Ficlets

Southern Clearing

The right road ain’t always shown to ya. Or even when it is, your eyes don’t wanna see it. You’re stubborn and you say, “Why that ain’t no path, it’s just a bucha muck” There’s things ya gotta learn, other ways to get down the right road, and they ain’t always pretty or happy.

Lotta times mama or even Stacey flat out telt me where I ought be headin. They’d tell me to talk to the pastor Tom, mostly. They’d all say I had a lot of anger inside, a beast I ain’t ever dealt with.

See, my daddy used to beat me up somethin fierce. Bruises, a split lip and a broke rib the last time it happened. He said it’d toughen me up cause I was a sissy. He learnt that from my grandpappy. That last time I was too banged up to hide it, so mama packed us some stuff and we left daddy at night.

I went down a lotta wrong roads that hurt mama and my Stacey to see. Stacey got pregnant one day and I got real scared. Cause they’re right. I gotta forgive the Lord for what he let happen. My little girl’s comin soon, and I ain’t my daddy.

View this story's 2 comments.