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

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

On this episode of The Writer's Voice, we'll hear David Gates read his story, Texas,

from the January 15th, 2018 issue of the magazine.

Gates is the author of four books of fiction,

including the novel Preston Falls

and the story collection,

A Hand Reached Down to Guide Me,

which was published in 2015.

Now here's David Gates.

Texas.

After the children had left home and his wife had made her escape to Italy,

Garver kept most of the house closed off,

even when summer came and he no longer had to save on heat.

Better the blank doors than the empty rooms, not to get sentimental

at this late date. He still went to his studio every day, although the work was no good anymore,

and any more was putting it kindly. His married daughter Emma, the only one of the kids who kept in touch,

had flown up for his birthday,

and told him that this was no way to live. Look at the garden, sumax ten feet high. He should sell this stupid farm and move back down to the city, she said, or someplace where he could see people.

63 wasn't too old to make a fresh start.

Ah, but is every morning not a fresh start, Garver said. You need a better attitude, she said.

His children might not have turned out to be prodigies, but by Jesus, he'd given them an ear for irony.

...