She just watched the cars pulling up to the curb, her face perfectly calm in the white glare of the parking lot lights.

“He asked if I was going to take the picture off my Facebook page,” Darla said.

“Is it still up on your page?” I asked.

“It’s got fifty-four comments and eighty-two likes,” Darla said.

“Half the women in my church circle wrote that Sadie’s the prettiest girl in South Dakota.

That picture is staying on my page until the day they put me in the ground.”

A blue pickup pulled up to the curb, and three senior boys in black tuxedos piled out into the cold wind, laughing and straightening their silk bow ties.