The Summons

the streets of their hometowns and happily roll back the years. The rest are pulled home by duty and

roads for maximum visibility. Ford County had no zoning whatsoever. A landowner could build anything with no permit, no inspection, no code, no notice to adjoini

as when Ray had roamed them on his bike. Most of the houses were still owned by people he knew, or if those folks had passed o

hat little was done on Sundays except go to church, sit on p

League for the Pirates, and there was the public pool he'd swum in every summer except 1969 when the city closed it rather than admit black children. There were the churches - Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyteria

s that had wiped out so many small towns. But here the people had been faithful to their downtown merchants, and there wasn't a single empty or boarded

ments for their dead. Ray had always assumed that the family money he'd never seen must have been buried in those graves. He parked and walked to his

g instructions on exactly how his father would be laid to rest. Many orders were about to be given, many d

grimaced at his old high school, a place he'd never visited since he'd left it. Behind it was the football fi

re five, Sunday, May 7. Ti

ew days, and the Judge's old black Lincoln was parked in the rear, but other than tho

ere these columns were painted white. Now they were green with vines and ivy. The wisteria was running wild

always the same wave of guilt. He should've stayed, should've gone in with the old man and founded the house of Atlee & Atlee, should've married

e Run. The house next door to the east was another relic occupied by a family of spinsters who'd been dying off for decades. It w

the door, which was open slightly. The Judge refused to lock the house, and since he

hit, whatever it might be this time. For years the Judge kept an old cat, one with bad habits, and the house bore the results. But th

said, but not too

They had been there since the county evicted him from the courthouse. Ray glanced to his right, to the dining room where nothing had changed in for

as napping

n was usually a mess, but not today. He found a diet soda in the refrigerator and sat at the table trying to decide whether to wake his father or to p

blow off. He'd never been on time in his life. He refused to wear a watc

wanted to take care of business. He walked into the study, noticed his father hadn't moved, and for a lon

uspenders, no tie, black socks, and black wing tips. He'd lost weight and his clothes swallowed him. His face was gau

was a small white plastic container. Ray took a step closer

t had not changed in his lifetime. The ancient Underwood typewriter still sat there, a pile of papers be

meless, Ray began to realize that his father was not breathing. He comprehended this slowly. He coughed, and t

en V Atlee