Cry of Beauty

 

 

       A SCHEME IN EVERY SCENE             

 NO PORTION OF THIS BOOK MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE EXPRESSION WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE AUTHOR, ALL RIGHTS FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC .

 PUBLISHED BY ARF PRESS

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STONE MTN, GA  30086

HZALFA2003 YAHOO.COM

 COPYRIGHT 2005

 hzal anubewie Fudge

 

 

                                                     TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 pg.                    TITLE

8                          BETHOSE

16                        PROMISES KEPT

42                        OPEL

46                         DOG FIGHT

53                         MILLION DOLLAR TASTEE

57                         CLOWNS

59                          2

61                          TOMMY

64                          SNAPSHOT

68                          HALF AN AURA

72                          COLDEEN

81                          NEPTUNE’S SERVANT

84                          THE GRUMBLERS

89                           BALIN

101                         THE RED COAT

117                         THE LEADER

122                          MANY FACES

126                          THE BOXES

138                           DRACONIA

 

 

 

                                                                    BETHOSE

 

They

never felt the lurking in the wind that brought him. Not that the wind had a body but old Gwynda believed in the signs of the wind. Yet, the man had slipped past them all.

Viona

was one of those sweet females. She had just reached the age of ripeness when the man appeared. Her fields were full of juice.

Viona

came upon  him one day in the lemon orchard.

 

-what you doing in the lemons?-

-eating them-

-who told you to eat them lemons-

-you did-

 

Viona

walked into the lemon field where the man was sitting under the biggest lemon tree in the field. Lemon peels covered the ground.

 

-you done ate a whole bushel of lemons. what’s wrong with you, you crazy or something-

-nothing wrong with me. I love lemons. I was in Florida when I heard about your lemons. A man name Brown something or other told me about your lemons so I came to see-   

-you mean you walked all the way from Florida up here just to taste my lemons-

 

-sure did and that Mr. Brown was right. Yo Mississippi Bottom Lemons is t he best I ever had and I’ve eaten lemons all over the south-

Gwynda

said something was odd about that man. Said he walked between the winds.

The

man picked himself up and walked out of the lemon field back to the road. Viona picked up her legs and followed after the man.

 

-where you going, I don’t even know your name-

-my name is Tan and I’m going back to Florida, I think or maybe I’ll just go north-

-well, Tan you don’t you think you need to rest some before you go-

-rest where-

 

Viona

felt trapped. She couldn’t explain the emotion that grabbed her but she couldn’t let this man that had walked so far to taste her lemons just walk out of her life without knowing more about him. That’s howViona lost her heart for lemon man.

The

lost man was Hickson. He had loved Viona since they was kids. His grandfather raised chickens, hogs and in his long fields he kept corn and peas and had the best pecan trees in the county. Granny kept her own garden she picked from daily. Tomatoes, potatoes, radishes, onions, lettuce, celery, and beets. Hickson’ s daddy started the soy beans and peanuts fields and had the best watermelon patch this side of the moon. That was where Hickson and Viona found themselves every summer busting the sweetest water melons, eating and laughing until darkness and the mosquitoes chased them from the fields.....

 

                                                  

                                                          PROMISES KEPT

 

The

moon set so low on the side of the hill it looked like a big eye peeking through the window. It was a red eye.

 

-they got Pete and Troy and Box and two others boys I didn’t know-

—slow down boy, running in here like the devil himself on your tail. now who got Pete and Troy-

-the white folks got’um-

-got’um where

-down by the big tree, across the river-

-Pete and Troy know better than to go on that side of the river, aint nothing over there but white trash. decent white folks don’t go no where near that place-

-well, they was over with that white boy, Johnny and some white girl they call Nan-

-Cisco what we gone do-

-how many white folks was over there, Paul-

-I don’t know, a whole lot maybe a hundred. they was making so much noise. they was drinking and they had Pete and nem tied up-

-what about the white boy, was he tied up to-

-yup, they had roped him to wheel on a wagon

-the white girl, was she there—

-there was two white girls on the ground on they faces and they wasn’t moving or nothing

I heard somebody say they was dead-

-Millie what you me want me to do. they got my boys over there, surrounded by them white folks. they got they hands on’m. what you want me to do—

I don’t guess there's a whole lot we can do. the white folks got they hands on them, same as they did my daddy’s brother ten years ago. got him down by the tree and hung him. had a picnic while they burned his body-

-Johnny you sure about this. that old man almost caught us the last time we got in his still-

-Troy quit worrying. that’s why I brought Nan along to distract that old coot while we get the liquor. all we got to do is get about two hundred bottles, get over to Mississippi. I got a cousin over there that said he’ll buy all we bring. the feds busted up the ones in his area. he said they need some of that shine as quick as possible—

-yeah but how Nan gone get close to that old’ man he don’t trust nobody-

-you boys worry too much Pete. Nan knows his daughter Maybelle. she told Nan how the old man gets drunk every Friday and then that horny bastard comes after her-

-his own daughter-

-that aint none of his daughter. Pete you remember that woman that Sanchez brought up from Texas when we was kids. Well anyway she died and that’s here kid. the old’ man took her in and been having his way with her ever since. she told Nan all about. so her and Nan became friends. one Friday the old man got drunk and tried to come after Nan but she got away-

-O so you figure he’ll try again tonight-

-yeah but I told Nan make sure to get that old’ coot good and liquored up-

-what about the other girl, Maybelline-

-her name’s Maybelle. she said she’d help us if  I took her to Mississippi-

-I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. two white women traveling in a truck with us at night-

-Nan can sit up front with me while I drive and Maybelle can sit in the back with yaw-

-you gone put one woman in the back with four of us-

-she’s more Spanish than white-

...........

 

-the whole town-

-don't nobody listen to him. he’s just a drunk.

-well, I like the one about the alien abductions-

-or devil’s triangle-

-I knew this old black lady, some folks said she was some kind of voodoo woman. anyway she said god don’t like ugly. she told me a story about how this tree white folks used for hanging had shook itself from the ground one night and killed a hundred white folks. all children of the seven men responsible for the hangings-

-when was that-

-a few years ago-

-say fella I got to go. its been real nice talking with you, by the way what’s your name-

- my name is Troy but my nickname is PK-

-what that stand for-

-promises kept-

 

 

 

 REMIX of PROMISES KEPT: CELEBRATION

 

(you know some stories have more than one ending, an alternate universe of events that keep spiraling out of one another-this is one)

 

 

-a doctor down by the river, past the bend? healed a pecan tree? what kind of nonsense you telling me Crily. are you drunk again-

-no no. I didn’t see it with my own eyes. the Johnson boy told me-

-you mean the one spends most of the day down at the barbershop lying all day about one thing after another? why he aint nothing but a liar– a comedian for crying out loud-

 

 

Hope you enjoyed these cutouts-just wanted to give you a tease of what's in store for you. These are the kind of stories you will want to read again and again and even share them with your family and friends. These are the kind of stories that your uncle or aunt use to tell, some funny, some serious, some that crack your mind and others that make you make you want to keep the lights on at night. Get started buy your copy today and in a few short days you'll be enjoying page after page of tales to bind you.

thank you again

hzal