THE DEAL
I felt kind of funny knocking on Robby Ramseur’s door that Friday night; it had only been two weeks before that he had run me off. I had just dropped by that night about seven thirty and he had got purty upset, him not knowin’ I was coming and all. So I was kinda surprised […]
THE RIDE
Reverend Herbert Kennard sat down in his straight-backed chair behind the army surplus grey desk; he was in his “pastor’s office”, a rather generous name for the six by eight-foot room that used to be part of the nursery. He was the new pastor at Beulah’s Chapel Methodist Church; he was a recent Duke University […]
WHO KILLED SHADY
“How the hell we gonna get in,” Tim blurted. Just the fact that Tim would blurt anything was an indication that something highly upsetting and important was about. “He wants me to come over tomorrow morning and look at some problem with that screwed up Camry he is so enamored of. You guys can just […]
LUNCH
A Sunday afternoon at High Park, a time usually taken up by a Panthers game, or, if they are on, Matt’s beloved Vikings. If indeed the beloved Vikings are on the tube the statistical one abandons the island and sits at the bar directly in front of whichever television has the game on. He is […]
WHO KILLED WADE POPLAR
It was 5:09 p. m. as Matt STRODE into High Park; in his most profound statistical statement to date he had announced the day before that his new $1100 chair had changed his life. “It is the best chair I have ever sat in; I would have to say it has improved my life by […]
MISS MARY’S SHOT HOUSE
I had a small construction company, repairs, remodeling, and occasionally an addition to a house. I enjoyed it most of the time, but of course there were occasions when I needed help. I had wrecked my truck and someone with knowledge of such things told me that the frame was bent and gave me the […]
THE PURGE
Richie was sitting up in the large pine tree beside the driveway next to the side porch of the house; it was a favorite spot of his when he wanted to be alone and think of something. There was a limb that came out of the trunk and curved and another that came straight out; […]
WHO KILLED BOB THE BARTENDER
It was 5:07 and Matt, Tim, and Mike were already in their chairs having their usual. I was seething just a bit, having come fresh from a barking chastisement delivered by Bob the Bartender. I had been standing over at the bar waiting for a beer, not in front of the waitress serving area, but […]
WHO KILLED GILLY GLADE
It was 5:06 and Matt had just walked into High Park; Mike and Tim and I had been there since our characteristic time of 4:00. Six months had passed since the demise of Lagarde; I must say that many moments of consternation had enveloped my mind during that time but I had eventually just let […]
WHO KILLED LAGARDE
His hair looked like an electrical cable had been attached to his genitals; it spiraled and twisted away from his head, kind of like Granny on The Beverly Hills movie when she was given “electrical shock therapy.’ Sometimes the head was unadorned and other occasions he would be sporting a beret; once he wore an […]