Scout Miller was a man of banal ways, uncelebrated means, and incredibly normal appearance. Yet Scout was a lucky man, being married to one of the most wonderful women this side of heaven. Gina was a quietly beautiful wife who volunteered in her community weekly and gave herself to her family life. Because of her efforts, and despite his, Scout was gifted with two compassionate children, Sam and Vicki. Scout's everyday existence was spent trying to appreciate the incredible life he'd been given, and to some day become worthy of it.
Sadly, Scout's family was killed on a Saturday morning in November. Scout's kids were accompanying Gina to a doctor's appointment when Gina was mugged at gunpoint. Vicki screamed as the man in an oversized winter coat rasped, "get on your knees, kids." "Do what he says," Gina said courageously. The man threw Gina's purse to the ground and wrapped his snowmobile gloves around her neck. As her face purpled, Sam jumped at the man but fell with a shot. Vicki looked with shock into the man's face before she, too was shot in the chest and fell to the cement with her mom and brother.
The news hit Scout with a crushing blow. For a week he sat numbly on his wide couch where his family watched movies together, eating endless bags of greasy chips with high-calorie dips and putting away cheap beer by the six-pack. His second week of mourning Scout dropped the chips and upped his drinking to mostly liquor. He would think about the times in college he and Gina would drink White Russians at the pool hall. In painful nostalgia he stumbled to a hall downtown where he drank whisky sours and played horrible pool. He quickly became a laughing stock and willingly excepted bets from sharks, but the owner put a stop to it after Scout had lost $150.
To be continued...
nice. freaky potential.
ReplyDelete