Marybeth’s Revenge

Sept 30-

Marybeth oughrta thank me for what I dun fer’er. She ain’t no count, just as prissy as can be and homlier’n a damn possum. Reckon nobody ain’t never told her she can’t afford to talk back with a face like ‘at. Godammit I tried to tell ‘er. She don’t never listen to a goddam word. Reckon she’s thinkin’ Ida smack the ugly right off her goddam face. Ain’t no how, I ain’t never hit her that hard. Aw, hell. I told her she oughrt not be baking all them goddam pies.

Give me one damn reason why them gophers still eatin' all my goddam beets, that owl starin' at me like I’m for supper.

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Look at him sweat. I’ve never enjoyed those pies as much as I do right now, watching him struggle to put me in the ground. That serves you right, Rick. You sure didn’t mind eating them though. And if you want to know why your beets are failing, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself. Maybe lift a plow instead of the bottle, or your hand. Maybe if you had been doing that all along you’d be too tired to come home in your...condition every night, just to raise hell. That’s one thing you sure are good at raising. Never raised any children. The good Lord made me barren on count of the sufferin’ you’d have caused our child. Turns out, that suffering was all for me and me alone.

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That ol‘ barn owl lookin’ at me like I’m the damn gopher. I oughrta shoot it too, it ain’t no count, perched up there all high and mighty staring at me instead of doing it’s damn job. Don’t it know what the Lord Almighty put it here fer? Well it ain’t fer shitting all over my damn tools out here.

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Damn. Woman can cook, I reckon I better get me a new wife around here. I reckon that goddamn microwave oven she pissed on and on about was good for something. Ain’t no real woman got use for a microwave. By the look of things I got about 2 months of suppers in the icebox. There’s that owl carryin’ on again, can’t a man eat in peace for the first time in 20 some odd years godammit? Reckon I best set my ass in a church pew Sunday morning. Marybeth’ll get the best of me for the last damn time, tell you what. Told her I ain’t never gonna bless no church doors with my presence. Well. She ain’t here to carry on about it no more, but I’ve got to get me another wife. Younger. A sweet pretty thing this time, that old hag think she had some standin’ in MY house godammit - I’ll tell ‘em Marybeth ran off, they know woman’s a whore, they know she ain’t right in the head. Ima throw this bottle at that owl’s fucking head.

Oct 3-

Chevy needs fixin’. Ain’t gonna scoop up a pretty young bride with a truck that clanks like damn sack of hammers.

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Well, just look at you Rick. I haven’t seen you that clean shaven since our wedding day. And oh my, are you finally going to fix that death trap of a truck that never did quite manage to kill you yet? I remember the last time you picked up that wrench was right before you threw it at my head. That probably needed stitches but I had to make do with tape. It wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary for us, my dear. But I remember that day, because it was the next day that you brought home a new microwave from Sears Roebuck. An apology for disfiguring my face. Proof that you are a good husband. Yes indeed, a real prize.

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God damn. One hell of a goddamn hangover. That fucking owl....That....fu...ckin...Oh shit...

Well I reckon I’ll make it to church next Sunday. Truck ain’t fixed and my goddam head bout gonna kill me on count of hittin’ it on my workbench.

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Rick, are you not well? Who will take care of you Mr. Maley?

Oct 14-

It’s a pitiful sight, Mr. Maley, to see you doubled over in pain. Where is all the fire now, you pour it right straight down your throat and it comes out the end of your fists. Where is all that fire, Mr. Maley, when you are so broken down you can’t even walk? Go ahead, my dear. You have all the meals I made for you sitting in the freezer. All those years, decades, I have nourished you. Tended your fragility disguised as power. Power over me. I may look weak but even from this perch, I now have power over you. I keep you awake in the night. I let the rats and the mice and the gophers run rampant. I would rather starve than sacrifice any smallest moment of suffering you might endure. Your demise will be quick because I am merciful. My death lasted 26 long years. Oh but what you don’t know is that I am more alive now than I’ve ever been.

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That fucking owl, watchin’ me shit my pants and throw up blood out here like it’s got all the goddam answers. Like it knows somethin’. High and mighty, just like Marybeth. Specks on it’s feathers like Marybeth’s hair ‘fore she started warshin’ it with them artificial colors. I ain’t gonna be getting me no new wife, reckon. Can’t even make it to the barn without shittin’ blood.

Nov 6-

That owl. It’s watchin’ me through the window. It won’t shut it’s damn beak. I’d get out of this bed and shoot the goddamn thing if I had the strength to lift the damn barrel. Barely can lift a goddam fork to my mouth, or that whiskey, my only medicine, Ima gonna drink enough tonight to knock me out cold, knock me out for good. Lord have mercy on my soul, Lord Jesus knows what I had to put up with, that Marybeth’s goddamn mouth. She’d have read her bible she’d know how the Lord wants a woman to submit. It’s right there in the goddamn good book.

Nov 30-

Well, my dear Mr. Maley. Your time has come. My only regret was that you didn’t know for sure if it was me, but I know you suspected. In that dead, black, heart of yours, you knew. What difference does it make now, with you laying dead on the cold hard ground? I could not really be free until I knew you were gone. I knew from the first day you lifted your fist in anger for serving your supper late, my days were numbered. Now that you are burning in your own hell, I am leaving this place, leaving my own body behind in its shallow grave. And leaving yours for the mice, rats, and gophers that are running rampant on this God-forsaken farm. It’s time to fly away.