"What the fuck is this shit?"

"So have you gotten yourself a boy/girlfriend yet?"

"When are we going to get grandchildren?"

"There’s a fly in the gravy."

"The turkey isn’t even done."

"Oh no. He/She brought this bitch."

"This is the soggiest stuffing I’ve ever put in my mouth."

"That’s not all you’ve put in your mouth."

"This family sucks."

"How am I even related to you?"

"The fuck?"

"Goddamned kids."

"He’s/She’s so racist I can’t even deal."

"Is Thanksgiving over yet?"

"Can we go now?"

”___ & ___ sittin’ in a tree!”

"I don’t like him/her!"

"Listen to this joke."

"Let me tell you about Obama…"

"Let me tell you about Romney…"

"Let me tell you about the Republicans…"

"Let me tell you about the Democrats…"

"Finally, I never thought I’d get out of there."

"She literally popped her tit out in front of everyone!"

"I’m so uncomfortable right now."

"What?! No corn!?!"

"These mashed potatoes are lumpy."

"Oh ___, has got the gun out again."

"Get that turkey!"

“Well fiddle, I can’t afford to buy a lot of land. You probably could the way you’ve been a bilking and gouging…”

“Oh, hush up! I’m trying to help you, for heaven sakes. It don’t cost a whole lot to buy a little lot.”

“If you change your mind me and ___ will be over at the Longbranch having a whole lot of little beers.”

“___, you can’t account for everything that happens to people who touch you. You know, I learned a long time ago, there are some things in this life that you just accept the way they are.”

“That’s pretty deep for a redhead.”

"I’m a pretty deep redhead."

“they’re too dumb to know they’re dead!”

“Don’t you think somebody oughta reckon with him, __?”

“He’s got no left hand?”

“Because it was my bullet that took his hand!”

“If you’re gonna to use that gun, you better start on me.”

“Except some women, of course, just ain’t nothing prettier than a full bottle.”

“As I understand it, Chaney… or Chelmsford, as he called himshelf in Texas… shot the senator’s dog. When the senator remonstrated, Chelmsford shot him as well. You could argue that the shooting of the dog was merely an instance of malum prohibitum, but the shooting of a senator is indubitably an instance of malum in se.”

“I am struck that ___ is shot, trampled, and nearly severs his tongue, and not only does not cease to talk, but spills the banks of English!”

“The chinaman is running them cheap shells on me again.”

“I thought you were going to say the sun was in your eyes. That is to say, your EYE.”

“We have no rodeo clowns in Yell County.”

"A saucy line will not get you far with me."

“I mean to kill you in one minute, ___. Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker’s convenience. Which will you have?”

“I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man!”

“I always go backwards when I’m backing up.”

“You must pay for everything in this world, one way and another. There is nothing free except the grace of God.”

“People do not give it credence that a young girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood. But it did happen. I was just 14 years of age when a coward by the name of ___ shot my father down and robbed him of his life and his horse and two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band.”

“You give out very little sugar with your pronouncements. While I sat there watchin’ I gave some thought to stealin’ a kiss… though you are very young, and sick… and unattractive to boot. But now I have a mind to give you five or six good licks with my belt.”

“The wicked flee when none pursueth. Proverbs 28:1”

“I guess I have a $10 horse”

“If you would like to sleep in a coffin, it would be all right.”

“Make me out foolish in this girl’s/boy’s eyes.”

“I think she/he has got you pretty well figured.”

“You are not ___.”

If I recall it was a Friday Gentle hum before the war You were high and watching poker And I had just walked in the door You started screaming at the TV Saying, make a play you filthy whore And I was trying to make you see me Like the way you did before

                   ❝ Is it that obvious? ❞ 

Tara knew that this town was small, it wouldn’t take much for everyone to see that she was new. She just hoped she  would be able to hide who she was. 

                    ❝I was tryin' to be polite.                                Welcome to Kentucky.❞

            Beaming in amusement, teeth gently grazed             over her lower pout and she nodded cordially.             If anyone could help this woman find her way             around the great state of Kentucky, it was Ava.

                         ❝Got an address, darlin'?❞

There was the room and then there was him. Two very separate units of matter on the outside, being that one was a place and one was an occupant. But if maybe one were to squint hard enough, strip the haze away; sharpen the feathering edges they would begin to see that there was something missing. Or more accurately, everything had blended into one. Carbon dating began somewhere around dusk, right after Boyd had effectively cleared the home of every speck of dirt and settled on the gnawing milk of paranoia. A routine that had initiated almost as soon as he was re-united with the country home and it’s holy concierge.

Smiling the great smile, the one he knew could melt away some of the dry ice that had collected in Ava’s crevices had granted him entry into the home, but not much farther. Her distance with him had began to form a scummy film on his palate, one that couldn’t be stripped no matter how much soaking and scrubbing was attempted. It had all began to drift past his comprehension and settled into this makeshift desert of disassociation. Maybe it was time she needed? a little space to process the reputed judiciary system that had them both ensnared. Maybe she didn’t love him anymore?…Maybe she had made a deal? The last notion a fleeting concept that he would shake from his head violently, bury it down deep between striations of everything they’d been though. Deny it vociferously.

It would creep up regardless. Stain his teeth black with it’s accuracy and throw him into a frenzy that could only be expressed positively by scouring the home. Practically get down on hands and knees and carved up the greasy lines between the floorboards. Watch the congealed gum of generations curl up like so many wood shavings. Strip away the past so that maybe the present and the future could hold that same jubilation they use to share. Get that real smile back, not the one she would craft in the morning for his benefit. Boyd hated that fuckin’ smile. 

Even with the home sanctified, the feeling permeated as the clock began rolling into evening hours. No mention of her whereabouts or even if her extra-curricular interests would keep her out to such an hour began to cause indigestion. The enthralling ecosystem of his belly in violent revolt with racing thoughts of his unraveling by her hand. So vivid these useless visions he found himself quarter burnt through her stashed cigarettes and bottle of wild turkey. Residual concerns finally taking a back burner to some of the more pressing . Like finally getting them both free and clear of all the ruckus this county seems to spew. Existed as wholly different creatures if they wanted; reborn in the eyes of excommunication.

Having snuffed out the last cigarette far before Ava’s motor ground grooves into the clay meant the air was clear when she entered. Mashed artistic expression of so many kinked butts spilling from the side’s of the ashtray the only remaining evidence. Regardless, he made an effort to pull the guilty pile towards him, away from the limelight by simply sliding it across the table away from her presence. 

"You’re home late."

Evading her concern for what may have been a nescient stall of his inner dialogue displayed blatantly over his features meant Boyd was quick to move. With the aid of palms pressed into the universal lip, slow rolling hips and spine finally coalesced long enough to lift his frame. So many elongated moments made the rise obscenely slow, staggered time caught between every notch in his vertebrae before standing at attention and pivoting on the spike. A flagrant sway of obligate stance before embarking on the waters that detached them, sailing into the curvature. Wordlessly docking the length of arm around the depression of her waist he interrupted her anxious deeds with a full assault of his physicality. 

"Where were you?"

My whereabouts ain’t your concern anymore.

Sliding blanch gallon over frigid grates, ducked carriage reeled into unfurled composure. Thumbs gently nudged cardboard carton open, only to reveal near collision’s evidence by way of couple fractured rudiments hidden beneath its cover. Silently exhaling her frustration, digits carefully planted each imperforate egg along elliptically carved hollows in the midst of disregarding the outlaw’s overt observation. Liberated inmate knew investigative inquiry would likely be a consequence of her backdoor trysts with the law, but she hadn’t anticipated such trenchant interrogation methods. Casually folding refrigerator door shut, wooden pedestals ambulated toward garbage can, tooled leather beak hoisting plastic lid as hands abandoned pallid coffer in a hasty toss. Scant viscous film had somehow coated digits and she retreated toward the sink for a swift cleanse.

Slurred movements dismayed cerulean crooks, signaling his imminent intrusion as boots swiveled toward trickling fountain water. Descended hands dug up aridity by means of stained cloth and gaze flickered in the disembodied aesthesis of his looming presence, encountering a tarnished glass portrait so haunting, tiny bristles canvasing silken nape raised on end. Ghosting fornenst her ethereal features, his reflection augmented through the obscurity beyond nebulous fenestra, awakening bittersweet recollections entombed beneath reticent facade. Ava’s plump, coral lips parted ever so slightly in anamnesis and garnered eerie breeze as metaphysical became tangible, his muscled limb enveloping her whole.

She was rigid against his form initially, sapphires timorously fixed on olivines through their ghostly echo as vivid bursts bore upon nigh collision; staggering belle in regress until kindred ungulate reappeared before her. Again, she discovered herself stunned, staring into mirroring apertures in hopes of eidolic counsel, but she received no answer. Forsaken by the creature as its image transcendentally faded within third eye, doe abandoned her amidst a critical rumination; to scorn his advances with thrashing antlers and flee for safe haven overhead or risk surrendering to his securely fastened embrace? The latter was the duplicitous of either, but should she commit, there would be a mighty treacherous cliff to climb. Opening up to Boyd by any means would be a true corroboration imprisoning a capacity to unveil whatever weaknesses she may have still harbored for him; an inferable chance she would lose her grip and plummet to her demise.

But if she were to succeed, it had to be done.

Capsizing astern, voluptuous frame anchored into embrace as she languidly sank into him, heavy burden respiring in the languid rise and fall of svelte shoulders. “It’s been a long night, Boyd. Don’t much care for talkin’ ‘bout it.” Warm amber and tobacco soaked redolence vellicated senses and graceful neck craned aslant, chin inclining toward former fiancé. “Let’s leave it be, alright?” Hushed plead poured from lips as morose gaze met his. He was drunk and Ava wasn’t about to argue, not tonight. She wasn’t ready to discuss the matters weighing heavy on his mind. ....