On "The Crystal Ball" by A.M. Amodeo (4703 words) ***

Pearl is a worrier, and she had good reason to do so. Her husband has a back problem. Her mom has married an old man with health problems of his own. And the best job that Pearl can manage is a shift at a convenience store, not enough to raise one daughter let alone another she'd like to have and really not enough to help support her own cash-strapped mother, who they live with. But one can dream, and that is what Pearl does. "The Crystal Ball" is part of that dream, telling of a future and a way to get there that depends, it seems, on destruction. Good fortune depends on someone else's bad. Read the story here at Fried Chicken and Coffee.