Gnats, Humidity and Murder

Amidst the oppressive heat and relentless swarm of buzzing gnats, Bill Allgood sought refuge from a night so saturated with humidity that it pressed in from all angles like a proverbial "ton of bricks", squeezing all ambition and hope from any normal soul. This evening of July 1, temperatures had been beyond oppressive. And after a long day of sweating outside, fighting the insanely persistent humidity and gnats, he had come in only to fight with his wife inside the large, white-columned plantation-style home. Even though the sun had gone down, temperature was still in the 90's but it seemed a lot hotter, almost suffocating.

He escaped his trouble from the outside and in by immersing himself in what had been his father's private shower, where hot water poured over him cutting away the grim of the day as it ran down on the white marble tiles in the stall causing steam to fill the room.

Bill had inherited the house and plantation from his father years ago. The bathroom of choice that evening was the one on the main floor by the old man’s office. He remembered, as a child, being prohibited from entering the room and especially could not go into the throne room. Take that, you old bastard, he thought to himself. He deliberately showered there in further defiance of his father’s prohibition of his use of that bathroom.

Hit by a growing urge, he stepped out of the shower, not bothering to dry off and settled on the old man’s throne, proud of the imaged contortions of the old man’s face if he could only see him now, violating the old man's most private space.

The past few weeks had brought him to the edge of a emotional and physical collapse. But he knew if he could hold it together for a while longer that all of his problems would not only be solved, but he would be wealthy and powerful beyond his wildest dreams. .......

He remembered his Uncle Buck telling him, “Real men do not look,” but he couldn’t wait to admire the product of this hard effort that had given him so much joy and comfort. As he finished, he thought to himself that is a small pleasure and the larger ones coming from all the hard work over the last year would reach a satisfactory conclusion in the next few weeks. It’s all coming together, he thought as his peripheral caught a shadowy figure outside the door to the office. Startled, he yelled, “Hey!” immediately thinking, what a stupid thing to yell.

Bill Allgood saw the flash and heard the bang simultaneously. As if in slow motion, he felt a sting and saw blood trickle in two places on his leg. Instinctively he jumped up and ran toward the door crashing into the shadowy figure, who had frozen seeing the naked man running at him.

For no reason, the thought ran through his head that even at that time of night, the humidity hung in the air so heavy it was slowing him down. As he pushed past the figure and made it across the room, he heard two more bangs and felt stings on his right upper arm.

As he turned down the old pine board hallway, he slipped momentarily. Recatching his balance, he heard two more bangs and fell forward as he felt the pain in the middle of his back. In his mind, he could see himself twisting and turning as he fell, landing with a thud on his back. He realized he was lying on his back, naked on the hallway floor. He could feel or see (he was not sure which) darkness closing in on him in an ever-decreasing circle. He realized he was lying there exposed and embarrassed. The next to last thought he had was I did not even get a chance to look in the bowl. Then he thought, I will never get out of Pear Valley as he saw a light at the end of a long dark tunnel.

The shadowy figure stood over him and took a shot directly into Bill’s groin. As Bill was moving slowly toward the light in the dark tunnel, he heard, “Even dying, you bastard, you mess up a great plan.” Bill’s open but lifeless eyes gave no indication he ever felt that one.

The blood seeped along the pristine wide-planked pine wood floor, penetrating the cracks and covering the silk area rug. Six hours after the last shot, the blood had begun to solidify around the victim, who had grown cold and stiff. The stench of gunpowder and decay filled the room as the morning sun rose over the pecan trees.