Down Twill Pass

Chapter 3: 1st person diary

My Uncle Barney never came much to town. Mama said he was due to come this Thursday. Uncle Barney is a good man. He always use to tell me "A man with a smoker's lungs leaves with a smoker's soul". He said a wise man told him that, but I ain't ever known of a wise man, at least not in this town. Every time he came around he brought along a pack of cigars for him, a pack of cigarettes for me. They wasn't real but I always thought they was, I'd pretend to smoke one of them candy cancer sticks and Uncle Barney'd smack me upside the head. "You ever gon' smoke little girl?" He'd ask me. Well you're damned if do and you're damned if you don't? I'd say "Yes sir." in my little southern accent. He'd take the candy cigarettes from me and leave me on the porch to sit. Come to think about it, he may have meant something.

Back to 3rd person:

Lydia watched a white bus swerve as it reached the bus stop she stood at. She looked down at her feet, touching as if it was a curtesy to the driver. Uncle Barney lived in a town somewhere far away, neither of Lydia's parents would dare address it. She took no mind to that, but sometimes wondered if he lived in Neverland. The bus came to a halt and Uncle Barney stumbled off the bus, a heavy set man with a baby face. He looked at Lydia and scooped her up as if she was a lump of Blue Bell ice cream. He didn't come with any candy cigarettes today. But he passed on a fine ebony colored box to Lydia's mother. "Oh Barney, you shouldn't have." She tossed it into the city trash when Uncle Barney wasn't looking. Barney was her brother; step-brother. But he was like a blood brother because she never had any siblings. He came every once in a while to pay a visit, he was a wealthy man while Lydia's family was poorer than a wet dog. He always brought gifts but neither her mother nor step-father would accept them.

Uncle Barney sat on the same porch they always knew and Lydia sat beside him. He didn't fork over a 10 dollar bill or a couple quarters. He just stared at the setting sun and let them ankle biters have at him. "Uncle Barney?"
"Darlin', we gotta talk. I got a plan."