This is the writer's voice, new fiction from The New Yorker.

I'm Deborah Treasman, fiction editor at The New Yorker.

On this episode of The Writer's Voice, we'll hear Allegra Goodman read her story, FAQ's, from the September 11th, 2017 issue of the magazine. Goodman is the author of two-story collections and six novels, including Catterskill Falls,

the cookbook collector, and the chalk artist, which was published earlier this year.

Now here's Allegra Goodman.

FAQS

Phoebe found the house almost F.AQS.

Phoebe found the house almost unchanged.

Same furniture, same couch cushions, worn out in the same old places, practically the same stack of magazines.

Phoebe's parents, Melanie and Dan, looked just as they had

when she had left them, and so their new coffee maker startled her. Where did that come from?

Your mother bought it. The old one broke, Melanie said, defending herself. Of course, Phoebe saw

that the new machine stood right where the scrap

bucket had been. All composting had ceased the minute she went to college. Sweetie, it smelled

so bad, had been Melanie's excuse. And yet, Phoebe's parents had planted vegetables with her

when she was little. They had hired a handyman

to build a chicken coop in the backyard. The coop stood empty now, with just a few downy feathers

blowing in the wind. Beginning a freshman year, a fox had killed the hen named Scout. Weeks

after that, Scout's sister, Carrie, had disappeared.

During spring semester, the last chicken Mrs. Dalloway had passed.

Sometimes Phoebe questioned the level of care Mrs. Dalloway had received from Melanie and Dan.

They had reverted so quickly to supermarket eggs.

...