Marble in the Bag

Marianne

Zeb Robert's song :

"Keep push'n me away, girl.
Be as cold as dry ice.
Take as long as your heart needs, girl
To test me all you like.

Everytime you check the knots,
To see if they will hold,
Is one more chance for me to show you
My Intentions are 24 Karat gold."

.............

Marianne had never known anyone so attentive.
He held the door
Helped her out of the car
Told her she was like Venus in his eyes...

He was there, it seemed,
With only one desire:
To light her fire

And, that, he surely did.

No amount of ruckus,
From her parents,
Changed her mind.
So, it wasn't a big surprise
That Marianne ran off with Zeb...
Not even leave'n a note
For them to find.

No surprise either when,
In the middle of month nine,
Marianne turned up at the back kitchen door
With a big, round belly
And an eye bruised and shine'n.

Now I've heard it said
That the devil don't fiddle slow.
Seems he likes to keep his songs fast
So's to lesson the chance
Of his prey think'n clearly as they dance.

But Marianne had seen his evil intent
Flash inside Zeb's eyes;
So, before their dance grew faster,
Marianne had run away.

She dropped the baby into her mama's lap
Less than a week after his birth...
Then took off without plan or map.

........

He'd inherited his granddaddy's bed
When he'd outgrown his crib;
And slept in it still.

As he pulled himself up,
From the dip in the middle,
And looked out the window
At a fine, fall day,
He yawned and stretched in all directions.

For one tiny moment he enjoyed the view,
Till he remembered it was Sunday and he had work to do.

Tiny flits of thought bout the grimy, yellow window light
He'd seen on Tuesday night....
Bout two slick, blue ribbons...
Bout his days lost to responsible live'n,
His years spent always give'n, never get'n.

........

"Hey, Stella, Bill here.
Hope I ain't call'n too early".

"Hey, Bill"
Stella answered as she stooped to fix her hair in the old dresser top mirror
... so she'd look good for nobody....
"Why you call'n me? Has your gramma taken a turn for the worse?"

Bill felt his chest tighten
"Thought maybe you'd like a ride to church."