The Front Porch Prophet

Hoghead married Dixie Lanier, vowing to love, honor, and abstain from squirrel hunting. Bird Egg went to the big beer joint in the sky after being hit by a log truck bound for Alabama Southern. A.J.’s old pickup died. And Maggie was pregnant.

“We’re going to have another baby,” she had said when she broke the news. She was smiling. Of all the wonders in the wide world, Maggie liked babies the best.

“What are you reading these days?” had been the proud father-to-be’s response.

It seemed to A.J. that the season of transience had ended. He had lost a job and gained another. He had inherited a fortune and given it all away. He had acquired a brother, then killed him. A child was on the way to fill the void in the life force. He supposed he had learned a lesson that he already knew. Permanence was an illusion, and nothing really mattered but now. So he vowed to make the most of the present and let the future lie. It was a belated New Year’s resolution, one he hoped to keep. His other resolution, made late on New Year’s Day, was to avoid killing anyone during the coming year. He had high hopes for that pledge as well.

A car door slammed. He looked up and saw Truth Hannassey coming toward him. As she stepped on the porch, he noted she was wearing a simple gold band on her left hand.

“Whoa,” he said, shaking her hand. “Did Diane make an honest woman out of you?” Truth smiled and nodded. A.J. had to admit that Diane had been good for her.

“Yes, we got married.” The happiness in her voice was obvious.

“You must have gone to Atlanta for that,” he kidded. All of the local preachers were notorious for their conservative bent. “Around here, you are an abomination in the eyes of God.”

“I just hate being one of those.”

“I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it,” A.J. responded, leading her to view a completed room. “He’s looking elsewhere most of the time.”

Raymond L. Atkins

Raymond L. Atkins resides in Rome, Georgia, with his wife. They live in a 110-year-old house that they have restored themselves, and they have four grown children who drop by from time to time. Raymond has had a variety of occupations during the past thirty-five years, but now that the children are grown, he is pursuing his lifelong ambition of being a novelist and writer.

His hobbies include reading, travel, and working on the house. His stories have been published in Christmas Stories from Georgia, The Lavender Mountain Anthology, The Blood and Fire Review, and The Old Red Kimono. His columns appear regularly in the Rome News/Tribune and Memphis Downtowner Magazine.

His second novel-Sorrow Wood-will be published by Medallion Press in August 2009.

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