Sheri Benning has published three books of poetry, most recently The Season's Vagrant Light: New and Selected Poems. Her poetry, short fiction and essays have appeared in Canadian, British and Irish literary journals and anthologies. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Regina.

A boy, his dog, Lent.

Standing at the edge of the bush, Luke scans the Leary's yard through the scope of his gun. He's only ever glimpsed the yard from the road on their way to St. Joseph's for mass. Missing shingles, cardboard in place of a porch window. Smoke twists out the tin chimney. He imagines the Leary brothers sitting together in front of a stove. Unshaven. Smoking. Holes in their dirty socks.