Source: LAURINBURG EXCHANGE, 1/8/21

 As he stood on his porch, watching the flames consume his studio, Brant Barnes wasn’t thinking about the fire. Barnes was remembering an old neighbor of his, a man who had died the night after just such a fire. He was thinking about the man’s bitterness, his death, and his own compromised heart. Barnes turned and went back inside and switched on the television. The fire kept burning, and soon there was nothing left. The year of 2020 will leave little for Brant and Karen Barnes. Their income vanished when Gov. Roy Cooper shut down North Carolina in March.

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