This is the writer's voice, New Fiction from New Yorker.

I'm Deborah Treesman, Fiction Editor at The New Yorker.

On this episode of the writer's voice,

we'll hear Suvankam Tamavongsa read her story Trash from the June 13th, 2022 issue of the magazine.

Tamavongsa has published four volumes of poetry and the story collection, How to Pronounce Knife,

which won the Scotiabank Killer Prize in 2020.

Now here's Suvankam Tamavongsa.

Trash, I don't know why I didn't think of someone like Miss Emily.

It never occurred to me to imagine her.

I guess you could say I lacked imagination.

I married her son after knowing him for only five days.

A whirlwind romance.

I was the cashier at the local supermarket.

Her son came in on Tuesdays to shop to get discounts.

I thought he was someone who didn't spend lavishly, even though he could.

I could tell he came from good people.

He always wore a nice suit and he had this beautiful coat,

the kind of fabric that made you want to reach out and touch.

Of course, I could never do anything like that.

I'm not that bold.

And anyway, we weren't allowed to behave that way with customers.

I wasn't selling clothes.

...