Story Loom

The trash company raised the rate and I called to complain like everybody else did. We’re outside Zanesville, Ohio. Thirty-one dollars a month for one can at the end of …

THE TRASH COMPANY SAID I’D BEEN PAYING FOR THREE ADDRESSES SINCE 2014 Read More

My father is buried at the national cemetery, and I ordered a copy of the interment record for the family history. We’re outside Anderson, Indiana. He passed in 1988, my …

THE CEMETERY RECORD SAID MY PARENTS HAD ANOTHER DAUGHTER Read More

The florist called in the spring to thank me for continuing to use them, and I hadn’t ordered anything since my husband’s funeral. We’re outside Poplar Bluff, and that funeral …

THE FLORIST SENT ME A THANK-YOU NOTE FOR A FUNERAL I NEVER ORDERED Read More

The woman said she was Verna’s sister. I thought she’d misunderstood me, so I asked her to repeat it. She gave me Verna’s maiden name, the name of the street …

MY AUNT LEFT INSTRUCTIONS FOR HER FUNERAL — BUT SOMEONE ELSE WAS LISTED AS HER FAMILY Read More

The name was a woman I’d never heard of, but the clerk said she’d been using the card four or five times a week since 2019. I asked whether there …

MY REDUCED-FARE CARD HAD BEEN USED FOR SIX YEARS — AND THE NAME ON IT WASN’T MINE Read More

The first supporting affidavit was from a neighbor I’d known for sixty years. I couldn’t understand why he’d sign something saying someone else had been using my property since 2004. …

SOMEONE SURVEYED MY LAND WITHOUT TELLING ME — AND THEN FILED A CLAIM TO ELEVEN ACRES Read More

The occupant’s name was not mine. The inspector had written it in the margin because the woman who answered the door had told him that was her name. I asked …

THE FURNACE WAS REPLACED WHILE I WAS OUT OF STATE — AND THE INSPECTOR WROTE DOWN WHO WAS LIVING IN MY HOUSE Read More

The other two names were both from the same town, and the notary said the woman had brought each of them in with a different title but the same identification. …

MY NAME WAS ON A CAR TITLE I NEVER OWNED — AND THE NOTARY REMEMBERED THE WOMAN WHO USED MY LICENSE Read More

The other two names were people I’d never heard of, and both titles had been signed within the same month as mine. The notary showed me the entries and said …

MY NAME WAS ON A CAR TITLE I NEVER SIGNED — AND THE NOTARY HAD MY LICENSE Read More

The informant was my daughter. I stared at that line because I had spoken to her the week before, and she’d been sitting across from me at my kitchen table. …

MY MORTGAGE COMPANY SAID I DIED IN 2023 — AND MY DAUGHTER WAS LISTED AS THE INFORMANT Read More