by Robert Blevins

Created on: September 18, 2009

Anything to get him out of the house, she thought.

She scrubbed the sink to hospital white and carefully rinsed it before blotting it dry with a clean white towel.

Her heart beat faster now. It was getting dark.

He was coming home soon.

He never stayed out too late on Sundays. Work was Monday, and he always showed.

He's been gone the whole weekend this time, she thought. I'm not picking the stupid feathers from those birds. No one ever eats the damn things anyway; they're all full of birdshot.

She shut off the hot water on the sink tap and dried the faucet with a towel. She decided the faucet wasn't bright enough and worked on it until it shined like silver.

She checked the time. It was ten o' clock. He and the boys must have really tied on one this time, she thought. He and those friends of his, shooting off their guns and sucking down beers as if they were bottled water.

A familiar rumble in the driveway caught her attention.

Truck. HIS truck.

He's home. She listened for him to come into the house. She thought of her cardinal rule: If he came in quick, that meant he probably wasn't drunk.

A minute passed. Too long, she thought. Way too long.

The bang of a truck door finally shook the living room windows until they rattled. A clump of heavy boots trampled up the driveway. There was a sound of a key going into the lock, and then the rattle of keys being dropped.

The door crashed open and he filled the opening with his hugeness and his drunken anger. He slumped against the jamb, holding his Winchester rifle. He set it against the wall while he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. The rifle slid to the floor with a loud thump. He leaned over to pick it up and nearly fell. Leaving the rifle where it lay, he used the doorknob to pull himself upright. "What's funny? Sumpin' funny?" he slurred. "Come here, bitch..."

She reached behind the kitchen door and picked up the shotgun, leveling it.

The resounding blast caught him dead center in the chest and threw him into the corner. He collapsed and died with a look of utter surprise on his face.

She touched her swollen eye. "No more. Not ever," she said.

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