How’d the visit go? I know your folks. N...

How’d the visit go? I know your folks. Nice people. Sorry to hear your dad’s still out of work. But who isn’t? Well, I’m not. I’m still here. Could be somewhere else, like Spain shooting some whatyoucallem, but I might get killed and then bein’ here looks better. I had a boy like you. You must have known my Brett at school. Big fellow. Fast runner? Moose’s easier to identify. Distinctive. My break’s about up. So what do you think, kid? How many years do you think you’ll get? Or will they hang you? When they hang you the last thing you hear is your own neck break. And if you got a thick neck bone, a strong one, a young one, then it takes a while to break clean through, sometimes hours, and all the while you’re dying you’re hearing it snappin’ and cracklin’ and poppin’, just like a stick on fire. So what do you think?

Wallace, Naomi. The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek. Broadway Play Publishing, Inc. 2000. pp. 9-10.