I’ve long been fascinated by fiction that deals with deception, and ‘The Beast’ is an excellent example. Beverly buys tickets to see a high school fling in concert without telling her husband. As the story progresses, we learn that her lie is a small one in the scope of the lies that the men in her life have entangled her in. Cummins toys with an enticing will they/won’t they narrative between Beverly and her boss; Beverly and her high school fling. Redemption, however, doesn’t come from finding a man, but in finding freedom from the deceitful men in her life. Cummins isn’t shy about using issues related to healthcare and money to drive the conflicts in her stories, a refreshing dose of realism that feels lacking in a lot of contemporary fiction.

First published in Ninth Letter, Fall/Winter 2016-17 and collected in If the Body Allows It, University of Nebraska Press, 2020. A slightly different version is available to read at CRAFT Literary