Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation

RS Deeran’s short story is set in economically depressed Michigan in the wake of the 2008 housing market crash. The main character, Tim, is employed by Secured Properties. For $10 each, he mows the lawns of homes that have been repossessed. Tim’s wife, Alice, hocks Wrap-It, a weight-loss body wrap sold by a multi-level marketing company. Together, they earn just enough to rent a duplex and feed themselves.

When they were in high school, Alice and Tim put their baby son up for adoption. Tim keeps the baby’s sonogram in his vehicle and sometimes looks at it wistfully. Alice is more forward looking and now ready to start a family. Tim worries that he cannot financially support a family and laments not owning a home.

Tim and his coworker Rid are sent one day to an unexpected “quickie” job on a suburban cul-de-sac. While mowing the overgrown lawn, the two encounter a man who has been living and sleeping on the porch; he is the home’s previous owner who lost it when the bank foreclosed and claims he is waiting for a new loan to come in. Tim and Rid return weekly to the house, where the man is always waiting.