Then his daddy and uncles took the hog and strung it up between two poles and slit its throat. Eddie wanted to cry, but his brother hit him hard in the stomach when he let out a little whimper, and Eddie held it in. He thought his daddy had looked at him and sort of smiled when he did that, and he felt cold all over.
The boy's hand was shaking now and his nerve was deserting him. He didn't see his dog and something was definitely moving back and forth under the tree. He walked a little closer and pointed his gun toward the trees. "Who is dat, over there, come on out, before I shoot."
Eddie had no intention of shooting, but his finger found the little trigger any way, and he stumbled along in the now dim light. A limb or maybe an old tree trunk suddenly tripped him up, and down he went with his finger still on the trigger.
"Bam!" The noise was deafening so close to his ear. He fell over onto his side and lay there shaking and rubbing his leg where it had thrown him up against the tree stump. Limping, he got up from the ground, leaving the shotgun wherever it had fallen and started forward to the thick bushes and trees.
He was less than twenty feet away now and could see better what was happening under the tree. He started limping faster and at about five feet stopped short. There under the tree was his dog, all wrap up in kudzu vines.
The boy wanted to run over to his dog. But there was something else there beside his Eddie. He saw wrapped tightly around his dog’s neck were the thickest, tightest vines he had ever seen. The dog, in his frantic state had tried to untangle himself from the vines and only succeeded in gathering it tighter around his neck. Long slender brown hands were untangling the vines.
Eddie couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Disembodied hands were soothing his dog. He moved closer to his dog as the hands continued to pat Eddie the dog on his head.
And the final miracle that stilled his breath and almost stopped the boy's heart, was the single gunshot wound bleeding from the palm of the slender brown hand.
The loves of a lifetime
One Day Love Will Last
She was the greatest healer in her mother’s line
She made the sun dim with her bright shine
In 1665 true love had finally claimed my heart
But cruel capture tore our small village apart
It was 1797 and she and I again did meet
She was sucking on sugar cane, so very sweet
To market I was made to shuffle for many a mile
Humbly looked up and saw her tender smile
I was not free to court her as I truly should
Others commanded my actions, but if I could
I’d not have passed her by, no matter the cost
Dropping my head back down, this love lost
1850 my tribe is beaten, most are killed
We sought refuge in the lonely barren hills
Promised her our love would surely never die
We would meet again in the big golden sky
1930 and the nation is in a grave depression
Walked by you, said nothing, my confession
I felt I knew you from days and lives gone by
You huddled in the alley trying not to cry
A new millennium, the start of a new era
Who is that proud man I see in the mirror
I am a great success; I get what I want any time
I stand alone, no love to share this life of mine
Lovers again, and again for hundreds of years
I stood by helpless, unable to take away her fears
I swore so many times we would never part
Never the right time, again blows to my heart
We have lost the love of several lifetimes over
More is needed than a simple 4-leafed clover
When we meet again, 2190 or some later date
I’ll claim this love one last time, to be my mate
About The Author
BARBARA COMBS WILLIAMS was raised on a farm in the rural middle Georgia town of Greenville. She currently resides in Villa Rica, Georgia.
She attended Georgia Institute of Technology after graduating from Greenville high school in 1976. She met her husband, Heyward Williams at Georgia Tech, and they have been happily married for over forty years.
BARBARA HAS PUBLISHED an epic gothic poem,
Soul Catcher
https://books2read.com/Soul-Catcher-Simple-Maiden
A CHILDREN’S BOOK, Leighanne and Her Magical Growing Shoes
https://books2read.com/Leighannes-Magical-Shoes
AND TWO NOVELS, THE Color of Your Tears
https://books2read.com/Color-of-Your-Tears
*****Keep reading for an exclusive excerpt*****
What would you do if you came home and found everything you believed in to be a lie? The people you put your trust in were not worthy of that trust. The man you thought you knew, and loved, and built a life around had children with; just calmly showed you that he loved someone else.
This is the story of one woman who had to face just that. She could be me or you. She could be a close friend or even your sister. She might be your mother, your daughter, even your aunt. What would you tell her? What comfort could you give?
Follow Jackie Mattock as she struggles with the truth, dishonesty, and redemption. Not just one woman’s story but a story that will make you question everyone and everything around you.
AND CRYSTAL CLEAR.
https://books2read.com/Crystal-Clear
CURRENTLY SHE IS WORKING on the third novel in this family saga, entitled The Darkest Grey.
EXCERPT FROM:
The Color Of Your Tears
What’s the color of your tears?
Brazen blues that lie and distort
Cowardly corals to highlight your fears
Envious emerald full of shame and remorse
JACKIE MATTOCK PICKED up the closest thing to her hand, which happened to be the hideously carved wooden statue that Bryan had given them as a wedding gift. It had a good weight to it and was tall, just right to use as a weapon. Jimmy and Bryan didn’t hear or see her until she was almost on top of them.......
Shakily she continued as her husband Jimmy just looked at her. “I rubbed your damn back for you and listened to you whine and carry on about how I looked and dressed. Fifteen years I put up with your sensitive ass and all your bullshit. If I made two cents you took one and a half. For our future you said. I never said anything about what you did or didn’t do. I let you make every decision about the house, the children, everything. I was so stupid, I thought you loved me.”
Jimmy was moving slowly, and silently sat up on the side of the bed. He gave Jackie a disgusted look and said, “Jackie put that statute down and sit your ass down.”
Without realizing it, Jackie had moved even closer to the bed. “I tried to change myself into whatever you told me to be because I loved you and all the while you didn’t want me, you wanted him!” Her eyes were so blinded with scalding red tears, she didn’t realize Jimmy had gotten up and was wrapping the sheet around him until he pulled the statute out of her hands.
“Are you finished with your pity party?” Jimmy took the statue, put it back up on the dresser, and casually sat down in the arm-chair beside the bed. “If so, maybe I can get a word in.”
“I know you didn’t just sit your ass in that chair like you and Bryan had just been out playing basketball or something.”
Jimmy crossed his legs and draped the sheet around him as if it were a toga. “If I had known you would have been this much trouble I would have left you sitting in that damn chair all those years ago.”
Jackie stared at Jimmy as if seeing him for the first time. Were her ears functioning? She couldn’t have heard him correctly. “What the hell did you just say,” she finally managed to stammer out, as she wiped snot and tears off her face.
“........You mean to tell me that I was just a means to an end? Just a front for you to look legitimate; I just don’t understand. I don’t want to un
derstand.” Jackie shook her head over and over again. She knew she must be hallucinating or this had to be some horrible elaborate prank. This could not be happening to her. She could not have been that foolish. She could not have been that blind.
She continued on with big shuddering breaths, “Are you saying you ... you never loved me, you never cared about me? Your children, Chrystal, and Royce; you don’t love them? That this, this is the real you and everything else is just a big fat lie? Did I just imagine everything we had together? Did you, did you plan this whole thing, to let me catch you like this with Bryan? Was I the biggest fool, that stupid, oh my God?”
She could barely get the words out clearly before she was completely left speechless. She hung her head as far as it would go onto her chest. Rivers of tears were running down her indigo blouse, leaving a lavender trail. Her arms flopped at her sides. Her fists were balled so tightly that her fingers were almost numb. It was as if someone had hammered a huge nail into the center of her body, her very heart and let all her scarlet life blood ooze out.
“Don't be ridiculous. I didn't plan this. ......and I have grown to care for you all in my own way. I am not the monster you are trying so hard to paint. Bryan and I have been together since college. He knows me like no other and I have very deep feelings for him. I am just who I am. And I am not going to apologize for that, not ever...”
PLEASE CONTACT HER at – https://BarbaraCombsWilliams.com/contact-me to join her community.
Thank you for reading.
Out of the Mind Of . . . A Fantasy and Paranormal Anthology Page 7