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Miasma Archives Page 11 "What?" Francois queried his uncle. Felipe sat back down at the table where he had been sitting when Dobbs was there. He reached in back of him and pulled a pack of playing cards from a small shelf next to the icebox. He opened the pack and turning it upside down, tapped the bottom so that the deck fell out into his left palm. He then spread the cards out so that he could see them clearly. He pulled both jokers out of the spread and sat them aside. He then scooped the cards up into his hands and began shuffling them numerous times before he laid them out, one by one, in a pattern to play solitaire. After all of the cards that he needed to place on the table were in order, he began flipping through what was left of the deck in his left hand, counting out three cards at a time and flipping them over and placing them on the table. The apparent spurning by his uncle did not set well with Francois. He knew that his uncle had plenty to say, but he refused to talk, continuing to play his card game. 'Well, two can play this game,Francois thought to himself. He poured himself a cup of coffee, and with a spoon he had procured from the silverware drawer he scooped some sugar from an open bowl on the counter and mixed it into the coffee. He then sat down where Sergeant Dobbs had been not longer than fifteen minutes ago. He watched his uncle playing the card game and said at one point, "The black four goes on the red five." Felipe looked at him and said, "Thank you." He then sat the cards in his hand face down and looked at Francois to the point that Francois was becoming nervous. Again, Francois said, "What? What is the matter?" "Do you want to tell me what really happened, Francois? Or will you have me guessing from now until I die, which will be sooner than I would like?" Francois lifted the cup to his lips and took a big gulp of coffee in his mouth and then swallowed. He sat the cup down to the right on the table. He started talking, "Do you know how my mother and father died?" He asked in a soft, barely audible voice. "It is my understanding that they died in a car crash. Am I mistaken?" Felipe asked, pleading for the truth. "That is correct, they died in a car crash, uncle, but here is what I was told that you are not aware of. The police official that contacted me said there was an eyewitness to the accident. A dogcatcher happened to be following my parents' car. The dogcatcher reported that just before the accident, it appeared that the driver, my father, was hitting the passenger, my mother. The dogcatcher tried to get my father's attention by honking his horn repeatedly. It was no use; my father continued to hit my mother, first with one hand, then using two hands, and finally losing control of the car and driving down an embankment. They died as a result of wounds they received when the car hit a grouping of aspen trees." "I was not aware of this," Felipe said, and then added, "Did this fighting go on much at your apartment?" "Nearly constantly. When I tried to stand up and protect my mother, my father would then take it out on me, hitting me over and over again until I would occasionally pass out. Then he would resume the beating of my mother. I begged mother to leave hundreds of times, but she felt he would track her down and hurt her and me even more." "This is all news to me," Felipe said, "I'm sorry that you and your mother had to suffer through this. I wish I had known. I could have come and brought your mother and yourself here to the states." Francois was now beginning to cry as he said, "I'm afraid that it would have only been a bigger fight. Father would never have permitted mother or I to leave him. He would have been so concerned at what the neighbors would have said." Felipe interjected, "He certainly was not concerned that the neighbors knew him as a wife-beater!" "I think he viewed himself as more of a man," Francois tearfully spoke. "Tell me, though, what has this to do with the sheriff coming by?" Felipe asked in a gentle way. "Remember the house that I told you about, and you asked me to ask the householder for permission to graze nearby?" Francois asked. "Yes, yes, go on," Felipe responded. "The woman who lives there was being beaten terribly by her husband, this despicable Jerry Fearsart. On the day of the accident I went to check on her early in the day, before I had a chance to explore the cave I told you of. When I got there that day, she had been beaten unconscious by her husband. I roused her awake and then carried her to her bedroom and left to get help. I was going to come back to the trailer, in fact I was running to the trailer when I saw the sheep that had been bit by the snake the day before. I don't know what got into me but I picked the sheep up and began walking west. I came to these small hills and walked to the top of the one on the right. When I got to the top I could see that the hill had been cut in half with a road running in the valley. At some point I heard the roar of Jerry Fearsart's truck, and when it was nearly right beneath me, I through the sheep down, causing the accident. I know I should feel guilty, but he had told her that when he came home for lunch he was going to finish the job and kill her." With that Francois had let it all out and was crying uncontrollably. Felipe scooted out from the bench seat and walked over and sat next to Francois, holding him, running his hands through his hair, and rubbing him on his back. "It will be all right Francois. You know you did the right thing in saving the life of this woman. But, you have taken a life. From now till the day you die, you will be consumed with trying to save lives to pay for the one life you have taken." Upon retiring for the night, Francois listened to the constant pitter-patter of rain falling on the roof of the trailer and as he breathed in the fresh aroma of the rainstorm he prayed for forgiveness and asked that God let him be one that would never take another life, but rather would do all he could to save lives. Previous Page Next Page Friends, How about giving a Gift Subscription to Miasma to your friends, relatives, and workmates? It's easy. Just send me their names and e-mail addresses. I'll send out the pages they've missed to bring them up to speed and let them know who the gift is from. If this isn't their cup of tea, un-subscribing is easy. Many have done this, why not give it a try? 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