Sour Notes by D.K. Wall

Author:D.K. Wall [Wall, D. K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Conjuring Reality Media

I leaned against the support column on the porch and picked dirt from under my nails. “He actually thought it was a good idea to take an infant to a barn?”

She laughed. “You’ve been citified too much. I wasn’t so worried about the barn as being sure your father would keep his focus on Dean. You know how he gets when he’s working.”

My shock must’ve shown on my face, because she shook her head and continued, “You have to remember how differently he and I were raised. Skeeter barely finished high school. That was only because his father never did and wouldn’t let him quit. Your great-grandfather only went a few years to school at all. Before that, who knows? Most McDougals probably never saw the inside of a schoolhouse. Kids grew up working on the farms. It’s just what was expected.”

“But it was dangerous. Kids died doing that.”

“Of course. No one is okay with that, of course, but it was just part of it. I was collecting eggs from the chickens by the time I was four. Trust me, chickens would peck a kid’s hand as fast as an adult’s, but you learned from it.”

“But—”

“If Dean had lived, don’t you think he’d have your nieces or nephews doing chores around the farm?”

I sat back down in the chair beside her. The thought of Dean with kids made me melancholy. He had volunteered in high school to coach some of the youth sports in town. Like everything else, he was good at it. The kids adored him. “Yeah, he probably would.”

“I’m not asking you to approve of how your father and I handled things. We made plenty of mistakes.” She patted my hand. “Just understand what we did and why we did it. It’s how we were raised and who we are.”

I closed my eyes and nodded. “I get it. He was closer to Dean because he spent more time with him in those first few years.”

“It was never intentional. It just happened.”

“But that means he probably wishes it was me in that wreck and not Dean.”

She grabbed me and wagged a finger with her free hand. “Don’t you dare say that. He loves you both. He’d never wish harm on you.”

I looked over the fields. “I didn’t mean it to come out that way. It’s just that he raised Dean to take over the farm. Without him…”

She rocked and nodded. “It certainly has been harder than we’d dreamed.”

I hesitated, wanting to ask a question but knowing it might hurt. Finally, I couldn’t keep it quiet any longer. “Were you angry at Dean?”

“For the accident?”

I nodded.

“I suppose. Some. Maybe that’s natural.”

“I meant…” I looked away, avoiding her eyes. “I meant for being drunk.”

“Oh, honey.” She squeezed my arm. “Dean wasn’t drunk.”

Of course he was drunk. Everyone knew that. Why deny it? “Why else would he drive off a road?”

Her eyes welled up with tears. “He was sober. The autopsy confirmed it.”

My head swam in confusion. “But…?”

She leaned back in her chair and told me what she knew.

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