I walked to the Duncanville Tavern and slumped down on a barstool. Everyone knew why I came on Fridays and left me alone. The bartender poured me a drink. A few shots made my dates with Joe more bearable.
After I chugged down the first one, I wondered whether I’d end up like my dad. He’d once been a decent man until his vice changed him into a thief and me into a—.
I downed a second drink to stop my thinking and replace it with a welcomed feeling of disembodiment. I glanced at the clock on the wall. Joe was late— not that I was complaining.
An hour passed and I switched to cola. At eleven, the crowd began to thin. I shot pool to pass the time and even danced alone in front of the jukebox.
One tipsy fellow asked where Joe was.
“Don’t know and don’t care.” I kept dancing.
At midnight, only the die-hard alkies and I remained. The place closed at two a.m. and the barkeep gave me a ride home.
The next morning after the breakfast rush, Joe’s father marched into the diner. A gray-haired man with a stern face, he never acknowledged my relationship with his son; however, today he walked up to me and asked, “Where’s Joe?”
“I don’t know. I waited at the bar until it closed and he never showed.”
His eyes scanned my face then he turned on his heel and left, no doubt, to verify my story.
Gabriel stopped in at his usual time, full of information. “Old Man Duncan and the sheriff gathered a group together to search for Joe.” He made a noise in his coffee cup. “They had to pay people to persuade them to join.”
“What do you think happened to him?” I cut him a larger piece of pie than usual.
“Sometimes it’s better not to examine certain people and situations too close. Remember that, Jessica.”
At dinnertime, my customers brought more news. A searcher’s nose led him to a backstreet where they found Joe seated in his car, flies swarming all over his body and maggots writhing in a new cavity in his skull.
Everyone watched for my reaction to this news. I showed surprise though not much concern. That seemed to be the expected response and they went back to their chatter.
That evening after the diner closed, the sheriff stopped by and said he had questions for me. He drove me to the station. Three hours later, he dropped me at my home without a word, wheeled his squad car around, and squealed away.
Macy didn’t show that day or the next. On Tuesday afternoon, the bell above the door chimed and she walked in with the old valise in hand.
“I came for one last taste of your cook’s cuisine and to say farewell,” she said.
I filled her bowl full. “I make the soup now. This is from a recipe my mom left me.”
“Delicious. I’m surprised you have any left.”
“I saved some for you.” Not much of a reward for my freedom. “You’re limping.”
“A little accident, I’ll recover in a day or two.”
I let her finish her meal before I said, “You’re the only stranger in town. They’re bound to put two and two together.”
“No one will suspect an old lady who spent a few days here because she was too ill to travel.”
“But—”
She raised a finger to her lips. “Gabriel told me the sheriff thinks that Joe picked up a hitchhiker who turned on him. That’s as good an explanation as any and the Duncans aren’t making a fuss.”
A drunken Joe once confessed to me that his father told him he was sorry to have a son who had brought nothing but shame to the Duncan name.
“What will you do next, Macy? Head back to Washington?”
She reached into her pocket and took out two postcards, one from Nevada and the other from Arizona.
“I haven’t received a card from John— he’s my eldest— for over a year, and longer than that from Luke, my youngest boy.”
Not knowing what happened to one son was bad enough, but all three? I owed her the truth.
“Matthew…” I struggled to utter what I’d guarded for two, long years. “He overheard Joe blackmailing me. They fought… Joe pulled a gun and shot him. Joe said that if I told anyone, he’d blame me and that no one would take the word of the town drunk’s daughter over the word of a Duncan.” I buried my face in my apron.
Her hand touched my hair and I faced her. Her gray eyes gazed into mine and her forgiveness flowed over me like a soothing balm. “You protected your father from his foolishness and Matt couldn’t turn his back on a girl in trouble.”
After a few minutes, we dried our eyes with the paper napkins.
She slid the cards into her pocket and withdrew an envelope. “A mother’s obliged to save her children and, barring that, to smite those who dare harm them.”
Macy picked up her suitcase. My imagination ran wild wondering what she carried inside it.
She placed the envelope near the empty bowl. “I’m honoring Matthew’s last act.” Her eyes turned fierce again. “Promise me you’ll never let a man take your power again. Promise me.”
Her words rang in my ears.
“Never again— I swear.”
My answer seemed to calm her and Macy transformed back to the tired, older woman I met days ago.
“Use Matthew’s gift to escape this God-forsaken town,” she said and left the diner for the last time.
I fumbled with the envelope. My mouth fell open at the sight of the one hundred dollar bills nestled inside it.
I caught one last glimpse of Macy before the bus halted amidst a swirl of gray smoke. The silver coach pulled from the curb, its gleaming wings impelling an avenging mother toward her next obligation.
Contributor Notes
Maureen Bowden is an ex-patriate Liverpudlian living with her musician husband on the island of Anglesey, off the coast of North Wales, where they try in vain to evade the onslaught of their children and grandchildren. She writes for fun and she has had several poems and short stories published. She also writes song lyrics, mostly comic political satire, set to traditional melodies. Her husband has performed these in Folk clubs throughout England and Wales. She loves her family and friends, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Shakespeare and cats.
Danielle N Gales is a writer of speculative fiction from Sunny Hastings, UK. Her stories have appeared or are upcoming in Stupefying Stories, Kazka Press, Bards and Sages Quarterly and Every Day Fiction. Visit her on the web at daniellengales.com.
Stephen Gallagher lives in Lancashire and has written 15 novels (Chimera, The Ice Belt (as Stephen Couper), Follower, Vally of Lights, Oktober, Down River, Rain, The Boat House, Nightmare, With Angel, Red, Red Robin, White Bizango, The Spirit Box, The Painted Bride, The Kingdom of Bones and The Bedlam Detective), seven novelisations, radioplays and screenplays for Television. TV credits include Doctor Who, Chiller, Silent Witness, Murder Rooms, Eleventh Hour, Crusoe, The Forgotten, Bugs and Rosemary and Thyme as well as adaptions of his own novels and short stories. Including Chimera, Life-Line and Oktober (which he directed). Follow his blog at stephengallagher.com.
Paul Hamilton lives in the Silicon Valley with his wife and two daughters. He writes stories about broken people and repairing worlds. When not writing, he reads or draws or rides roller coasters. He considers the word “omnibus” beautiful and never passes up a chance to try a new food. More of his writing is available at http://ironsoap.com/ .
Michael Haynes lives in Central Ohio where he helps keep IT systems running for a large corporation during the day and puts his characters through the wringer by night. An ardent short story reader and writer, Michael has had stories appear in venues such as Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, and Daily Science Fiction.
Graeme Hurry edited Kimota magazine in the 90s and a horror anthology called Northern Chills in 1994. Now he has branched out by editing this kindle only magazine, Kzine. He received an honourable mention in Year’s Best Horror 2001 for a story he collaborated on with Willie Meikle called The Blue Hag.
R. Marquez lives in the Pa
cific Northwest and writes crime fiction. She is publishing a short story collection on Amazon in May 2014. To find more links to her work, please visit www.r-marquez.com
Rhonda Parrish is driven by a desire to do All The Things. She has been the publisher and editor-in-chief of Niteblade Magazine for over five years now (which is like 25 years in internet time) and is the editor of the forthcoming World Weaver Press anthology, Fae. In addition, Rhonda is a writer whose work has been included or is forthcoming in dozens of publications including Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast, Mythic Delirium and, of course, Kzine. www.rhondaparrish.com
Jez Patterson is a British teacher and writer, currently based in Madrid. He has lived in Brazil, Argentina, Greece and the UK. When not teaching or writing, he might be heard playing the guitar or waxing lyrical on whatever he’s enthusiastic about this month. His stories have appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Perihelion SF and Stupefying Stories. Links to things that have his name at the end can be found at: jezpatterson.wordpress.com/author/jezpatterson/
Vaughan Stanger is a British writer of SF and fantasy stories, examples of which have been published in Daily Science Fiction, End of an Aeon, Postscripts, Nature Futures and Interzone, amongst other noted magazines and anthologies. His work has been translated into Polish, Danish, Romanian and Hebrew.” Many of Vaughan’s published stories can be purchased in ebook form from Amazon, iTunes and Smashwords. For news of his writing activities, please go to www.vaughanstanger.com.
J. Thomas (aka Josh Schwartzkopf) works in the communication industry in St. Louis, MO and he lives in the Metro East area with his wife and son. He has published several short stories including a piece that was featured in a military-themed science fiction anthology called Battlespace and proceeds from sales of the anthology went to the Warrior Cry Project to help wounded veterans purchase musical instruments. He recently finished his first novel which he self-published on Kindle. Josh is very excited to have his story Connections in the May 2014 issue of Kzine magazine. When he’s not writing, Josh enjoys spending time with his family and playing video games.
Dusty Wallace lives in the Appalachians of Virginia with his wife and two sons. He writes sci-fi/fantasy and the occasional crime story. You can also find his work in Altered America, The Big Adios, Mad Scientist Journals, and Apokrupha: Vignettes at the End of the World. To keep up with his adventures in fiction writing visit DustyVersion.blogpost.com and follow him @CosmicDustMite on Twitter..
Dave Windett is a professional illustrator and comics artist, his work has been published in Britain, Europe and America. He has drawn comics featuring licenced characters including Inspector Gadget, Eek the Cat, Ace Ventura, Daffy Duck and Korky the Cat. For the Scandinavian market he has illustrated educational books, business manuals and comics. He has also designed original characters for a variety of publications and provided illustrations for everything from magazines and websites to mobile phones, games and children’s shoes. Samples of his work can be seen on his website at www.davewindett.com and on his blog.
Kzine Issue 9 Page 11
