Old Man Lacey hightailed it one day

he was a boy he couldnt say when

he could only say that the fixture of the man over the hedges and chainlinked fence who sat in his backyard in a vinyl-strapped chaise lounge beside a low white-painted metal side table a sweating glass of beer on it was gone

gone as day passes or a slight breeze kicked up cooled his sweating skin and dissipated too

he didnt remember a big fuss among the adults an as-a-matter-of-fact acknowledgement at best

he was after all Old Lady Laceys husband and no one knew what kind of man might tolerate her

he understood later that scarcely a step behind the Old Man the coals still warm still shedding grey ash she beat it down to the courthouse and filed desertion and divorce papers

the clerk who lived up the street around the corner told his grandmother and mother that she dressed him down at the top of her lungs in her corrosive voice as a no-good a scoundrel a drunk a dillydaller then gasping eyes near-bulging took a curt breath and spewed a selfish Godless man

immediately afterwards Old Lady Lacey argued and tried to submit paperwork shed brought to the courthouse completed in a steady clear hand completed years earlier according to the date beside her signature to marry

Jesus Christ in absentia(her ace in the hole)

the clerk now bemused her foot casually at rest on the first broad step of the staircase to his grandmothers house sheepishly admitted she muttered to Mrs Lacey under her breath  Whos in absentia

she said Mrs Lacey offput shrilled and left declaring that the citys the states and the USs secular concerns and beliefs would not inhibit her  she would take the Lord as hers ecstatically  ecclesiastically  Matthew 19:6 she declared

And no man shall put it asunder

Mrs Lacey is one for the books she remarked  casually looking up she started My goodness she lives right next door

his grandmother turned ever so slightly and saw she was looking at her address stenciled on the postbox on the front porch railing  Yes she said Next door 

Ive said too muchI hope not too loudly  she hastily excused herself backed down the walk and turned to go down the street in the opposite direction of Mrs Laceys home

his mother touched his knee as he sat beside her  That my dear is a good reason and example why we do not speak of others  If you ever have something to say of someone you tell them to their face

hed been telling people to their faces since

he didnt have to ask Mother May I

it went without saying

it was a stellar lesson for a young boy to learn though unbridled by the example when notes began coming home from school pinned to his shirt  --  at school he protested Put it in my hand Ill be sure that my parents get it  --  his parents his grandmother were flummoxed by his audacity not that it was incorrect several teacher conferences principal conferences allowed his reasoning was sound but firm in his conviction he refused to step away he preferred the debate unfortunately disrupting the classroom

none of the other children sided with him or encouraged him

Authority must have seemed different to them he thought

he also overheard his father say too many times Who the hell do they think they are They put their pants on one leg at a time Theyre no different than me

a teacher confided Hes a terribly critical listener And thinker Anything he disagrees with his hand is up Not waving Just stabbed into the air and firm Like a stick in the mud Precisely a stick in the mud Its funny you rarely see a saying personified Hes impossible not to acknowledge He refuses to relent We have our hands full and youll have your hands full until he leaves home

he and Old Lady Lacey had nothing in common or between them except her leering her abject distaste of him or any of the neighbourhood kids and the abuse her son Edwin chose to level on him 

emboldened by this lesson hed rather climb her long scarecrow body cloaked in a drab housedress pull her unruly hair than ever again provide her satisfaction or deviant pleasure of a little boy fearing or upset by her

they tangoed until his parents could afford a house of their own

  

 

afternoon, Saturday,  23  7. 16

 1300,  Monday,  1 8. 16