Page 8 of Refuge for Flora

Flora could feel her eyebrows shoot up as she watched the old woman’s face. “He went to Tennessee?”

“Yeah. That’s what I tell everybody anyway.”

“Where is he?”

With a flourish, the old lady pulled a flask out of the pocket of her stained sweatpants, unscrewed the top, took a big swig, and smiled as she resealed it. “Let’s just say I own a lot of land and weren’t nobody lookin’ for him no-how.”

Flora tried to suppress a smile, but she couldn’t.Damn, I like this woman!she heard her mind yell with a laugh. “So I’ll start as soon as I can get my stuff.”

Mrs.Murphy side-eyed her. “You haven’t asked what it pays.”

“I have a bedroom, bathroom, food to eat, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I don’t care what it pays.”

“You haven’t asked me what you’re supposed to be doing either.”

“You’re not running a brothel, are you?”

“No.”

“And am I going to be expected to give you enemas?”

“Well, hell no, girl!” Mrs.Murphy yelled.

“Then I reckon anything else should be fine.”

“You know what?” The old woman gave her a snaggletoothed smile. “I like you, girly. You got spunk!”

Yeah, and that spunk has gotten me into trouble a few times, Flora wanted to respond, but she didn’t. The longer no one knew what her story was, the better off she’d be.

Chapter 2

The week had beenlong and hard, and he was glad to see the weekend come. He’d picked up a case of beer, eight frozen pizzas, enough chips and dip for a small army, and two bags of fun-sized candy bars. That was pretty much all he could think of that he might need to keep him happy over the weekend.

His turn was ahead, so he slapped on his blinker. Instead of turning into his driveway when he reached it, he kept going. Best to drive by Mrs.Murphy’s house and see if she needed her grass mowed. If she did, he’d get up really early the next morning and do it before it got too hot. But when he got near her drive, he blinked, then stared in astonishment.

Her dumpster was out by the road, even though the trash people didn’t come until Tuesday, and it was full. Not only that, but there was crap piled all around it, including a couple of cardboard boxes full of stuff.Did she die and nobody told me?he wondered. Didn’t matter. The grass was too tall, and even if she was dead, he didn’t want the neighborhood looking like dammit.

As soon as he was inside, he started peeling off clothes until he was down to bare skin. That crazy rain showerhead had been the best investment he’d ever made, and he tried to relax and enjoy the steaming water. Once he finished, he barefooted it to the bedroom, pulled on a pair of boxer briefs and some lounge pajamas, and headed back to the kitchen. He’d just plopped everything down on the table, so he set about putting frozen and refrigerated stuff away. He was almost finished when his phone rang, and he answered without even looking at it. “Hello?”

“Boy, you comin’ to mow my grass?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll come tomorrow morning, if that’s all right.”

“Yeah, yeah. That’ll be fine. There’s a god damn mess out by the road, but you can mow around it, I think.”

“Yes, ma’am. I saw that. Are you?”

“In the morning.” And the phone went dead.

Old bag hung up on me!he groused internally as he pulled a pizza back out of the freezer and threw it on an oven rack. In a few minutes, he’d have something that would pass for food. Then he could watch a movie and hit the hay. It was time to try to unwind.

And after what he’d been through that morning, he didn’t care if he never saw another possum in his whole life.

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