writing from
Scars Publications

Audio/Video chapbooks cc&d magazine Down in the Dirt magazine books

 

This writing was accepted for publication
in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book...
The Hive
Down in the Dirt (v137)
(the June 2016 Issue)




You can also order this 6"x9" issue as a paperback book:
order ISBN# book


The Hive

Order this writing
in the book
A Stormy
Beginning

the Down in the Dirt
Jan. - June 2016
collection book
A Stormy Beginning Down in the Dirt collectoin book get the 318 page
Jan. - June 2016
Down in the Dirt
issue anthology
6" x 9" ISBN#
paperback book:

order ISBN# book

Order this writing in the book
the
Chamber

(the 2016 poetry, flash fiction,
prose & artwork anthology)
the Chamber (2016 poetry, flash fiction and short collection book) get the 420 page poem,
flash fiction & prose
collection / anthology
as a 6" x 9" ISBN#
paperback book:

order ISBN# book

Meds

Doug Hawley

    As they did for the last eleven years, Duke and Jane packed up for their two week vacation at their secluded cabin at Frog Lake in the Cascades. As always, Duke told Jane to pack his xydox. And as always, he cautioned her “Taking my meds is a matter of life and death.” Jane said nothing, despite being sick of the routine.
    After they got to the cabin, Duke said “I’m an hour overdue for taking my meds, and I can’t find them.”
    “That’s because I didn’t bring them.”
    “What?”
    “I can’t stand you anymore, and I saw my way out. There is no way that you can get your meds before you die.”
    “Did you plan on marrying Jason after I’m gone?”
    “That’s right. I’ve got him in the palm of my hands. After you’re gone I’m moving up to an exciting guy that doesn’t think that watching TV for four hours after coming home from the insurance company and then going to bed at nine is a good time. How did you know about Jason?”
    “There are a few holes in your plan.”
    “Like what, smart guy, soon to be dead guy?”
    “First, Jason talked to me about you. He thinks that you are pathetic and crude. He shudders every time you rub up against him. What you thought of as affection was just Jason being polite.”
    “Even if you are right, I’ll still be happy to be rid of you. No one can prove that I deliberately forgot your meds.”
    “Let’s look at mistake number two. You have totally misunderstood the meaning of ‘life and death’. It is your life or death. Years before I met you, I killed several people in a tavern brawl. The shrinks said I had ‘extreme anger issues’. Rather than go to jail, I was placed in an asylum. After a few years there, they found that with xydox, I could be very mild mannered, or as you put it deadly boring. With the understanding that I would always take my meds, I was released. Without my meds, under provocation, I’m likely to kill again. You are so self-centered that you never asked me what the meds were for. You just made a faulty assumption.”
    “You wouldn’t hurt me, you love me.”
    “You bring up your third mistake. I know that you only married me because the rich guy you tried to entrap by getting pregnant was sterile, and the real father was a meth-head loser. I was supposed to be a second choice meal ticket for you and your kid before you miscarried. I admit that I was mesmerized by your hour glass figure and felt lucky that I could land a prize like you. That was before your hour glass turned into a fireplug and your using sex to manipulate me caused me to look around. I found someone who loves me and wants to marry me as soon as I’m out of your clutches.”
    “You’ll never get away with it.”
    “What is this, some bad TV show? For the most part, I will away with it. Jason will be happy to testify that you had hinted I might not be alive long. You will be blamed for denying me my meds. I’ll do a little time at my former institution, followed by being cured again and in the arms of my curvy young beauty. Now why aren’t you running?”
    Jane didn’t make it to the door.



Scars Publications


Copyright of written pieces remain with the author, who has allowed it to be shown through Scars Publications and Design.Web site © Scars Publications and Design. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.




Problems with this page? Then deal with it...