Everything normal. Nothing out of place.
Just Mom.
He poked his head into the bedroom he and Earl shared as kids. It was cramped for two growing boys, but a lot more fun then when Dad put on the addition and they got separates. He smiled, remembering their all-night whisperings about girls, parents hollering to get to sleep before you-know-who got their butts you-know-what . . .
“There you are,” he murmured to the sleeping beauty curled on Earl’s old bed. She was in her Sunday best - pearls, heels, hose, hat. Her omnipresent purse leaned against the maple headboard, handles up like rabbit ears. She hadn’t slept an hour the past three nights, she’d confessed, even with the pills her doctor prescribed. He knew how she felt. She must have laid in Earl’s spot “for one quick minute” after getting dressed, and that was that.
“Up to me, you’d sleep all day,” he sympathized, walking around the bed. “But you’d never forgive me if I let you miss Earl’s-”
Blood dripped from her left wrist. Her favorite kitchen knife quivered point-down in the beige shag. Her face was bleached, her fingers stiff, her delicate features collapsed. Her pill bottle was empty on the bedstand, next to a half-drunk glass of water.
“Mom!” he cried, grabbing her up and shaking her hard. Blood from the carpet pool squished into his shoes, splattered his clothes. “Oh my God, wake up! Talk to me, please!”
She was cold as soft-serve.
He ran gagging to the bathroom.
“What in the hell is this?” Earl Monroe asked, lips curling in disgust.
“Fresh underwear,” the prison doctor said.
“Looks like a diaper to me.”
A barely noticeable shrug. “If you like.”
“I don’t. Man, I can’t wear diapers to my-”
“You ain’t a man,” growled the crew-cutted guard in the corner, unfolding his arms with undisguised menace. “So put ‘em on.”
Earl snickered. “Whaddaya gonna do if I don’t, sweet cheeks? Kill me?”
Crew-cut flicked his head. The other muscled guards moved in, happy for the chance to pound the scumbag into compliance one last time.
Doc held up his slim brown hand.
“He’ll cooperate. Won’t you, Mr. Monroe?”
The condemned prisoner grinned. “Sure, Doc. Since you called me mister and all.”
“Time to go watch a monster fry,” Wayne Covington said.
“Be strong, darling,” Katherine Covington said.
“Got no choice,” Wayne grinned, kissing her. “Andy will swoop down and kick my keister if I’m anything but.” He walked out, twirling his car keys.
Something in her pinched expression made him come back.
“I promise this is the end,” he said, squeezing his wife’s hands. “The long hours, the time away. It ends today. No more obsession.”
“I hope so, Wayne,” Kit said, more sharply than she’d intended. But it had been a long, lonely six years. “Your family needs you back.”
“Whatcha got?” the Supreme Court clerk greeted his compatriot. “Baseball pool?”
Compatriot held up the envelope. “The Furman decision.”
“Already?” Clerk said, blinking. “I didn’t expect that for months.”
“No one did,” Compatriot said. “But five minutes ago, the chief justice called me in and said disseminate this PDQ.”
“So what’d they decide? Thumbs-up? Or down?”
Compatriot unwound the envelope string, looking around for justices who’d kick him back to freshman law for peeking. “Only one way to find out.”
In the end, I simply didn’t have the courage, read the note she’d taped to the bathroom mirror. Earl needed me at that dreadful place today, and I couldn’t go. I couldn’t watch him die. Not my firstborn, not that way, burning to death in that hideous electro-chair.
You think I’m strong, Danny. I’m not. I couldn’t be there at the end for your brother, or for you. For that, I’m truly sorry. I left this note in hopes you’ll understand why I couldn’t face you this morning. I’m ashamed at how you’ll find me, and I wouldn’t blame you for hating me forever. I pray you don’t. I hope Jesus doesn’t either.
By the time you read this, I’ll be with your dad. In a few hours, Earl will join us. Do not despair at our deaths, darling. You’re a wonderful man. Kind, brave and unafraid. Get married, have children, continue your important life. Think of us when you’re able. Because of you, the family name will have pride and honor. Not the shame Earl and I brought to it. And at the end of your days, you’ll join us in this better place.