Coming this year!

(Excerpt)

“Lightning ‘bout to strike a pine.”

—Junebug

1

***

District Attorney Herman Lowe sat at the table wearing his best suspenders and stove pipe pants, his Stetson propped on the table before him. His date for the night, Marissa, a shapely woman half his age was draped over him, his arm over her shoulders. The Sojourner  was his getaway—a dinner club where no one knew him.

Even better, it wasn’t a spot his wife or her friends frequented. He kissed his date wetly on the lips and tipped her a wink. “‘Scuse me sugar I gotta make room,” scooted his considerable girth out from behind the booth and sauntered to the men’s room. As he relieved himself he let his thoughts flow. Two courtroom wins just this week. Twenty more behind me. Could be Monterrey is ready for its first Black mayor. Herman was a man who believed in firsts,

The District Attorney buttoned his pants, pulled the chain to flush the toilet and went over to the basin to wash his hands.

Somebody come in here? He turned his head to scan the restroom. “Hello. . .?”

Herman hadn’t heard the door swing open. But the hairs on the back of his neck were tingling and he had a funny quivering in his gut.

He began to sweat. With a pounding heart he lifted his head to look in the mirror above the basin.

“You—!”

Copyright Valjeanne Jeffers 2013 all rights reserved.