Miss Lola was one angry woman, and she sure showed it, too, I guess, by
killing every member of Ivory James' family, and I do mean every member.
That woman even killed Ivory's boy's dog, who wasn't worth his weight
in kibble, you ask me, but don't tell anyone I told you that. Wouldn't
want anyone getting the wrong impression. You know how people are about
dogs. Gag at a gnat swallow a camel, you know what I mean?
But anyway, Lola
did them all in with a pair of old rusty scissors that she used to make
all her girls' dresses. Can you imagine how dull they must've been? Oh,
and what a mess she must've made? Hell, Lola never could keep a house
up no way. I used to say that her mother was probably down there rolling
in the ground over what a poor housekeeper Lola turned out to be. And
Miss Martha famous for her beautiful home and all? You know, even dead,
she's disappointed in what her daughter's turned out to be.
But about those
scissors: they say she just ran at Ivory full-out, screaming like a banshee
and who knows what went through that man's head seconds before those dull,
rusty old scissors went into his chest. She must've hit her target pretty
good 'cause they say there was only one stab wound in old Ivory, bless
his heart.
And you know what
that crazy, nasty Lola did next? She went right after Mrs. James, who
they said just stood there, mouth flapping open, letting in all the flies
from miles around. Must've given the poor thing quite a start to see old
Ivory killed like that with those old fabric scissors.
So Lola went on
after Mrs. James then, but I won't go into the details on that. You can
just imagine the force it would take to stab someone four times in the
chest with rusty old scissors. And Mrs. James wasn't any lightweight in
the chest department either. Top heavy, she was, so you can just imagine
how much tissue Lola would've had to cut through to get her where it did
any damage. Such a mess, too, I'm sure.
Do you think they
need any help getting the James' place back in order? I'm sure it'll be
quite a daunting task, but in respect of Ivory and Mrs. James, I think
it should be done, don't you?
Poor Mrs. James,
I'm sure she'd hate to think of all that blood and Lord knows what else
staining her new blue carpet. Why, just last week the Henderson boys installed
it for her; Carter said it was the color of bluebells, but I heard tell
that it was actually colonial blue. You remember how Mrs. James was about
her colonial blue. Tacky as all get out, you ask me, but I guess it takes
all kinds. I just bet you they'll have to pull up all that new, plush
carpet, which is just a shame, blue or not. I tell you poor Mrs. James
was so proud of all that new carpet. Maybe I should take my carpet cleaner
over there and see if it'll take some of those stains out. We might still
be able to salvage it. I certainly don't see what it would hurt, just
a quick go 'round the room. Probably blood splattered on the walls, too,
but I have some pretty powerful all-purpose cleaner that'd probably take
that right out with a little scrubbing. Maybe I should give Billy a call
and ask if I shouldn't go over there and help clean up the James' living
room. Wasn't it the living room they were killed in?
But, oh, I forgot
all about little Donnie, bless his heart. I guess he was killed in his
room; he was asleep when Lola killed him, they said. Had a late night
the night before. Out gallivanting, I guess, with those no-good, hoodlum
friends of his. He hangs around with that Dean boy, whose pure-D trouble,
you ask me. And you can imagine just what kind of gallivanting it was,
if he slept through his own murder, for God's sake.
Anyway, Lola just
snuck right into his room and drove those scissors right between his shoulder
blades. Said they found them there, sticking out of little Donnie's back
like some kind of a popsicle stick.
But wait, I told
you that Lola killed the dog, too, didn't I? So she must've done that
in between Ivory and Mrs. James and little Donnie. Dog's name was Waggles.
Stupid name, you ask me, but then I don't like dogs much. I'm more of
a cat person, truth be told. You know I'm not so sure how Waggles came
to his unfortunate end. Billy didn't mention that, maybe it was too gruesome
for my lady's ears, but I can just imagine. Can't you?
I'm just glad they
have her locked away at the city jail; just where she deserves to be,
as far as I'm concerned. Though, I must admit that knowing she's there
doesn't mean I lose any less sleep at night. Nope, I won't sleep soundly
again until they move her over to that maximum security place in the next
county. Did you know that they only move the most dangerous criminals
to that fancy new prison? And when I made the point that Lola wasn't dangerous
to anybody, Billy said that she'd been screaming, kicking, and acting
like some kind of a crazy person ever since they bought her in last Wednesday.
I'll tell you one thing I just don't think those boys up there at the
city jail should have to handle that kind of thing, do you? Lord knows,
they have enough to deal with chasing down that Dean boy and his wild
friends.
In any case, don't
tell anyone I told you this, but Billy also said that if I had seen what
Miss Lola had done to poor old Ivory James, Mrs. James, little Donnie,
and Waggles, I wouldn't be so quick to think that Miss Lola wasn't dangerous.
She must've made herself a pretty big mess over at the James' place for
him to say that, wouldn't you think? I just wonder what she did to that
old dog, don't you?
I guess we shouldn't
be thinking of things like that though. Not before breakfast, anyway.
Pretty morbid to be thinking about murder before we've even had breakfast.
I was just standing here at my stove, frying up this bacon, and I thought
of you. Thought you'd like to know what happened to poor Ivory James and
his family, even the dog. Those newspapers don't tell us nice, law-abiding
citizens anything, and we've got a right to know when a murder happens
in our own backyards, don't you think?
I just wonder what
Mrs. James would think about that new carpet of hers stained with her
own blood. Just a shame.
