The County Line

Grieving Daniel and a narrator who buried his father drive into the North Georgia mountains to camp. One bare bulb burns where no insects gather.

101

The first thing I remember is the light.

Not the building. Not the bricked windows or the sagging screen door. Just one bare bulb burning above the entrance, pale and steady in the North Georgia dark.

There were no insects circling it.

At the time, neither Daniel nor I thought much of that. We noticed it, perhaps, but only in the quiet way the mind stores details it does not yet understand.

We had driven up from Atlanta on a Friday afternoon in October, following a narrow highway into the mountains. Daniel had recently separated from his wife, and I had recently buried my father. Neither of us said the trip was meant to fix anything. We called it camping because men our age often give simple names to the ways they run from grief.

Daniel brought a tent he had not used since college. I brought my father’s old green Coleman stove, still smelling faintly of kerosene and burned coffee.

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Quick answers about The County Line

What is The County Line about?

Grieving Daniel and a narrator who buried his father drive into the North Georgia mountains to camp. One bare bulb burns where no insects gather.

Is The County Line free to read?

Yes. Every story on RapidTale is free to read in the browser, with no sign-up and nothing to install.

How long does it take to read?

This story runs 1 chapter — most readers finish in one sitting, and you can stop and return to any chapter using the contents list.

Who wrote it?

Nimra Khan — original fiction published on RapidTale.