Bury the Children in the Yard Read Online Free

the animal. They don’t all come from Bussard’s backyard. And if someone supplies an animal to be slaughtered then it only stands to reason they would have to come back to collect said animal. And, since our lady Minnow is of an expansive proportion, it would only stand to reason that she likes to eat. Maybe she lives on a farm. Maybe she had one of her animals slaughtered so she can rest easy knowing she has like a year’s worth of hamburgers.”
    “Yeah. I guess. It just seemed kind of late.”
    “It’s probably not like either of them had anything else to do.”
    “It’s hot. I’m going inside. Oh, by the way, you know your friend Geneva ...?”
    “I knew there was a reason you were out here.”
     
    A few days later, Jakob lay in his bed in a post-masturbatory near-slumber when someone knocked on his bedroom door. He hurriedly zipped himself up and threw the soiled paper towel under the bed before saying, “Enter.”
    He propped himself up against the headboard. Marcie came in and sat on the far side of the bed.
    “Why are you all sweaty?” she asked.
    “Because it’s hot.”
    “Oh, okay.”
    He didn’t know why she had come in but she had a look of excitement in her eyes. Maybe she had finally asked Geneva about him. But she just sat there. She liked to do things like that. Like make him practically beg to get anything out of her.
    “So why are you here?” he asked.
    “Well ... remember what you said about Darla Minnow the other day?”
    “Yeah. And I also remember how you debunked my small town-really-creepy-love-affair theory.”
    “Maybe I was a bit hasty. You’re not going to believe this.”
    Then she did it again. Just sat there on the edge of the bed with her lopsided hands clasped together, staring at him, waiting for him to ask her what it was he wasn’t going to believe.
    “ And? ” he said.
    “Okay, so I just came back from the library. They have this really great Hieronymus Bosch book I was going to try and steal and Darla Minnow was there behind the counter only at first I didn’t know it was her.”
    She stopped again.
    “Okay,” Jakob said. “If you keep making me pull the story out of you then I’m going to be too tired to pay attention by the time you’re actually finished.”
    “I could just stop.”
    “No. Don’t stop. Okay, why didn’t you know it was her?”
    “When she went into the slaughterhouse the other day, was she fat?”
    “Of course she was fat. I don’t know that I would have known it was her but for the girth and the canes.”
    “You are so mean. Anyway, the Darla Minnow I saw at the library was not fat. In fact, she was very thin. Like model-thin. I had a stroke of conscientiousness brought on by my curiosity and decided to check the book out instead of stealing it outright so I took it up to the counter and she got up from behind her desk to come and help me ...”
    “Did she have the canes?”
    “No. No canes at all. She looked more like someone you would see dressed up as like the ‘dirty librarian’ in a Playboy spread or something.”
    “How’s that possible?”
    “That’s what I’ve been wondering. You want to know what I think?”
    “You’re the brain.”
    “I think something happened to her at the slaughterhouse.”
    “That’s not possible.” But Jakob was already turning the possibilities over in his head.
    “We should watch it tonight. See if anybody goes in. And see what they look like when they come out.”
    “I don’t know. It just sounds crazy. I’ll call Jeff and see what he thinks.”
    “Okay. Well, I’m going to keep an eye on it and you can listen to your stupid friends if you want to. By the way, Geneva said you don’t really have a chance. And she has a jealous boyfriend who may try and emasculate you if he sees you in public. I’m sure it’s all talk but ... well, he is pretty big.”
    “Talking to you makes my head hurt,” Jakob said and reached for a music magazine on his bedside table, officially