When he dies, the children sell the house and note that the new owners put his decorations in the garbage. After the man’s wife passes, the decorations become more bizarre, culminating in an apologetic display addressed to his children. “Sticks” is a vignette narrated by the adult children of a man who dresses up a pole on his lawn for holidays. Flashing forward, Alison wakes from a nightmare and her parents soothe her by making her tell them what happened: she went outside and stopped Kyle from killing the man.

Alison watches from inside as Kyle threatens to murder the attempted kidnapper, hoping he won’t. His desire to help Alison wins out, and he hits the man with the geode. When Kyle sees a man attempt to abduct Alison at her door, his first impulse is to follow his parents’ dictate not to get involved in other people’s problems. Kyle rebels internally through inventive cursing and imagined backtalk. Meanwhile, Kyle finds a note instructing him to place a geode in the yard for his father. She believes the world is inherently good, and pities her unpopular neighbor Kyle Boot for having a strict home life. In “Victory Lap,” teenager Alison Pill is home alone after school. There are 10 stories in Tenth of December, each about a failure of empathy between characters. Content Warning: The stories in this collection depict or discuss sexual violence, child and domestic abuse, death by suicide and suicidal ideation, and war trauma.

Saunders tenth of december