Poems by John Ridge

Author:John Ridge [Ridge, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780988956810
Google: 8O12swEACAAJ
Publisher: Boll Weevil Press
Published: 2017-04-17T00:07:18.994522+00:00

2

After the music stopped and the boys settled into another comic interlude, the girl led T.J. outside to the barn, where several other young couples were in some stage of embrace. T.J. barely had time to catch his breath before she draped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

“Whoa!” said T.J. “Wait, wait.”

“What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked. T.J. could smell the liquor on her breath.

“What’s your … I don’t even know your name!”

She smiled. A howl of laughter came from the house as the Bishop boys continued their routine.

“Jo Ann,” she said, drawing in closer for another kiss. T.J. reciprocated for a lost moment then pushed her away again in sudden guilt.

“I need to … just a minute, Jo Ann,” he said. “I thought you were Hoke’s girl.”

“Who told you that?” she asked with a devilish grin. “Did Hoke tell you that?”

“Well why are you always with him, then?”

She rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Just kiss me, T.J.,” she said, grabbing his shirt and drawing him closer. “Let’s don’t talk about Hoke.”

“You’re drunk,” he said.

“Naw, you think so?” she said, kissing him again, knocking him backwards into the barn.

Suddenly her hands were everywhere, like a slithery octopus, groping in the darkness. T.J. was excited and confused, ecstatic and guilty, all at once. He could feel a stirring below the waist and he wanted desperately, in his shame, to pull away, but she was having none of that. Instead, as her tongue explored the deep recesses of his mouth, her hands found their way to his place of shame, and she stopped for a moment, pulled back, and smiled.

“Whoo, you like me, don’t you, T.J.?” she said with pride.

“Sure,” he said. “I think you’re nice.”

She put on a pouty frown as she caressed his waist and cast her gaze downwards.

“Just nice? Is that all you think of me? Ain’t I beautiful? Hoke says I’m beautiful. He says it all the time.”

“No he doesn’t,” T.J. replied. She pulled back. He immediately realized he’d said the wrong thing.

“What?”

“I mean it just doesn’t sound like something he would say, that’s all.”

The girl looked hurt and surprised. She hadn’t expected to be hurt tonight, least of all by T.J.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said that, should I?”

She shrugged.

“No, you’re right,” she said. “He don’t say it. He don’t never—“

BLAM! Just then a gunshot went off and everyone at the party began to scream and run.

“Oh my God. Oh my God, no,” said Jo Ann, straightening her clothes.

“What’s going on?” asked T.J., tucking in his shirt.

“It’s Hoke.”

T.J. peered outside and, sure enough, it was Hoke, yelling for Jo Ann to come out of the house. Everyone insisted she wasn’t there, which just made him scream all the louder.

“Jo Ann!” he said. “Come out here, you whore! I know you’re in there!”

He shot the gun again and the blast echoed through the dark, empty woods.

Then there was another scream as a second gun came into play. Someone in the homemade policeman’s uniform stuck a muzzle out the window.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.