Hi, I'm Lovar Burton and this is Lovar Burton Reads.

In every episode I hand-pick a different piece of short fiction and I read it to you.

The only thing these stories happen common is that I love them and I hope you will too.

This episode was recorded in Washington, DC with a story by the incredible author Edward P. Jones.

Edward is one the Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur Genius Grant.

He's written several connected collections of short stories set in DC.

And the story you're about to hear takes place in an apartment building in the city on

a particular dark and stormy day.

It's from the collection entitled Lost in the City and Edward has said that its format

is somewhat inspired by James Joyce's Dubliners.

This collection is a portrait of ordinary people living in DC.

They are fictional, but they are folks that Edward knows deeply and intimately.

You'll also hear an excerpt of my conversation with Edward after the story.

And of course we had to have some live musical accompaniment, in this case also from a

native Washingtonian.

Her name is Elise Cuffey.

She began playing the cello in the DC Youth Orchestra program where she is now a conductor.

She plays with her group The String Queens and she is also the principal cellist of the

soulful symphony.

I'm very excited for you to experience this story so let's get started.

Enjoy.

Let's take a deep breath.

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