Page 37 of Small Town Hunter

Unless nobody told her I was gone.

“So who’s in California?” Crash asks, like he’s reading my mind.

“My grandmother. I call her Mamie.”

“She’s alright?”

“She’s nothing like my family. Her daddy, my grandfather, was like a local hero. He was Sheriff for thirty years. Everybody wanted to marry Mamie back in the day.”

“Pretty, was she?”

“Very.” I’ve seen pictures of Mamie and even my mother can’t compare.

“Must run in the family.”

I blush. “I don’t know about that.”

“I beg to differ,” says Crash. He clears his throat. “So, what does she do for a living? Or, whatdidshe do?”

“She had my daddy out of wedlock,” I recount. “But when she was older, she married an oil executive. Her second husband worked in finance. Then her third husband — ”

“I get the picture. She’s minted.”

I shrug. “Apart from that, she paints and does martial arts.”

“How often do you see her?”

“Not often at all.”

A year ago she started begging me to visit her. She said I had to get away from my family and the church. But I wasn’t sure. Mama had always filled my ears with poison about Mamie. Saying she killed her husbands, that her riches came from the devil. I was torn. I loved Mamie and she had never hurt me. But what if Mama was right?

Then everything with the Reverend started happening. And it seemed like the choice was made for me. Iallowedthe choice to be made for me. I was blind and dumb. Lord, I was so dumb.

I blink quickly. No more tears. I’m safe now, and moving forward with my life. I know Mamie will forgive my weakness. Her love has never felt conditional.

“How about some music?” Crash suggests.

I perk up. “The Christian station is–”

“I meant good music.”

I know what he means.Hellno. “I don’t want to hear that sinful–”

A giant hand pushes buttons on the radio, and the voice of James Earldeen comes blaring out over mine. Overruled.

A couple hourslater Crash pulls off down a different exit and takes a phonecall in the parking lot of MacDonalds.

I press my ear to the window and hear him cursing. “You said this would be a fast job. You didn’t tell me there was a kid involved.”

I take my ear off the window.

I don’t want to know.

And I don’t feel good.

I feel like a stranger in a strange land. Nothing is right with God out here. So much sin and waywardness. I see road signs that might as well be in another language. EXXOTIC CLUB NEXT EXIT. PETTING ZOO. BOB’S BAIT. JESUS IS WATCHING YOU. BLUE THUNDER CASINO.

When Crash comes back to the car, he looks even grumpier than usual. He leans back in the seat and rubs his eyes.

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