Michael DeForge’s short-story seriesLose has been nominated for or has won every major comics award, including the Eisner and Ignatz awards. His illustrations have been published in the New York Timesand Bloomberg View; his comics have appeared in the Believer, Maisonneuve, and the Adventure Timecomic-book series. This story is excerpted from his book Sticks Angelica: Folk Hero, forthcoming in March from Drawn & Quarterly.