walking as fast he could.
Chapter 43
“He’s sure taking a long time,” Ruth Ann said. “I bet him and Estafay out there arguing. He lets her run all over him.”
Leonard said, “I hope she doesn’t persuade Robert Earl to join her.”
Ida said, “He wouldn’t turn against his family. He ain’t the stupidest person in the world.”
“Mother, I’m sorry. He thinks he can train a snake to jump through a hoop. He is the stupidest.”
Ida started to respond when a gunshot rang out. “Oh my Lord!”
“Eric!” Shirley said, her voice hoarse. “She shot him again!”
“I’m going out there, Leonard,” Ruth Ann said. “She came here looking for me. No reason for anyone else to get hurt.”
“Ruth Ann, we can’t let you go out there.”
“You don’t have a choice. I’m going out there.”
“I’m going with you,” Shirley said.
“No, Shirley,” Ruth Ann said. “If Eric is injured, you’ll need to be there for him and your son. Let me do this myself. I owe you, remember?”
Leonard said, “Remember what you told me? A label—if it don’t fit don’t think about wearing it. You’re donning the hero jacket because you feel guilty. Getting yourself killed won’t change anything. You’ll just be dead.”
“I love you, Shirley,” Ruth Ann said, ignoring Leonard. “Whatever happens remember I love you. I’ve always have and I always will. What I did was inexcusable, but I never intended to hurt you.”
She crossed to the door and opened it. “It’s high time I started acting like a big sister,” and stepped out and closed the door behind her.
“Estafay!” She heard trepidation in her voice and shouted louder, “Estafay! I’m here!” This is it, she thought.
“Well, well, well,” Estafay said, “if it ain’t the delectable Mrs. Ruth Ann. I’m glad you could finally join us. Eric was on his way out.”
Ruth Ann squinted, unable to distinguish Estafay, some twenty feet or so away. “Hello, Estafay. Where’s Eric?”
“He’s right here. Say something, Eric.”
Ruth Ann heard a thud and Eric said, “Ohhhhh!”
Estafay said, “You’ll have to excuse him. His foot has been troubling him lately.”
“Is he all right?”
“Not at all.”
“Where’s Robert Earl?”
“I sent him home. You didn’t think he would go against his wife, did you?”
“Estafay, I don’t know what to think.”
“You should think about gnashing teeth and eternal suffering. You’ve heard of Hell, haven’t you?”
Ruth Ann couldn’t see a gun, but sensed Estafay was pointing one at her. “Yes, believe it or not, I have. Before you shoot me, would you please tell me why? Why, Estafay?”
“Why I shot your boyfriend? Or why I dispatched the heathen you called Daddy?”
“None of this makes sense. You killed my daddy, his dog. You even tried to frame me. Daddy never did anything to…” She remembered her father calling Estafay an orangutan. “All these years you held a grudge. You could’ve slapped Daddy’s face. You could’ve egged his truck. You could’ve told him what he said hurt your feelings, deeply offended you. You didn’t have to kill him!”
“‘Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish.’”
“Do you know what literal misinterpretation means?”
“Do you?”
“It means you glossed over the essence, love and compassion, and locked onto a verse more suitable to your psychosis.”
“Beware the false prophets.”
“Beware nuts with unresolved resentments. How did Eric
“He’s a whore! A vile, disgusting whore!”
“Who the hell do you think you are? Reading the Bible grants you the authority to judge who’s evil? Please! You are a murderer, a cold-blooded murderer! God cannot be happy with you justifying murder in His name.”
“What do you know of God?” Estafay sneered. “A sullied, lifelong whore talking to me about God! Blasphemy! What do you think an unrepentant whore, a whore who ruts with her sister’s man, is worth in the eyes of God?”
That stung, and knocked her against the ropes.
“Yeah… oh yeah… well… well, I might be a whore, but I’ve never killed anybody!” Weak, though it was the best she could do after absorbing an uppercut. She tried again: “I’ll bet you this, when we get to Hell, your seat will be a helluva lot hotter than mine.” Even weaker.
“Not hardly, harlot. I know grace, redemption, salvation, the rapture. You worship the flesh, I worship the word of God. There’s no comparison between you and me.”
“You’re so right. Something has raptured inside your head. You have truly lost your bug-eyed mind!”
“No, no, no!” Eric said. “Don’t agitate her! She’ll shoot you!”
Ruth Ann said, “I don’t give a damn! If she’s going to shoot me, then let her shoot. It won’t change a damn thing! I’ll be dead and she’ll still be ugly and out of her crazy fucking bug-eyed mind!”
“Watch your mouth, Ruth Ann!” Startled, she looked to her right. Ida stood beside her.
Another voice, to her left, Shirley’s: “You intend to kill us all, Estafay? What you’ll have to do if you shoot Ruth Ann. You might get one or two of us, I doubt you’ll get all of us. It’s a family thang now, Estafay. We’re in it together. And if you shoot me, you better make damn sure I drop!”
Estafay laughed.
“Mrs. Harris,” Leonard said, standing behind Ruth Ann, “right now you’re looking at short jail time. Continue with this and you’ll be looking at life in prison, possibly the death penalty. It’ll be hard on you, Estafay. Prison is no place for a woman of your virtue.”
“Smite by a Sodomite,” Estafay said, stepping closer. Gradually, Ruth Ann was able to make out her doughy form. She stopped a few feet short, the gun held out in front. “A sexual deviant appealing to my ego.”
“He’s not a sexual deviant,” Ruth Ann said. “He’s my brother!”
Estafay chuckled. “He can’t be both? Shirley, I’ve never held anything against you. You soiled yourself taking a whore in your bosom.”
“I love Eric. Something you wouldn’t understand, Estafay.”
“I wasn’t talking about him.”
“I love Ruth Ann, too,” Shirley said. “And I don’t appreciate you calling her that.”
“What do you call a woman who’ll lay with her sister’s man? Skank? Slut? Skeezer? Dog bitch?”
Ruth Ann’s face got hot. “Shut up!”
Estafay laughed and stepped to Ruth Ann. “Did I say something touched a nerve, something befitting, something true? Skank? Slut? Dog—”
“Stop this nonsense, Estafay!” Ida said. “Enough is enough! Stop it now!”
“Drop it!” a voice boomed out of the darkness.
A flashlight outlined Estafay in a black scarf, black shirt, black pants and black tennis shoes.
Sheriff Bledsoe shouted, “Sheriff! Drop the gun, Estafay! Drop it right now!”
“Thank you, Jesus!” Eric cried. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you, Jesus!”
