title: Trash: A Collection of Short Stories
author: F. Collyer Reed
description: F. Collyer Reed lives on a sailboat on San Francisco Bay when not camping in the high desert or in Baja with his computer and his imagination. This short-story collection marks his publishing debut. More information about the author is available on his Web site at www.fcollyerreed.com.
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  ![Cover Image](images/9780446573030.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](images/Art_title.jpg)
  
  
  ![image](images/Art_logo.jpg)
  
  
  NEW YORK BOSTON NASHVILLE
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [![CoverImage](images/9780446573030_c.jpg)](chapter001.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [**Begin Reading**](chapter001.html)
  
  
  [Table of Contents](toc.html)
  
  
  [Copyright Page](copyright.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _To the memory of my mother_
  
  
  _And to Charles “Chuck” Betack, my friend_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # [CHAPTER](toc.html#toc-chapter001)
  
  
  ![image](images/Art_ctorn.jpg)
  
  
  # [1](toc.html#toc-chapter001)
  
  
  THE CLOUD OF COAL DUST driven deeply into his lungs nearly caused Howard Reed
  to pull his mail truck off the road and throw up onto the stunted, burnt
  grass. But he coughed and spat and tightened his gut. Reed worked the
  accelerator and raced past the haul roads where dump trucks lumbered across,
  spewing black grit into the air like burning confetti. That same air was
  filled with sulfur dioxide because a coal waste pile had caught on fire, as
  they often did. The