Summary

The short story “This is My Living Room” by Tom McAfee follows an unnamed narrator who lives in a town called Pine Springs. The narrator thinks about his wife, Rosie, and his teenage daughters, Ellen Jean and Martha Kay. He is proud of being a gun owner and remembers trying to teach his wife how to shoot, although she did not like it. 

The narrator owns a store in town. His oldest daughter, Ellen Jean, works there, as the narrator has taken her out of school because she started wearing makeup. The youngest daughter, Martha Kay, is still in school and is submissive like her mother. 

The narrator then recalls forcing a man named Sam Coates to pay the 20 dollars he owed him by threatening him with a gun. The narrator claims that all people are t...