Member-only story
Linda’s Last Flight
He’d started the letter to his brother twice now. He opened the bottle of Southern Comfort an hour ago and already it was half gone.
Jesse Wagner lived in a squalid ground floor apartment so old the floorboards were the color of dirt. He never cared much about the place. It didn’t matter to him where he lived, he was out on the road most of the time.
Normally.
None of it mattered now anyway.
Jesse took another long pull from the bottle before shrugging into his coat and heading out the door. He needed to buy some more before the liquor store closed. He made his way down the uneven sidewalk not caring how steady his walk appeared to passers-by.
None of it mattered now anyway.
Shep was behind the counter when Jesse finally made his way down the street and into the distressed storefront. He bought another bottle of Southern Comfort and added a bottle of Scotch. Shep raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything as he wrapped the bottles up in paper bags and handed them over. Jesse recognized two other men loitering off to one side but said nothing. Usually, he enjoyed his trips down to the store when Shep was there and had spent more than one long afternoon in the company of the other customers there. But today Jesse said nothing and the other men treated him with arm’s length compassion…
