He beat my aunt up pretty good
and she was hiding out at Mrs. Fishback’s
A small one story wooden framed house on a quiet street
with a peaked dormer over the front porch
heavy curtains covering the front windows
occasionally a faced would peer out at the street
whenever a car went by
my mother made me go over there and take my aunt something
I don’t remember what
anyway she was hiding out
from him again
I wondered if she did anything but never found out
the next day he let the dog out
and set fire to himself
She was a character from a Dashiell Hammett novel
she was earthy hard
working, gambler, who knew about bars
and men
smoked shorty cork tipped Kool cigarettes endlessly
lighting another and another
She was the youngest of three sisters but older than her
brother
He was a rough guy, did time in the state prison down in
Salem
everybody was afraid of him, his temper, his strength
he drank a lot and always had a pocketful of cash
he taught me how to fish when I was little and
how to drive when I got older
No comments:
Post a Comment