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1.
I hadn't been home very long when
the phone rang with the news that
Maurice's mule Bethel had gotten
its neck caught in some razor wire
and bled to death. I drove over
with a bottle of Jack which Maurice
and I drank till it was gone and the sun
disappeared behind a stair of thunderheads.
2.
Muzzy always wore big flowers in her hats,
which Maurice thought looked like something
somebody from New York might think was cute,
so one day he took all of Muzzy's hats out to a spot
near the barn and turned them into charcoal briquets.
Muzzy drank a six pack of Bud, got out her hunting
knife and murdered the Deere's new tire. After that
everything was okay for a pretty long while.
3.
A man named Kip just passing through
talked Maurice into investing in a chicken
place just off the interstate. Naturally
the thing went bust and Maurice walked
around like a moose with a bad cough
for months. When Muzzy opened a junk
shop in the same spot she made money
hand over fist and Maurice turned into a rooster.
4.
The same razor wire that got Bethel
caught Maurice around the ankle
and being Maurice he just let it fester
till it turned shades of Technicolor.
He lost the foot. Now he sits on his porch
and looks at the fields and talks about
mules and how stupid they are
while Muzzy unloads more junk.
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