Abner

4

Abner's wife was getting sicker. It started as a pink rash on her left ankle and it spread from there. The doctors had basically given up and nothing seemed to be helping. Mae was pretty religious, so when medicine failed her, she fell back on faith. Abner loved Mae, but he was skeptical, or at least indifferent. They had the same argument every week, two or three times a week. Mae would close her eyes at the dinner table and begin to pray. She prayed for their son, she prayed for their community, she prayed for her family, and she prayed for healing. It never came. Abner would sit quietly as she prayed and fold his hands out of respect, but he didn't feel anything. Eventually, Mae would pause and the silence would start. At first, Abner jumped right in and prayed too. He knew that's what she wanted, but he still didn't feel anything. Now he just let the silence hum along until Mae closed out the ceremony with a soft "Amen." Then they would argue about whether God was real and whether he cared about pink rashes and mysterious cancers in little people in rural Texas.

Their son Logan was addicted to methamphetamine. It was a shame because he was so smart. He dropped out of college after a year and moved back in with Abner and Mae and almost immediately started getting into trouble. He had been to private rehab, state rehab, and had even done two quick stints in prison for possessing more than a gram. A third strike would put him at 25 to life under the habitual offender statute and he knew it. His parents now saw him from time to time when he was especially desperate for cash, but rarely otherwise. Logan would break in through the back door when Mae dragged Abner to church on Sunday mornings. On Sunday afternoons, Abner would reset the lock on the back door and replace the stolen money from the drawer in the kitchen.