The Marshal and the Boy (2)

[Jamie Hogan]

Note: Hi all. I will return to this series, as well as Sugar Dumplin, after October. Thank you sincerely for your interest and feedback.

*******************************************************

It was a Quality Inn or maybe a La Quinta in El Paso, a stupid number of palm trees nodding in the breeze, lazing in front of the hotel like so many stoners on break from their dishwashing jobs.

 

“Connie,” the Marshal on the balcony outside the room, staring south over the river at the browns and shanty pastels of Ciudad Juarez, “you have to let him live it, to finally take a little ownership of the dumb shit he does.”

 

“If you were his real…” came strident and crackling back into the earpiece of his mobile before she stopped short and let the silence finish.

 

The sky was rolling over purple from orange and he looked into it like a man will anything deep, his soul longing to see the end of that abyss even if it means he never gets back to the light of day, “Ain’t no man could have ever fathered that boy better than I did and you know it, but that don’t mean anything because you ain’t ever going to let me be what I should be to him and honestly I’m done with it, so you go on and bail him out again and when he head-ons somebody and kills them ya’ll can figure out how to deal with it without me.”

 

He pushed the red button and put the phone back into his pocket and stood for a long time looking at death city across the border, murderboro, then he turned to look back through the window at the boy sleeping on the bed.

 

Have you ever had anything in your life to dream about, little man?

[Brittany]

The marshal seems like such a solid kind of guy. You write him with a great internal compass, well. Does that make sense?

[Joey Delgado]

This is the kind of writing that gives me a wonderful sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something's coming, something bad, and I just can't wait.

[bolton carley]

if you were his real - 5 words and you make them rockstar.  all your writing is.  but i'm with him that they have to own up to their shit.  always. :)

[Stephen Torelli]

The passion is building... keep it coming!

[Jeanette Cheezum]

Great stir of emotion, here. Good luck with whatever in October.

[Mike Handley]

Sounds almost like a James Lee Burke (one of my favorite authors) passage. After I realized Connie wasn't the marshal's name, I liked it.

[Paul de Denus]

You've got us hooked Jamie- the gifted writer's knack - look forward to it

[Gita]

Have you been to Juarez and El Paso?  Of course, this story could be set anywhere because the human drama is what drives it (and drives it home).  I want to read the whole thing in one sitting, getting up occasionally to freshen my coffee ( or pee) but basically yes, sit by lamplight from 10 p.m. till 2 a.m. and devour it.

I just wondered about those two cities...

[Teresa]

After October?  That's it.  Voodoo doll time. 

 

This is you at your best, showing us just enough, like lingerie or those giant feather fans the burlesque women dance behind.  Provocative beauty.

[Robert Crisman]

This could turn into something really good. So far we've got a man who does the best he can according to his lights, an enabling mother to a strung-out son, and a boy who's got more cojones than the son ever had. Then there's the whole immigration mess. Looking forward to see what you do with this.