Sunshine Valley

My right

     Simon was sittin’ starin’ at the furnace. His mind was a million miles away. Reliving the comments Rebecca had made about the sheriff made him shiver and feel dirty. Life was precious. A gift from God. What you did with it was your choice. He was sure the sheriff had no power over his mother when she died. That was his cross to bear. It disgusted him that HIS WIFE found delight in the suffering of others. Surely God had a reason for what had happened. 

     He jumped 10 feet in the air when Rebecca’s voice cut through his silence. “What doin’?” She asked with a smile, “where was your head at?” She pulled up a bucket, turned it over to sit on it with him. “Thinkin’ about our delicious night?”

     “No, sorry. I can’t help but feelin’ sadness for the sheriff about his mother.”

     She purred, “my sensitive husband.”

     He turned to face her, “don’t you?”

     “No, he deserves what he got.”

     “How can you say that?” Simon was shocked to his core. 

     She shrugged, “how long has that man been sheriff? You can’t be in office that long and not be a crook. You know he can’t be a good person.”

     “I have never heard anyone say anything bad about him.”

     “You have read the stories Sunshine Sue published about him.”

     “And you have read the retractions and follow-ups. Sunshine Sue is a joke. All she cares about is the number of followers she can get.” Simon voiced angrily. “Draggin’ someone else through the mud just so you can create click bait makes you a horrible person.”

     “She has a right to make a livin’.” Rebecca smirked.

     “Not at the expense of others.”

     “Well,” she shrugged, “I’m glad he had to suffer.”

     “I’m not.”

     Anger shot across her face, “are you saying I don’t have the RIGHT,”. She put great inflection on the word – right. “to feel joy at his misfortune?”

    “You can feel whatever you want to feel. It doesn’t make me happy.”

     “You’re too sensitive.” She left as abruptly as she had appeared. 

Sunshine Valley