Page 84 of Driftwood Daffodil

I looked him right in the eye and said, “Body disposal methods.”

He stared back at me, “you come up with anything?”

“Not yet.” But I would.

“Well,” Gio straightened up and adjusted the log on his shoulder, once again drawing my attention to his arms. “You know where to find me when you do.”

“Yeah, you’ll be following me,” I called out when he headed towards the wood pile.

I might’ve went after him to continue the argument if I wasn’t interrupted by a stern voice.

“Novalee Nadine Ford.”

Crap, Maw Maw.

I heard Gio snicker, “Nadine?”

“Shut up,” I growled before turning to smile at Maw Maw.

She did not look happy, that conclusion mostly came from the slap I got to the back of my head, “how many times do I have to tell you to stop standing around?”

“I’m a teenager, that’s kind of what we do.” That earned me another smack.

“Jesus,” I grumbled while rubbing the back of my scalp.

If she kept this up I wouldn’t have enough brain cells left to do anything more than stand around.

“Don’t you take the Lord’s name in vain. We are in a place of worship, little girl…”

Technically we were outside the place of worship, and when did I become the asshole?

“Have you no pride?”

I looked over at the peeling white paint decorating the building and shook my head. “Not really.”

Maw Maw’s hand swung, killing a dozen more brain cells.

“Ouch, fine. Church is great.”

Next to wave through the air was her finger, “Don’t you back talk me.”

How was that back talk? I said church was great. It wasn’t. It was boring as hell. Father John was okay. I didn’t mind him so much. Especially when he tried to be hip for the younger crowd. That was entertaining.

Maw Maw shook her head, “I swear the good Lord above decided to test me with you.”

“Maybe you should pray more.” Just saying. If there was such a thing as a vengeful god and I was her curse, then a little more divine devotion may be called for. I was kind of a pain in the ass.

“I raised you better than this,” she grabbed my shoulder and steered me over to a pile of trash. “Now get to work.”

A part of me felt the need to point out that she didn’t technically raise me, but a bigger part was more worried about the slippers on her feet. Getting slapped with one of those wasn’t something someone forgot. And it wasn’t something you could run from. I tried that once. All grandmother’s seemed to be masters in the art of slipper throwing.

So as much as I would’ve loved to continue standing around, I grabbed a stick off the ground and stabbed it in the pile.

“I’m watching you, little girl.” Maw Maw gave me one last warning look then headed off to check on someone else.

This day kept getting better and better. It probably didn’t help that Gio was across the yard chuckling.Bastard.

I glared at him and jabbed my stick in the pile while imagining that it was his head. That was how the next hour went. Stabbing things while imagining that it was different body part of Gio’s. Every bottle was a leg or an arm, cups and random paper were his head, and everything else was his balls.

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