Jill Bialosky, Drew Elizabeth Weitman, and everyone at W. W. Norton helped me find new depths in these stories. Thank you all so much for deciding to take a chance on my work.

At Colorado State, Judy Doenges, Camille T. Dungy, Deborah Thompson, EJ Levy, Andrew Altschul, and Leslee Becker were wonderfully engaged and supportive teachers. Nic Brown encouraged my fiction in some very early bumpy stages, and Vauhini Vara's incredibly generous journalism lessons have been useful in creative nonfiction and fiction both.

I am grateful to everyone involved in organizing and executing both the Bread Loaf Orion Environmental Writers' Conference and the Community of Writers. I feel very lucky to have been able to attend those programs. The residency I received from the Kimmel Harding Nelson Foundation was an incredible gift of time and quiet. To everyone at the Kenyon Review, the Masters Review, Boulevard, VQR, and other journals that have published my work, thank you, especially David Lynn, Kirsten Reach, Kim Winternheimer, Allison Wright, and Dusty Fruend. Alexander Chee's encouragement and support have also been incredibly important.

My Colorado State MFA classmates—fiction, poetry, and CNF—are the smartest and best, all of you. You let me join your lovely nonsense without ever making me feel old and ridiculous, and you read everything with generosity and kindness and wit. Thanks especially to Emily Ziffer, Emily Harnden, Cory Cotten-Potter, Sam Killmeyer, David Mucklow, Michelle Thomas, Caleb Gonzalez, and Melissa Merritt. Also, everyone in Nic Brown's graduate fiction class at UNC and the writing group that grew out of it, especially Ty Cronkite, Cameron Markway, and Jonnie Genova, and to Mary Scalise and her book club here in Loveland, who provided helpful feedback.

My workshop groups at Community of Writers and BLO, especially Victoria Blanco, Megan Tucker Orringer, Leslieann Hobayan, Lupita Eyde-Tucker, Re Marzullo, Holly LaBarbera, and Sabrina Sarro.

Meghan Pipe and Debbie Vance read approximately eight million drafts of these stories and gave thoughtful and detailed feedback on every single one. They check in regularly with my writing and my heart and send chocolate and booze when necessary. I'd be lost without either of them, in writing and in life.

Jim Myers generously let me tag along while he shared what he knew about ditches and water and sugar mills and the world, and I'm happy to have him as a friend.

Jaymi Anderson, Holly Collingwood, Harmony and Bill Tucker, John and Mary Poor, Peg and Ed Sanders, Nic Koontz and Katie Slota, Darci Hata and Ian Mickells, Leanne Porzycki, Katja Nix, Dan Hotch, Dan Park, Paris Hunt, John Morrissey, Luke Vance, and everyone else who makes my life happy and rich—thanks for staying on my team for all these years, friends.