Pa had always had a lot of respect for Sam's grandmother. That must have been at least partly to do with what people in the village used to say about her. Pa used to say that civilization took the ... [+]
The familiar scent of earl gray tea sends me back to my grandma's living room. When I was in elementary school, I'd come over multiple times a week and we'd sit on her off-white couch drinking black tea from one of her many fancy ceramic tea sets. I was often too impatient to let my tea cool down enough to drink it, perpetually burning my tongue in the process. She would take her saucer and pour my tea in it, blowing lightly to cool it down faster. I still taste the burning. I remember carefree summers back in elementary school. We'd take the B49 to the beach in the late afternoon when the he