The first indication that something had happened <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was when a number of squad cars <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Raced past me in the general direction of the railroad station <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I chose not to get involved <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the was no need for me to be there<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was only as I closed the hardware store <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That I saw Denis walking towards me<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was not smiling as he normally did
There had been an incident at the railroad station <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Somebody had thrown themselves in front<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of an express train passing through at speed <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Denis was a cop who I had known since high school <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I could see that he had some bad news<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first I thought that Martha or my brother <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Had for some reason been involved <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have some bad news Jack <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lemon is dead <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our friend Lemon is dead
Unlike many others in Ross <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who I had known all my life <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lemon was an outsider <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who had moved into the town <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I was in my early twenties <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was then that I had met Alberta <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who was a brute of a woman <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some years older than him
We quickly became friends <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And frequented many of the local bars<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had once been a football player<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before injury ruined my fledgling career <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had that in common with Lemon <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We had both been promising players <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who ended up on the injury scrapheap <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had bought my hardware shop <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After I finished playing football<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whereas Lemon flitted from job to job <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Technically he had never left the team <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She had the most amazing eyes <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lemon used to show me photographs <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of her when she was about eighteen <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although you would not guess it now <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alberta was a very beautiful woman <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then her problems started <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She started eating and her drinking <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Put us both to shame <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Lemon still loved her <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even thought she could be quite mad <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He could never forget what she once was <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the years before they moved to Ross <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was once the golden boy <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A football player heading upwards <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is why he kept the photographs in his wallet <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was his girl and he was proud of her <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Things became worse when he lost his career <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is what had anchored her <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before Ross there were many towns <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But they could not settle <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Occasionally she was in trouble with the cops <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing drastic\u00a0just trouble like driving\u00a0when drunk<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or picking fights with people who had no wish to fight <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Alberta we know now is just a pale shadow <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of what she once was\u00a0when she was much younger<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is now a taciturn woman who says very little <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her beauty and spirit now long dulled\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If I didn’t know better then I would blame the drugs <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were meant to do good but really did very little <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She just retreated into her tormented cave<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of raw and intolerable dreams\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
tbc<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The first indication that something had happened Was when a number of squad cars Raced past me in the general direction of the railroad station I chose not to get involved As the was no need for me to be there It was only as I closed the hardware store That I saw Denis walking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35373"}],"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=35373"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35379,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35373\/revisions\/35379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}