Welfare is wholly made up of four-line paragraphs and has a cadence
that is uniquely its own. A high school student leaves his parents' home
to live on his own with friends and with the help of government aid. The
narrator becomes your best friend on the first page.
I walk down the slight slope of their driveway. A backpack full of
t-shirts and socks and underwear and books on my back. I have $50 and 2
packs of cigarettes in the pocket of my army surplus jacket. But no
lighter. You can't have everything I tell myself.
Steve Anwyll lives in Canada.