He could see her back in the tall
ornate mirror at the end of the hall
through her
but he couldnt see her
she sauntered towards him
in the ivory hem of her spoiling
satin nightgown he saw the same lime filigree that hed seen reflected in the
windshield as he rode at the foot of a tangled hillside and wetted trees
sauntered no wasnt right
shutter
shuttered
shuttered like voluminous white clouds starkly
in a brilliant blue sky
through the black trees in
the odd gaps between the wiper blades
and despite their violent beating
the sky was unperturbed placid
a million Hueys wouldnt have
impressed or moved it
sometimes he wished the sky would
stomp them
again
and again an again
to death
crush them like the tiny ants
they were Crush them ending their
Violence and Destruction
make
pitiful their grandiose malevolence
which
they flashed about as afterthought a humored
accoutrement a diamond pinkie ring
for once and all
finally put away
Finally
as seemed to be her intention
he could see she was carrying a revolver behind her back
its hammer
cocked
she shuttered in the hall spasmodically
towards
him
seductively
perhaps believing she obscured her reflection
in the mirrors tainted silver he could only see her from behind
the pistol big against her back
she shuttered again
nearing
him
committed
he could see that in her posture
and back the set of her shoulders under
the straps of her gown
the filigree delicately jerking
as she throbbed towards him
he didnt warn her
he raised his revolver
swinging it up from his hip
his arm unflinching as a hand of time
levelled
he fired a single shot into her
chest
he saw the ruin split out through
her back just above her secreted revolver
shattering her like a porcelain doll
a split second before the bullet smashed the mirror glass
it fell in shards and ruin at the
end of the hall
taking her completely down to the
worn runner atop the brittle pine slat floor
where she yet might be struggling
in the faceted glass
he didnt want to see
it was too strange
he holstered his .44
not
remembering when he drew it
some doors opened quietly onto
the hall
he saw silhouettes at their jambs
across the hall from them in boxes of streetlight
terrified heads warily peeked
out
looked up and down the hall
a smashed mirror on one end
bits of quicksilver falling like
tears
making tiny mewling sounds
gunsmoke hanging twisting on the
other end
its hue the pallor of a
dead mans face
outside the Nevada air was
uncommonly humid
over the Badlands billowed stained white clouds
beyond their soft edges flat like glass
the
untroubled sheen of blue skies
the
veil and paper that wrapped the planet into the untidy bundle it was
holding keeping the miscreants there
its
day skies night skies inured
theyd
seen it all before
and
were never
or never again
surprised
0850, Twosday,
19 5. 15
