocky pastor jumped like he had caught the Holy Spirit right there in the center of his ring-cladhand. Then he smacked his palm across Mama’s high forehead, drenched with honey-colored sweat, to rebuke her “smoking demon.” “Out!...
Leslie C. Youngblood Awarded Spring 2009 Orlando Short Fiction Prize
LESLIE C. YOUNGBLOOD received her MFA from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Along with writing short stories, she’s currently at work on her first novel. She teaches at Lincoln University, Jefferson City, MO. Read her winning short story, “Smoking Demon,” here.
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