Page 49 of Small Town Beast 2: Saverin's Duet

“No. Eleanora is in Charlottesville this weekend like I told you.”

“I hope to Jesus. If I have to hear about that woman’s shingles one more time….” Lorrie’s uncle peered through the window and abruptly straightened up. “Well!”

“Who is that, now?” Aunt Pearl asked sharply.

“It’s some big-boned redneck. ”

Lorrie shot to her feet as her uncle and aunt exchanged a wordless look.

“It’s probably nothing,” said Aunt Pearl slowly, picking up the thread of an earlier conversation which Lorrie had missed. “You know how people exaggerate.”

“I put nothing past those rednecks, Pearl. I heard they got a whole troop of ‘em ready to rampage through Black Florin like the old days.”

“Stuff!”

“Ben Simpson told me just this morning that Roman McCall’s flown the coop, and left them good old boys to start up the marijuana growing. They got some young tough with yella hair leading the pack now. He’s saying he’s gonna make Florin great again. And you know Ben ain’t the kind to put a yard on an inch.”

“People say all kinds of stuff, that doesn’t make it true, Julius.”

“I wish you’d tell that to your friends.”

“Enough about Eleanora Mabel! Answer the door!”

Her uncle went to open the door. Around the corner Lorrie and her aunt heard him ask, “Can I help you?”

“Sir, are you Mister Denver?”

Aunt Pearl’s eyebrows lifted as Absalom introduced himself as “Lorrie’s friend”. The implication was obvious. Lorrie clenched her teeth so hard her whole mouth went numb. She wasn’t about to let him drag her back to that cabin, but at the same time she didn’t want to make a scene in front of her aunt and uncle.

“I’ve come to see Lorraine. Is she here?” Absalom asked in his most formal tone.

“ ‘Come to see her?’ Not looking like that you’re not,” said Uncle Julius flatly.

It was a rare moment to find Absalom lost for words. “Ah, sir,” he recovered, and Lorrie knew him well enough to hear the restrained laughter in his voice. “I just was gonna go home to change.”

“And have her waiting on you? What kind of world are you young folks living in?”

Aunt Pearl grabbed her cane and began limping to the door without delay. Still holding Franklin Junior, Lorrie felt glued to the floor.

“I know that man, Julius!” Aunt Pearl called. “That’s the new Deputy.”

“Temporary Deputy,” said Absalom modestly.

“How much do you make from that?”

“Julius! You can come inside, young man. As long as it’s okay with Lorraine.”

Lorrie stepped onto the scene holding baby Franklin. Absalom’s eyes fastened on her. The afternoon light shot through his blue irises like clear water. He ducked through the doorway and entered the house. She could tell he hadn’t slept a wink.

“He can come in,” she said hoarsely, turning away and cuddling Franklin Junior.

Once inside Absalom turned up his charm, taking baby Franklin from Lorrie and dandling him on his lap as he chatted to her aunt and uncle about the crooked mailbox in their front yard. He sat next to Lorrie on the couch, at a distance. She scanned him from the corner of her eye knowing he was doing the same, but even more sneakily. He did look more rumpled than normal. The fresh T-shirt he’d changed into at the cabin were now stained with engine oil, and his boots were filthy, this time with mud, not blood. There were grass-stains on his jeans and he smelled of…Lorrie sniffed. Delicately.

Smoke. He’s been lighting fires.

Burning what?

“Every time we get a mailbox put up, somebody comes to knock it down again,” Uncle Julius was saying. “It’s those white boys from that trailer park down there. I caught ‘em red-handed and do you know what they told me? I won’t even repeat it. Now if I take matters into my own hands, I’ll get all their daddies trying to burn down my house. Black Florin is still part of Florin and we pay taxes just like everybody else. Some things need tochange around here.” He left the rest unspoken, but Absalom heard it.

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