DELTA DAWN (#fridayflash)

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Sugar Foot Hollow was always peaceful. Or so it seemed.

Under the shiny surface of comely dimestore counters and picture-postcard porches, four women decided to break the cycle.

* * *

Mertyle's life was good enough. She woke up every day, made her pies and if she was lucky, got to read her Saturday Evening Post before Supper. She had no children because her woman parts didn't work so well but it was probably for the best. You see, Davis, her hubby of 27 years liked men. Once word got out that he and 'Fillin' Station Pete' were sweet on one another, Mertyle decided it was her duty to clean up her own kitchen instead of anyone else in town -- namely her daddy, a wizard for 'The Brotherhood.'

Peggy was married to Jeb, a man so painfully angry the Lord gave him a peg leg that nothing made him smile -- not even the sweet nectar of his moonshine that kept his roof dry and his belly full. Peggy took the abuse quietly and kept smiling on Main Street. She couldn't smile anymore, however, when Jeb threw out their 16 year-old daughter Mae for getting knocked up by the high school football coach. The image of her baby leaving in tears, begging forgiveness, still haunts her. Peggy never saw Mae ever again and doubts that she ever will.

LeeAnne was married to what she thought was a pillar of the community. While Brett was his name to friends and family, the rest of town knew him as Coach Parsons. His weakness? Teen-aged girls. After news spread that he impregnated the daughter of his wife's best friend, Coach Parsons was fired and rumor had it didn't leave his barn for a month.

MoonPie and Loretta grew apart years before her last child left the house. Didn't matter, though, he was a good provider. But the boredom escalated once the children were gone so Loretta took matters into her own hands. While MoonPie worked his fifteen hour shifts at the mine, she kept company with the region's travelling bible salesman. Funny thing, it didn't take long before she took the Lord's name in vain underneath him. A wedding date was eventually planned.

* * *

Getting them to the wheat field was the hard part. The ladies paid Milo, a gargantuan mute, to help wrangle up the men within a few hours. Rope and chloroform can do wonders.

They lined up their husbands -- barely conscious -- but confused enough to piss their pants. The foursome smiled a last smile and pulled their triggers. They dug with Milo all night long.

All was now quiet in Sugar Foot Hollow.

Music: Loretta Lynn - A Man I Hardly Know. It can be downloaded HERE.

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