The town was infested with dirty motels and the sky was littered with red signs.
Ruby June
RUBY JUNE crying best friends forever and writing soapy words on the window.
Ruby June gliding through the water and nabbed by a fish. Ruby June drowning in the sand, dirt caking under nails down to the quick. Man grilling hot dogs on a rotten porch close by. It sears your nostrils and creeps past the homemade flea market on the roadside. Glass beads on rawhide, two for a buck that’s killed in the ditch and bleeding in the ruby sky.
Ruby June dreaming of stretching out under the earth. If you listen, you can hear Ruby June in the maple tree that loses its leaves in the fall. Ruby June crying down the window, freezing in lights strung on pines. Cut down your own one at a time.
The sky is rosy orange but you can check in day or night. Ruby June pretending it feels good and right. Ruby June in the shadows, searching for the sheet. Ruby June, the two-legged cat, tiptoeing out of sight.
Ruby June hanging over the bridge and writing words in the snow. Hear the cocks crow. Red lights blinking on towers now. Ruby June and buildings lighting the night sky. King Avenue, a quarter of a mile. Next exit, take the road to the crumbling brick house and forget all you’ve learned. Ruby June getting the tune to sound right.
Ruby June smiling at the man with tattoos on his chest. Ruby June is bad, dropping on the floor. Make sure it’s dark. Hide the scars and cry really hard and no one will suspect. Ruby June howling at the moon.
Remember Ruby June in the field. Tracks in the wheat. Get beans in fast. Ruby June taking the dog out of the bun and feasting on relish.
Ruby June wanting a break, but blinking towers are back. Ruby June running from them coming down the drive. Drown in the river or spread arms wide and be the cat in the alley. Feet bleeding but they don’t care. Look the other way and lick stained white socks when it’s over.
Ruby June is the thought you get when blood stops flowing and you freeze to the floor. No animals now in the meadow or in the zoo. Ruby June is a month late and the drive-though is closed. Quiet now. Hands over my eyes and die.
Ruby June spread over a blanket, raining on the dirty wool and drowning in a red stream.
Give me back my doll, Ruby June. You’ve killed it.
Soldier's Gap is a non-traditional mystery with literary elements. The high school principal is brutally murdered, but Deputy Sheriff Dave Jenkins's search for meaning and love is a much more significant theme.
"Murder isn't usually this fun
Helios is an award winning novel about a brilliant inventor of new technology, a fallen CEO seeking redemption, and an idealistic youth who comes of age in corporate America.
