Stories from a HARD PLACE

Frank, like so many near him, has made a deal but when he shook that cold hand he never thought the day would come when his bill would come due. Now that it has, he has a choice to make in Frank.

“Actually, I don’t think I’ll be going back with you this time. I think I have other plans.”

The gap closed. Jacob could see Brandi sitting in the passenger seat of the oncoming GTO, looking terrified, eyes wide, her mouth a big ‘o’. He wasn’t sure her contract would protect her from the collision. Beside her, forearm resting on the steering wheel, The Judge leaned back, unconcerned, and smiling, always smiling.

When they broke from the trees, Brian caught his breath and could see across the derelict cars to the great tree festooned with deer skulls that stood behind The Judge’s tiny run-down trailer.

The stretch of country road was quiet except for the first tentative sawing of insects. The trees that lined one side had not yet budded out. Brown grass and weeds filled the ditches, and the new green was pushing through the dry flotsam of last summer. Dead-looking fields that waited to be turned and planted stretched into the distance.

The light from her phone shone up at Mary Lou’s face, giving her a ghoulish appearance. She clutched it and peered around the dark alley. She had walked this alley hundreds of times at all hours of the night and had never been nervous before.

Many people talk about the night Bob Dylan played at Ol’ Tom's Backroom but no one ever mentions the night John 'Whitey' Burnett woke the devil and made him cry.

The next morning, found Jacob still on the porch. Mary Lou, Gran, Billy, the silver coins, and the Judge swirled through his fevered mind all night.