Love Letters From the Grave(10)

Adams nodded firmly, first at the jury and then toward Charlie, and took his seat. When their arms touched, Charlie could feel the lawyer shaking.

‘Thank you,’ he whispered.

‘Please don’t thank me, Charlie,’ replied the attorney under his breath as the jury were led from the room. ‘I feel useless. You shouldn’t be here at all. You shouldn’t have been there at all. If I can save you from the chair, you can thank the good Lord for putting off the day of your meeting, and then spend every day of your life doing some good and showing your gratitude. But please, don’t thank me.’

As it turned out, though, Charlie owed him a debt of gratitude which he could never forgot. Only minutes later, the jury returned, and Charlie stood to hear the death sentence.

The leader of the jury spoke directly to the judge. ‘We return a verdict of guilty with extenuating circumstances, and recommend a sentence of life imprisonment instead of the death penalty.’

The gavel fell, and Charlie’s fate was decided.

And so, a few days before his 16th birthday, Charlie left normal life far behind, and was faced instead with the traumatic uncertainty of spending the rest of his days in prison.





Chapter 3




* * *



A Popular Girl



* * *





They treated me like my poor heart was made of a rock or stone, Mama,

Made of a rock or stone.

Treated me like my poor heart was made of a rock or stone,

And that's no way for me to get along



That’s No Way to Get Along, Robert Wilkins



Molly laughed as her nephew poked the cat with a branch. ‘She’ll only take that for so long, you know, Eddie,’ she cried. ‘Then you’ll be sorry you provoked her.’

‘What’s prodoked?’

Eddie was toying idly with the stick, so she eased it gently out of his chubby hand.

‘Teasing her. It’s not right to tease people.’

‘Or cats?’

Molly laughed again. ‘Or cats.’

Their conversation drew Maureen out onto the porch. She leaned in the doorway, watching her younger sister guiding her son through some animal husbandry.

‘You’re a fine one to talk about teasing people, Molly,’ she said with a smile, resting her hand on her growing belly.

Molly squinted up at her. ‘I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.’ Her tone – and the way her freckled cheeks colored up pink - suggested that she knew exactly what her sister was implying.

‘Hmm. Well, how many boys are you dating right now?’

‘Just … I don’t know, four or five.’ Molly shrugged. ‘It’s nothing serious – just ice cream parlors and county fairs.’

‘There are a lot of county fairs around here. That’s a lot of …’

‘Ice cream,’ interrupted Molly. ‘That’s all it is. Ice cream and a bit of fun.’

‘What do Mom and Dad think of that?’

‘They’re fine. I’m not coming home with the local miscreants, you know.’ Molly taunted her with an easy grin. ‘These are nice boys, and they always approve. Get me home by ten pm and everything.’

Maureen’s eyebrows knitted together. ‘You’ve been graduated for a year and a half now. Isn’t it about time you thought about settling down? I was married with a baby on the way at your age.’

‘Yes, but you’d met Angus at my age. There’s no Angus for me. Not here, anyways.’

‘You’ll find one,’ said Maureen, herding Eddie out of the chicken pen. ‘There’s an Angus for you somewhere.’

‘And until there is, I’ll just keep dating and having fun.’

Molly waved them into the house, away from the flies and the squawk of the outraged chickens. Behind her sister’s back, she blew out her cheeks. She was young still. There was no need to settle down. She liked walking out with her young men on a Sunday, being treated like a princess with no expectations other than a peck on the lips from any of them.

And anyway, where on earth would she find someone to settle down with?

She’d been born into a large family in a very small town, a town in which everyone not only knew each other, but also kept track of everyone else's business and activities. Molly’s mother, Martha, and father, Jesse, had four sons as well as their daughters, and had lost another son to premature birth before Molly came along. The family also had a huge number of close relatives living all around: in their own town; in many nearby villages and communities, or on small farms across the area. Her father had always been employed in law-enforcement, first as a policeman in the largest town in the county, and then as deputy sheriff until finally he was elected as the County Sheriff. Her mother was a typical housewife, taking very good care of her husband, her six children, and the household. Her mother also served on the PTAs of her children's schools, and was very active in the social and political affairs of their community.

Sometimes it was hard to know where the family ended and the town began.

Right from elementary school, it had appeared that everyone was either a close or distant cousin. In junior high and high school, most of the students were in some way related to her. It made the prospect of dating seem fraught with danger. It seemed inevitable to Molly that she would one day become another cell in the organism of her family, merging with another part of the town so that it would then be her family too – just as Maureen had done. But she wasn’t going to do it until she was sure she wasn’t marrying anyone she was related to.