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The Reader


   


They asked was she reading the dictionary. She said yes. She opened it to show them—sturdy black spine, hefty covers, gold edging. One by one it swallowed them, bellowing words as it went: thorough! Bivalve! Anemometer!






Margaret Emma Brandl’s novella Tuscaloosa (Or, In April, Harpies) was published by Bridge Eight Press in 2021. Her fiction, creative nonfiction, and video essays have appeared in magazines such as Gulf Coast, Yalobusha Review, River Teeth, and Moon City Review. She teaches creative writing and other English courses at Austin College in Sherman, TX.