(Excerpted from The Pultenham County Sketchbook, by Tom Andrews)
"Waitin' on that pea picker again, Sally?" That was all my momma could say when she walked inna' the house and seen me jes' sittin' there on the front porch. She didn't think t' tell me nothin' else and I guess I kin hardly blame 'er...I guess.
We done had so many good times, but Momma couldn't stand him, on account of his family, I s'pose, but probably more 'cause he'd messed around with meth and ever'one knew it. He'd be hangin' out in Cotton City by that quick-mart and he'd be drinkin' pop one after 'nother, and ever'one mostly knew it. And shit, all the money he ever and never made (tho' he said he did sometimes), well, hell...he jes' mostly spent it so fast he never really ever done seen it no how. He loved me tho', I know it. We was gonna' have a baby and then he'd get his life sorted out. I jes' know it.
But hell, when Momma walked inna' the house and jes' said "waitin' on that pea picker again," she already know'd what had happened and she didn't let on. She waited for me to hear it myself. 'Course, I heard it from some others right away. About how he was all tripped out and musta' thought he was home or somethin'. But he laid right down on the tracks 'tween the rails. Our neighbor who works for the railroad told me that it's somethin' like a standard ten and a half inches o' height, and that plow of the train sits like another four inches...but he said that the wind from those boxcars jes' gets to blowin' and pretty soon yer' body would jes' get sucked up in there and rolled around in the wheels and stuff.
That's prolly' why they found parts o' him for about a hunnerd' yards down the track. It was bad. Real bad. And I miss him in the worst way. But I think I'm still gonna' have a baby. That'll help me get my life sorted out. I jes' know it.
Showing posts with label methamphetamine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label methamphetamine. Show all posts
21 July 2011
08 June 2011
Jackpot
"Never once did I care to know what that pea-picker's brother was thinking. I told you before all about that pea-picker and the things that he did, so I rightly do not have to digress and share any further thoughts about him, now, do I? Of course not, honey child. You just sit right there and sip that sweet tea that Mister Packy brought you. He did not bring you any sweet tea? Dreadful!
Mr. Packy! Please bring our guest a sweet tea...and be swift about it!
I do apologize, honey child.
Now then. Where was I ? Oh yes, I was sharing thoughts about the pea-picker's brother. Well, I do guarantee that the day that the pea-picker was released from the county pen, his brother was bound and determined to fill his brother's cell, as it were. The only thing he wanted to do...the only thing he had any stomach for...damn, the only thing he had any heart for was seeing to committing a crime so as to keep up the family business and the name, you might say. So he went out and bought a length of chain and a shotgun that very day.
Sweet heavens, but that pea-picker's brother had breath that smelled like fecal matter. It smelled so very much like a septic tank that no one ever felt fit to argue with him - they would take one whiff and let him have his way. So it was that he managed to borrow Old Man Donovan's pickup truck and cover with the story that he was going morel hunting in the dark and needed some way to carry a few friends. Dumber-than-dirt Donovan let him have it - partly because he believed the story and partly because he didn't want to stand face to face with that bowel stench.
The boy waited until nightfall and closing time for that gas station down at the crossroads. He pulled Old Man Donovan's truck right up to the place, put one well-placed shotgun blast through the glass doors, reached through and turned the lock. In he strolled, exhaling a great breath reeking of rectum.
The pea-picker's brother looped that length of chain right around the ATM that was inside, secured it, and then secured the other end to the hitch on Donovan's truck. He hopped back in and gunned that mother. That old ATM busted free of where it was, busted through the doors and came skittering right out next to a pump. That pea-picker's brother was just a-dreaming of all the meth he could buy with all the money in that ATM, and he knew with that much meth that he would find himself a little lady outside the Wal-Mart. You know what I mean. He wasn't gonna' be lonely, if you know what I mean and I certainly believe you do. Ladies love a man with that much meth, even if he has breath that reeks of a diseased colon.
Well, honey child, having freed the ATM from its moorings, the damned fool didn't know what to do, and when the Sheriff arrived he was still trying to wrestle the whole thing into the back of Donovan's pick-up truck. Sheriff Morgan laughed so hard that he pissed himself and forgot to handcuff the poor bastard.
It was either the laughing or the pea-picker's brother's breath that made him forget. I am inclined to believe that it was his breath, honey child. I guess every cloud really does have a silver lining.
Mr. Packy! Please bring our guest a sweet tea...and be swift about it!
I do apologize, honey child.
Now then. Where was I ? Oh yes, I was sharing thoughts about the pea-picker's brother. Well, I do guarantee that the day that the pea-picker was released from the county pen, his brother was bound and determined to fill his brother's cell, as it were. The only thing he wanted to do...the only thing he had any stomach for...damn, the only thing he had any heart for was seeing to committing a crime so as to keep up the family business and the name, you might say. So he went out and bought a length of chain and a shotgun that very day.
Sweet heavens, but that pea-picker's brother had breath that smelled like fecal matter. It smelled so very much like a septic tank that no one ever felt fit to argue with him - they would take one whiff and let him have his way. So it was that he managed to borrow Old Man Donovan's pickup truck and cover with the story that he was going morel hunting in the dark and needed some way to carry a few friends. Dumber-than-dirt Donovan let him have it - partly because he believed the story and partly because he didn't want to stand face to face with that bowel stench.
The boy waited until nightfall and closing time for that gas station down at the crossroads. He pulled Old Man Donovan's truck right up to the place, put one well-placed shotgun blast through the glass doors, reached through and turned the lock. In he strolled, exhaling a great breath reeking of rectum.
The pea-picker's brother looped that length of chain right around the ATM that was inside, secured it, and then secured the other end to the hitch on Donovan's truck. He hopped back in and gunned that mother. That old ATM busted free of where it was, busted through the doors and came skittering right out next to a pump. That pea-picker's brother was just a-dreaming of all the meth he could buy with all the money in that ATM, and he knew with that much meth that he would find himself a little lady outside the Wal-Mart. You know what I mean. He wasn't gonna' be lonely, if you know what I mean and I certainly believe you do. Ladies love a man with that much meth, even if he has breath that reeks of a diseased colon.
Well, honey child, having freed the ATM from its moorings, the damned fool didn't know what to do, and when the Sheriff arrived he was still trying to wrestle the whole thing into the back of Donovan's pick-up truck. Sheriff Morgan laughed so hard that he pissed himself and forgot to handcuff the poor bastard.
It was either the laughing or the pea-picker's brother's breath that made him forget. I am inclined to believe that it was his breath, honey child. I guess every cloud really does have a silver lining.
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