{"id":35373,"date":"2026-08-11T09:37:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T08:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/?p=35373"},"modified":"2026-08-11T17:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T16:23:12","slug":"lemon-is-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/11\/lemon-is-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Lemon is Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Denis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incident<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There had been an incident at the railroad station <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somebody had thrown themselves <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In front of an express train <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 good friend Lemon is dead <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outsider<\/strong>

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

He 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 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Football<\/strong>

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

Alberta<\/strong>

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\u00a0had been a very beautiful woman\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then her problems started <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She started eating and drinking <\/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 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What she once was\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the years before they moved to Ross <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was 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 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his fading wallet\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was his girl and he was proud of her <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things became worse <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he lost his career <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is what\u00a0had anchored them\u00a0<\/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 just trouble like driving when 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 knew was just a pale shadow <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of what she once was when she was much younger<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was a taciturn woman who said very little <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I didn’t know better then I would have blamed the drugs <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were meant to do good but in reality they did little\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She just retreated into a tormented cave<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of raw and amazing dreams 

Porch<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was easier than I thought it would be <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had little or no fight left in her <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although I was well aware <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of her continuing agonies\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alberta did not suffer I can assure you <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just increased her dose <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And suffocated her on our bed <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time you have read this <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will be with her <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please do not think ill of me <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I look back on my time in Ross <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the greatest affection <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You were my good friends <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I hope to meet you again sometime<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will be standing on our little porch <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the most beautiful girl in town\u00a0\u00a0


Please find it in your hearts to forgive me\u00a0

God Bless you all


Lemon\u00a0<\/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\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denis 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"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":9,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35388,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35373\/revisions\/35388"}],"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}]}}