Half Crime by Rusty Barnes

Author:Rusty Barnes [Barnes, Rusty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rusty Barnes

I opened my eyes at 9:30 a.m. to the phone ringing. Caller ID said it was Ellie. I let it ring. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth before Sissy woke up and I opened the window. Outside, the trees were heavy wet. The air smelled clean, the odor of silage and cow shit and standing water without much drainage notwithstanding. The ducks didn’t seem to be making noise. I stretched my arms to the ceiling and back again, and I noticed a hulking figure squatting out by the hood of the duck den. Sissy slept as I pulled on my jeans and last night’s shirt with my down vest and went out the back door, after setting the coffee to percolate. Donald stood up as I walked toward him.

“Hello, Donald.” I extended my hand to him, and when we shook, his hand was soft as a baby’s.

“Hi,” he said, then stuck his hands in his jacket pockets. “You like ducks?” I said.

“I like lots of wild things,” Donald said. “These black ducks are pretty.”

“I got those from overseas,” I said. “My wife—my ex-wife—liked them a lot.”

“She don’t like them anymore?” Donald asked. “What’s overseas mean?”

“Well, she—my wife—doesn’t live with me anymore. And overseas means over the ocean. Far away.”

“Uh-huh,” he said, shoving his hands deeper in his pockets, and I suddenly didn’t know what else to say.

“You want to feed them with me?” I said.

“Sure,” Donald said, pushing back his hair so it fit under his cap better.

I walked back to the porch and slid the top off the drum I keep the duck feed in. I could hear noise from inside that meant Sissy was rousing herself.

“Just a half a jug.”

“OK,” Donald said. We walked back and lifted the hood of the den only to see a whole den of milk snakes now, wound around a mess of eggs whole and broken. “Oh no,” Donald said. “That ain’t right.” He picked up the biggest snake and threw it headlong into the deep weeds. “They’ll eat every eggie you got.”

“Now, no need to throw them,” I said. “Let’s just pick them up and put them over there. They just want food and found an easy way to get it. No need to half-kill them.”

“Oh, OK,” Donald said. He bent down again and picked up a fistful of snakes in each hand, and took them gently over to the hayfield and let them loose at ground level.

“That’s good,” I said. “Maybe they’ll forget where the eggs are now.” The crunch of footsteps reached me as Sissy came up and put her hand on Donald’s back and mine.

“We’re saving snakes,” Donald said happily. He waved two more snakes at Sissy, who shuddered and put her face in my shoulder as Donald walked away.

“What’s with you and snakes?” I said. “What about the tattoo on your back?”

“I don’t have to see that one,” Sissy said and laughed. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d ask me about that one and not the D&N one.

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