He was as always talking about his Jack Hick upbringing in that wooden shack and of his sister\u2019s church dress which she wore only once<\/p>\n
It was pure white<\/p>\n
The same colour as Christ\u2019s skin after the blood had drained from his battered body<\/p>\n
I was waiting outside of the county jail<\/p>\n
Roxy was in the wagon<\/p>\n
She did not want to be seen<\/p>\n
Shit is shit that is my motto<\/p>\n
Expect shit and you get shit<\/p>\n
Anything more is a bonus I had said to her<\/p>\n
Slowly a side door opened and Mace stepped into the bright sunlight<\/p>\n
He shielded his eyes<\/p>\n
I expected him to hug me but he just stared straight ahead<\/p>\n
You been looking after her grave?<\/i><\/p>\n
Yes I placed fresh blooms on her patch each week <\/i><\/p>\n
Roxy ran from the car and hugged Mace<\/p>\n
He did not react<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s get out of here<\/i><\/p>\n
Do you want to visit her grave?<\/i><\/p>\n
And bump into that fucking priest again <\/i><\/p>\n
I looked at Roxy who was adjusting her bra<\/p>\n
Dressed as a tart as normal Roxy <\/i><\/p>\n
Roxy smiled and leaned forward<\/p>\n
Bet you missed these boy I have been keeping them warm for you <\/i><\/p>\n
Let\u2019s go <\/i><\/p>\n
We had driven about three miles and were close to the State Line<\/p>\n
A blue rectangular sign shouted at us<\/p>\n
Leaving Kansas Come Again<\/p>\n
Like fuck I will <\/i><\/p>\n
Mace smiled<\/p>\n
It was the first time I had seen him smile in five years<\/p>\n
Have they rebuilt the church yet?<\/i><\/p>\n
More or less but the funds ran low <\/i><\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure they will be glad to see me again<\/i><\/p>\n
Folk forgive Mace they understood your hurt <\/i><\/p>\n
We\u2019ll see <\/i><\/p>\n
Three hours later we were approaching Byron<\/p>\n
Mace was sleeping in the back and Roxy was smoking with her window wide open<\/p>\n
Night was beginning to fall<\/p>\n
Do you think we should go to the church?<\/i><\/p>\n
We\u2019ll pass it whichever way we go <\/i><\/p>\n
I thought you wanted to have company tonight <\/i><\/p>\n
Fuck you Hank he would not be able to fuck a dead rattlesnake in his condition <\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0I was joking Roxy<\/i><\/p>\n
So was I <\/i><\/p>\n
The partially built church loomed high to our right<\/p>\n
I slowed down<\/p>\n
It was a rather imposing structure much better than the original<\/p>\n
At that moment Mace woke up<\/p>\n
That is where he killed her just near the turning <\/i><\/p>\n
It was an accident Mace she ran out in front of him <\/i><\/p>\n
If he had not been so blind drunk he might have seen her <\/i><\/p>\n
He fucked my kid sister and then drove off <\/i><\/p>\n
She was older than you Mace <\/i><\/p>\n
Roxy\u2019s face dropped when she realised what she had said<\/p>\n
She was my kid sister Roxy and I always looked out for her as I look out for you <\/i><\/p>\n
A tear ran down Roxy\u2019s face<\/p>\n
It was a bad day for this town when we lost Matilda <\/i><\/p>\n
Mace was looking at the church<\/p>\n
It is sure an impressive structure <\/i><\/p>\n
Folk say you did the town a favour burning the old one down <\/i><\/p>\n
I was so angry my kid sister was dead there in the road and that fucker just drove off <\/i><\/p>\n
Extensive enquiries were made <\/i><\/p>\n
I know <\/i><\/p>\n
She had her whole life in front of her <\/i><\/p>\n
He will have to live with it <\/i><\/p>\n
He was drunk that\u2019s gospel<\/i><\/p>\n
Mace opened the door and walked towards the church<\/p>\n
I hope the fucking priest is not around <\/i><\/p>\n
He just said the wrong thing at the wrong time <\/i><\/p>\n
Anyway if a crazy was about to torch your church wouldn\u2019t you stop him <\/i><\/p>\n
Mace was not crazy <\/i><\/p>\n
He was crazy with grief you know that <\/i><\/p>\n
Where is she buried?<\/i><\/p>\n
Over there near the wall <\/i><\/p>\n
Her grave is the best in the town <\/i><\/p>\n
We saw to that Mace<\/i><\/p>\n
She was pretty in life and you have made here pretty in death <\/i><\/p>\n
Roxy turned away<\/p>\n
She was crying<\/p>\n
Are you not going to visit the grave Mace?<\/i><\/p>\n
I can see it fine from here <\/i><\/p>\n
You have honoured her memory <\/i><\/p>\n
I should hate but I no longer hate jail saw to that <\/i><\/p>\n
I had time on my hands <\/i><\/p>\n
Even if he had joined me in my cell <\/i><\/p>\n
I would not have killed him <\/i><\/p>\n
What would you have done?<\/i><\/p>\n
I am not sure Hank <\/i><\/p>\n
He lives somewhere with his guilt maybe in the next county maybe in the next state<\/i><\/p>\n
That is enough for me he may have fucked Matilda over good and proper but she would have forgiven him <\/i><\/p>\n
She forgave everything <\/i><\/p>\n
Roxy had made her way back to the wagon<\/p>\n
She was sitting in the front seat with her head bowed<\/p>\n
I thought about being here for many years Hank <\/i><\/p>\n
Let\u2019s go Mace Roxy is waiting <\/i><\/p>\n
Matilda would have wanted it this way \u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He was as always talking about his Jack Hick upbringing in that wooden shack and of his sister\u2019s church dress which she wore only once It was pure white The same colour as Christ\u2019s skin after the blood had drained from his battered body I was waiting outside of the county jail Roxy was in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2671"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}