 Blackstone Presents No Gods, No Monsters A Novel by Cadwell Turnbull This book is read by Dion Graham to all the ones we've lost, a forest of worlds. Tanya meets me at our usual spot in Cameron Village and we sit outside under a patio umbrella, the North Carolina heat cooling to a low simmer in the setting sun. I haven't told her why it's so important we meet. We order drinks, Mia, corona because I'm basic as fuck, Tanya, a house sider, and we start talking about work and the adjunct professor's struggle. We both know I'm dancing around something. Every few minutes she looks at me as if to say, you gonna spill it or what? But I just keep on asking questions about her students as if I hadn't heard about them a thousand times already. We're splitting a plate of fries when I tell her. A french fry rests on her lip at the exact moment I say it. She holds it there with her fingers as if she were about to light up a cigarette. For the summer? I shake my head. I gave my notice. I won't be back in the fall. Tanya puts the fry all the way into her mouth and chews. Her eyes stay on me the whole time, weighing the information. So this is permanent then? Maybe. Don't know yet. Got a place set up? I'm gonna stay with a friend for a while. Her eyebrows rise. No, nothing like that. Brian, you met him when he came to visit? I remember. She is considering something and I think I know what it is. Only the lime is left in my corona bottle, but I have the urge to put the smooth glass to my lips out of nervous habit. I have to will myself not to pick the bottle up. It wasn't an elaborate plan or anything, I say. I decided last week. That's still a long time to keep it to yourself. She looks away. Well, I'm assuming Brian knew, so not just to yourself. Does your mom know? I told her this morning. How'd she take it? Badly. She hasn't been home since what happened to Corey. Tanya knows the whole story, so she lets it lie between us, unmentioned. She places a hand over her lips and stares off for a long time. The action somehow isn't strange. It's as if she's keeping something trapped inside and we're both the better for it. Then she gets... Sample complete. Ready to continue?