Because Of Winn-dixie Novels & Stories

Back corners happen to be my favorite. There aren't many books on Waindale—three or four at most. I pick up one and skim through, but the majority of its contents are too focused around city planning. I grab another, and it covers all towns in Washington. Waindale has a page. Where it's fun facts are supposed to be is only a single, scrawny sentence. Waindale, the town saved by wolves. My lips part. My heart speeds up, and I read the sentence over again. That can't be it! Saved by wolves? What does that mean? Did the author feel no need to explain?

Her white truck was adorned with a colorful lei around the rearview mirror and she had printed out Mapquest directions to the local Walmart on the dash. "Hey girl," I said while hopping into the passenger side, "Thank you so much for this, I didn't realize how much random shit I forgot and needed." Alexis laughed and drove us down the abandoned Wexford main street to the massive Walmart outside of town that put all the aforementioned main street shops out of business when it was built. It was a shame; Wexford had the potential to be an adorable, bustling town and perhaps when gentrification reached Appalachia, it would be. But the depressing sight of it made me want to study abroad even more

**On the Edge of Everything** The morning after the town council’s announcement, the reality of their situation hit the Hayes family hard. Claire, Ethan, Samuel, and Lillian sat at the kitchen table, the air thick with anxiety. The fair had been a success, but it was overshadowed by the looming threat of losing their shop to the council’s development plans. They had poured their hearts into making the shop a cornerstone of the community, and now it was at risk of being erased completely.