This is the New Yorker Fiction Podcast from the New Yorker magazine.

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

Each month we invite a writer to choose a story from the magazine's archives to read and

discuss.

This month we're going to hear David Mean's story, The Tree Line, Kansas, 1934, which was

published in The New Yorker in 2010.

Five days he had listened to Barnes, staying quiet, holding back on saying much until

that last day when Barnes turned and said, luckily all we're doing out here is wasting

time.

Carson doesn't come.

I mean, hell, let's face it, it's unlikely that he's going to arrive down that road.

The story was chosen by Thomas McWayne, whose own stories have been peering in the magazine

since 1994.

His latest collection, Crowfare, came out in March.

Hi, Tom.

Good morning.

Is it morning?

No, we're afternoon now.

How are we really?

Well, I'm happy to be here with you.

So how did you first read this story?

Did you read it in the magazine in 2010?

...