Hillbilly Elegy

room of a Walmart Supercenter as car
technicians changed my oil. I called
Mamaw on the cell phone that I paid for
myself, and she told me about
babysitting Lindsay’s kids that day.
“Meghan is so damned cute,” she told
me. “I told her to shit in the pot, and for
three hours she just kept on saying ‘shit
in the pot, shit in the pot, shit in the pot’
over and over again. I told her she had to
stop or I’d get in trouble, but she never
did.” I laughed, told Mamaw that I loved
her, and let her know that her monthly
three-hundred-dollar check was on the
way. “J.D., thank you for helping me. I’m
very proud of you, and I love you.”
Two days later I awoke on a Sunday