I Am No One You Know

Contents

Part One

Curly Red
In Hiding
I'm Not Your Son, I Am No One You Know
Aiding and Abetting
Fugitive
Me & Wolfie, 1979
The Girl with the Blackened Eye

Part Two

Cumberland Breakdown
Upholstery
Wolf's Head Lake
Happiness
Fire
The Instructor

Part Three

The Skull: A Love Story
The Deaths: An Elegy
Jorie (& Jamie) : A Deposition
Mrs. Halifax and Rickie Swann: A Ballad

Part Four

Three Girls
The Mutants

Acknowledgments

Awards

• Best American Mystery Stories, 2003: "The Skull"
• National Magazine Awards, 2003 finalist: "Three Girls"
• The Pushcart Prize, XXVIII: "Three Girls"
• National Magazine Awards, 2002 finalist: "Curly Red"
• Best American Mystery Stories, 2001: "The Girl with the Blackened Eye"
• Prize Stories: The O Henry Awards, 2001: "The Girl with the Blackened Eye"
• The Pushcart Prize, XXVII: "The Instructor"

Other Editions

Excerpt

From "Jorie (& Jamie): A Deposition"

In the cellar, in the night. Do you hear her?

Jamie! she is crying. Jam-ie! Help me.

lt was not Mom's fault, Jorie spat out her pills. Jorie would not use the pot to pee in. Jorie would not eat her food. Screaming and throwing herself against the wall, bloodying her nose and mouth like a Hallowe'en pumpkin. I felt so bad to see Jorie's face swollen, it was like my own face, contorted and ugly. If you are a twin you want your twin to be beautiful like an angel. If you are not beautiful yourself you want your twin to be beautiful. We were fearful that somebody would come and take our mom from us, Mom was not well, migraine headaches, so dizzy she couldn't walk across the room without stumbling, on the sofa with one of her strong-smelling bottles, smoking, the cigarette ash would fall into the cushions and we couldn't wake her, beating out the smoldering little flames with our fists. Mom! Mommy! Wake up.

Mom said there are people who believe that a child like Jorie is a punishment that the mother must deserve. Mom said that Daddy and his family blamed her. Would have nothing to do with her. I love my daughter. I don't wish to harm my little girl. I know she can't help it. This is just to get some rest. Some peace. To protect the others. For a little while. But in the night, in the cellar, if Jorie continued to rage and could not be let out, Mom said there came her own heartbeat, her deranged and murderous heart she dared not free to do injury upon others. That would be evil. True evil.

Reviews

• Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2004, pp. 11-12
• Library Journal, February 1, 2004, pp. 126-127
• Publisher's Weekly, February 2, 2004, p. 57
• Booklist, March 1, 2004, P. 1135
• Buffalo News, March 21, 2004, p. F6
• Denver Post, April 11, 2004, p. F10
• New York Post, April 11, 2004
• Atlanta Journal Constitution, April 18, 2004, p. 4M
• New York Times Book Review, April 18, 2004, p. 28
• Village Voice, April 27, 2004, p. 82