Page 5 of Holley Jolly Biker

To keep my mind off the trouble that lay ahead, I called out to my daughter, “How about we sing our song?”

She giggled, and then I started,“I don’t want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing I need...”

We sang the song all the way through. Giggling when I messed up a word and giggling when she said stockings like pockings.

Man, but that little girl was my entire world.

And just as I thought that, I saw the town lights.

Town lights that had me breathing in a sigh.

Seven hours of driving would cause anyone to sigh when they reached their destination.

Thank god.

We drove through what seemed like the main street.

Every store’s front window had decorations for Halloween.

Spiders. Skeletons. Cobweb netting. You named it; they had it.

I kept glancing at the paper that held the directions to the little house I had rented.

It wasn’t easy finding this place.

But after my great aunt had told me a story about this little town near the bayou in Larose.

She had found her true love in this little town and spoke about the mysteries that surrounded it.

Mysteries. Plural.

However, the one that I remembered the most was that if you passed by Granger’s General Store and there was a woman in a long black dress stepping out of the door, the person that is the other half of your soul is within twenty feet of you.

After the hell the men in my life had put me through, I was going to do anything and everything I could to avoid that general store.

I turned left, then right, then left, and left again, and then I saw it.

Or rather, I didn’t see it.

The picture on the website had to be at least a decade old if not more.

But it was a building. A building with four walls and a roof, and it had a fireplace.

Thankfully, there was plenty of wood I could cut to keep us warm.

I guess I owed the other rat bastard who used to be in my life a thank you.

Because for years, I was the one who had to chop wood to keep the house warm if I wanted any semblance of warmth.

I shook my head.

Today was going to be a good day.

I wasn’t going to be criticized about my weight.

I wasn’t going to be put down for having my hair up and not down.

I wasn’t going to be criticized for the amount of sweat I was going to be shedding when I cleaned.