From My Cold Dead Hands by Hilly Barmby

Author:Hilly Barmby [Barmby, Hilly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books

17

Truth hurts

Lunch is when we all collide in the kitchen.

‘Mom?’ She’s back, and I didn’t know. Now I feel flustered as to what to say. ‘Was your meeting successful?’ How cold and business-like that sounds.

She air kisses me somewhere near my cheek. ‘We had a wonderful time. The drive through the lower hills was delightful. We heard their speakers, and they were so eloquent. One told us that we all have an obligation to perform. She said, like the man in the Bible, we are all given a talent, and it is our duty to do something about it. I thought of you at that exact moment she said that.’

‘That’s nice,’ I say.

‘We have to get the old you back soon, Cassie. You are needed on the front line.’

‘Dad was going to tell me what I did, but he never got round to it. So what do I do?’

Dad comes in that very second, and he walks over, showing nothing of the emotion from earlier. He pulls the two of us into a firm hug.

‘You tell your sisters, the wives, mothers and daughters of our noble Southern States, that it is their American responsibility to be armed. It is no longer the sole preserve of men to defend their families and neighbours. Every woman now needs to step up and learn to fire a gun. It is their constitutional right to have weapons.’

‘Oh!’ I wrench out of his grasp. ‘I advocate that every woman has a gun?’ My voice is again sliding up the octaves. ‘You are kidding me, right? I mean, I couldn’t, ever, ever say that to anyone. Not even in my head!’

Dad looks like I’ve whacked him across the face with a dead mackerel, and my mom has gone so pale it’s as if she’s been turned to stone. Maybe I’m the modern incarnation of the Medusa?

Dad turns, his face red-hued, and he jabs a finger at me. ‘I just don’t understand what is happening here. I think we need to get one thing straight, right now, so you come with me.’

‘Is this wise when she’s acting like this?’ Mom has managed to unstick her teeth.

‘She has to be shown.’

We walk through the “games” room. It has a full-sized pool table that is big enough to sleep twenty on it. And another fireplace that will keep you warm while you’re potting those balls. There’s nothing else in there, not even a bar.

He leads me through a door to the left of the stairs. It heads down a few steps and then bends right under the staircase. There’s a robust-looking door in front of us, barred with iron hinges and great big studs. It looks out of place like it should be guarding a dungeon. He fishes a key from his pocket; a big, heavy key that must nearly pull your trousers down with the weight of it. Not the sort of key to have about your person every day on a key ring.

‘Only family is allowed in here.

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