1966
You know, there's a whole hell of a lot more to Georgia than just Atlanta. Heard some sissy bastard call it 'Hot-lanta' once. Shit head. Up here, right close to the Georgia-Tennessee border, there's some mountains, a crisp clear fall day would just take your breath away. Lot of times? In the winter? We even get us some snow around here.
Anyway, I'm sitting here, got my feet up on the desk; my boots is still mighty new and hurt my feet something bad. Cathy Sue is sitting at the front desk, studying the True Star newspaper real hard; headline says JFK ain't dead. According to the True Star, the U.S. government's got him in some secret laboratory high up in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.
"Kitten," I said. "You got know that's just plain horse shit."
"Nuh uh," Cathy Sue said. "Says it right here. That weren't him in Dallas. That was some Russian spy trying infiltrate the U.S. Government but the CIA fount out 'bout it and put a stop to it real quick like."
Kitten's what I call Cathy Sue Kattes. Her last name's pronounced 'cats' but she's only four foot nothing; girl can give my cock a good licking and never have bend over do it. So like I told her, she weren't tall enough be a cat. She's still a kitten.
Buddy's out on patrol. That's more horse shit; he's over at Happy Café, drinking their nasty ass coffee, eating their day old doughnuts and trying get Norma go with him for a little ride. That's fine; North Georgia Savings &Loan's right across the street. The Phillips 66 filling station's next door to the café. And the Winn-Dixie grocery store's right across the street from this trailer. That pretty much covers this whole town other than Miss Kandi's and that's just right down the street a bit.
"If that was true, Walter Cronkite would be telling us all 'bout it," Earl Stuebbens called out.
"Says he's been sworn to secrecy," Cathy Sue yelled back.
"Well, wish Kennedy'd get his carcass back in the White House; that jackass LBJ's dragging this country right to Hell with him," Earl said.
"Hey, Earl, you 'bout sober nuff drive yourself on home?" I asked.
"Yes sir," Earl said. "How drunk'd I get this time?"
"Oh, not too bad," I said, getting to my feet.
"I owe anybody?" Earl asked as I unlocked the cell door.
"Nope. Figure Kitten got to you afore you got too stupid," I said.
"Where you put my keys?" Earl asked as he shuffled out of the cell.
"Secret place you ain't never going find them," Cathy Sue said, turning the page on her True Star rag.
"Aw, come on, Cathy Sue," Earl whined. "You know Paula's 'bout have that baby. I needs my truck."
"Then maybe ought not be drinking so much, huh?" Cathy Sue opined. "Keys in a real secret place; bet you never figure it out in a million years neither."
"Hey, Earl?" I said, putting my feet up on the desk again.
"Yeah?" Earl asked, tearing his eyes from Cathy Sue's cute little titties.
She's wearing her khaki uniform shirt and got the first two buttons undone. The fan is going full blast, but really? All its doing is pushing hot air around as it goes back and forth.
"Think of looking in your pockets?" I suggested.
"Cathy Sue, you a mean, mean little girl," Earl said, pulling his keys out of his pocket.
"I aint no little girl," Cathy Sue said, blue eyes all squished up and bottom lip sticking out a mile.
"And ain't is not a word," Earl said. "Now, where'd I leave my truck this time?"
"Right out front Miss Kandi's," Cathy Sue said.
Miss Kandi's was in the part they called 'Nigger Town' because it was where all the coloreds lived. Only time we cops went on down there was when some white folk got a bit out of hand. Most time, when some colored boy got out of hand, they just handled it on their own. Only time we got involved with colored stuff was when one of them up and killed another colored.
"Aw hell, what I was doing there?" Earl said, shuffling to the door.
"Same thing Paula done said when I asked her she want come get you," Cathy Sue yelled as Earl opened the door of the trailer.
"Aw, you didn't, huh?" Earl whined.
"And close that door. Letting all the flies in," I yelled.
When he shut the door, Cathy Sue unbuttoned another two buttons, showing off her cute little bra. She used a manila file folder to fan herself; had be about 90 degrees outside and weren't much cooler inside.
"You didn't really call Paula, huh?" I asked, watching her cute little titties bounce as she fanned herself.
"Naw, but ought to," Cathy Sue said. "Know, Happy Café's got them that window unit? Why we can't get us one them air conditionings?"
I shrugged my shoulders. Our governor, Carl Sanders seemed to think that a window unit weren't needed; said it was a luxury. Uniforms, our two patrol cars, couple or three.357s and three twice barreled 12 gauge shotguns was what we could afford and that was what we got.
"And quit looking at my boobies," Cathy Sue said, holding down the page of the True Star rag when the fan breeze whirred past her desk.
"Kitten, you know ya'll got cutest little titties I ever seen," I said.
"They ain't little," she said. "They a c cup."
"Bra says twenty four B," I said.
"It were marked wrong," Cathy Sue lied.
"Kitten, you lying and you know it," I laughed.
"Keep laughing, ya'll ain't never going see them again," Cathy Sue said, mean look on her face.
"Like your hair like that," I said, getting to my feet.
Cathy Sue's got her long blonde hair back in a ponytail. Norma, over at the Happy Café got her hair up in this beehive kind of thing. Paula, Earl's wife, and my ex-wife went and spunt nine bucks get her hair done up in one them bouffant. Nine bucks. That's part the reason she's my ex-wife. Other part is she couldn't seem stay out of Earl's bed, or Jonesy's bed, or Lester's bed.
Earl thought he was only one getting into Paula's drawers, so when I tossed her fat can out my trailer, he stepped up and took her on as his own. Maybe he ever sobered up, he'd come to figure out, that baby she's carting around might not be his.
But Cathy Sue's hair is just natural. It hangs down to her waist and when it's hot like this, she keeps it off her neck by doing it up in a ponytail. Makes her look a lot younger than nineteen, I tell you that.
"Hey!" she yelled out when I gave her ponytail a little yank as I walked by.
I'd waited 'til we bounced Earl on out of here; I'd started fixing out dinner while he was in, I'd have make him dinner too. Let him go on home and eat whatever Paula could wrestle up.
In our kitchen, I poured myself some coffee. It's been sitting in our percolator probably about four, maybe five hours now, so it's real thick. Shit, put enough milk in it, it'll be just about drinkable. But since it's the last of that pot, I go ahead and fix up another pot.