The new helper arrived and quit the same day. Daddy didn’t have a way with people anymore. He regarded his needs as emergencies and his flagging abilities as grounds for lawsuits. He had a large closet packed with aluminum-colored suits that he no longer wore. Once when I went to visit I found him standing before them, waiting for reason to return. When I touched his shoulder he turned to me with eyes like fish in a pond. “Pick a tie,” he said. “Any tie. We have work to do. We’re going to raze those fuckers.”

Bio: Daryl Scroggins