The first excerpt to be published from my forthcoming book, The Language of Endangered Hearts, appears in the inaugural issue of Between the Lines, the new literary journal from Holy Names University in Oakland.

The story, “Yes,” recounts a consultancy visit to Sumba Island, eastern Indonesia, where I clashed horns with a shrill-voiced propinsi pipsqueak:

“Beady eyes and oily skin occupied a dull khaki uniform that was exchanged in the field for cowboy-style shirts unbuttoned to expose a soft and flabby chest, a pair of pristine denim jeans evidencing his allergy to any productive, soil-based activity, and snakeskin boots, raising his four-foot-something frame a few irrelevant centimeters.”

Read on to hear how good triumphed over evil. Sort of.