Speaking of Earl

[Peg Herring]

They were the best of friends, and what one didn’t think of the other did. I think they started planning while they were still in high school. Why else would one go away right after graduation and the other stay behind?

She hung around my store, lonely, like me. I really felt sorry for her, and I have to admit, I was flattered to have a pretty young thing interested in me. I was so much older than her, short, pudgy, balding -- I couldn’t believe she would give me the time of day.

I’d run the family store and taken care of my ailing mother since high school, never had friends. Momma was all the family I had, so when she passed away I was forty years old and all alone. I had my business, which was very profitable, but money doesn’t keep a man warm at night. When this pretty little thing started payin’ attention to me...well, before I knew it we were married. That’s when things went bad.

The first visit from the police came just two days after our wedding. They came to my store and arrested me for abusing my wife. The report she filed said I’d slapped her around before I left for work. I tried to tell them I would never hurt my wife, but they arrested me anyway. She got a restraining order so I couldn’t go back to my own house!

Three days later the police were back at my store. This time they told me my wife was in the hospital and that I put her there. I tried to tell them I hadn’t even seen her, but no one listened to me. A judge ordered me to stay away from my wife. I wish I’d have listened.

Her best friend came back to town to “take care of her.” When they called and asked me to come over, they said they’d explain what was going on. Like a fool I went. When I got there they had supper ready, all my favorites: fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, black eyed peas and even strawberry shortcake for dessert. I never made it to dessert.

I had questions, but they insisted we eat before we talked so supper didn’t get cold. As I ate, I started feeling really strange. The next thing I knew I was wrapped up in a tarp and rolled into the trunk of a car. Later the car stopped and the girls dragged me out of the trunk and dumped me into a lake.

Though my body was in the water, I was still there with them, aware of what was going on around me. I watched as they ran laughing back to the car. I watched as the police came to the house looking for me when I missed my court date. The girls said innocently that I must have left town because of being ashamed. No one looked for me after that.

The days have turned into years, but I’m with them every day. I watched them have me declared dead after 7 years. I watched them sell my store and home and buy some property out by the highway where they sell stuff to the passing tourists. They don’t need the money, because they have all of mine. I think they’re looking for another sucker.

I've heard that a spirit can’t rest if it has unfinished business. Now I know it’s true. I really want to rest but first, the girls have to die.