Read is the author of “Hope v. Texas” and “Bristol Palin Is a Realtor.” His fiction, poetry, and scholarship have appeared in Epoch, Wigleaf, The Moth, Pithead Chapel, Taco Bell Quarterly, the University of Illinois Law Review, and elsewhere.
The swing, however, was going to be a tougher ask. Blue seat, red footrest—the trees in our neighborhood were littered with these things, though I could not recall ever actually seeing a child sitting in one, swinging.
By the time Ms. Hope woke from her coma, detectives had already followed her long and cavalier paper trail to the doorstep of Mr. Hagopian, who confessed within hours of his arrest. The attending physician informed Ms. Hope of the extent of her injuries, described the numerous life-saving surgeries she had undergone, and then stepped aside while a detective from the Galveston Police Department read Ms. Hope her Miranda rights. When asked by the detective if she understood her rights, Ms. Hope stated simply, “We did nothing wrong.” The State of Texas disagreed.
The Last Vampires of California