Life or Death Read Online Free Page B

spooned, speared and consumed. Ernie asks questions, until Rosie tells him to ‘be quiet and let the man eat’.
    Occasionally, she sneaks a glance at Audie. She has changed her dress since before dinner. This one is newer and hugs her a little tighter.
    When the meal is finished, the men retire to the porch, while Rosie clears away the table and washes and dries the dishes and wipes the benches clean and makes sandwiches for tomorrow. Audie can hear Billy reciting his alphabet.
    Ernie smokes a cigarette and props his feet on the porch railing.
    ‘So what are your plans?’
    ‘I got kin in Houston.’
    ‘You want to call them?’
    ‘I went west about ten years ago. Lost touch.’
    ‘Difficult to lose touch with people these days – you must have really made an effort.’
    ‘Guess I did.’
    Rosie has been standing inside the doorway listening to them. Ernie yawns and stretches, saying he’s about to hit the sack. He shows Audie to the bunkhouse in the barn and wishes him goodnight. Audie spends a moment out of doors looking at the stars. He’s about to turn away when he notices Rosie standing in the shadows near a rainwater tank.
    ‘Who are you really?’ she asks, accusingly.
    ‘A stranger who appreciates your kindness.’
    ‘If you’re fixin’ to rob us, we don’t have any money.’
    ‘I just need somewhere to sleep.’
    ‘You told Daddy a pack of lies about your girlfriend running off. You been here three hours and you haven’t asked to use the phone. Why are you really here?’
    ‘I’m trying to keep a promise to someone.’
    Rosie makes a scoffing noise. She is motionless, half in shadow and half out.
    ‘Who do these clothes belong to?’ Audie asks.
    ‘My husband.’
    ‘Where is he?’
    ‘He found someone he liked better ’n me.’
    ‘I’m sorry.’
    ‘Why? It ain’t your fault.’ She looks past Audie into the darkness. ‘He said I got fat. Didn’t want to touch me any more.’
    ‘I think you’re beautiful.’
    She takes Audie’s hand and places it on her breast. He can feel her heart beating. Then she raises her face, pushing her lips against his. The kiss is hard, hungry, verging on desperation. He can taste her hurt.
    Breaking her grip, Audie holds her at arm’s length, looking into her eyes. Then he kisses her forehead.
    ‘Good night, Rosie.’

4
    Prison tried to kill Audie Palmer every day. Awake. Asleep. Eating. Showering. Circling the exercise yard. Through every season, scorching in summer, freezing in winter, rarely in between, prison tried to kill Audie Palmer, but somehow he survived.
    To Moss’s mind, Audie seemed to exist in a parallel universe where not even the worst of deeds could alter his demeanour. Moss had seen movies about people returned from Heaven or Hell because something in their life had been left undone. He wondered if maybe Audie had been sent back from Hell because of some glitch in the devil’s bookkeeping or a case of mistaken identity. If that was so, a man might appreciate penitentiary life because he had witnessed so much worse.
    Moss first set eyes on Audie when the young man walked up the ramp with all the other new arrivals. As long as a football field with cells on either side, the ramp was a cavernous place with a waxed floor and fluorescent lighting that buzzed overhead. The mainline prison population watched from the cells, catcalling and whistling at the fish. All at once the cell doors opened and people spilled out. This only happened once a day when it was like rush hour on the subway. Prisoners were settling accounts, placing orders, collecting contraband or looking for targets. It was a good time to draw blood and get away with it.
    It didn’t take long for someone to discover Audie. Normally, he’d be news because he was young and good-looking, but folks were more interested in the money. There were seven million reasons to befriend Audie or to beat the shit out of him.
    Within hours of his arrival, his name had spread on the