叔叔一直住在另一栋房子里. 自己. 他年轻的时候，在我出生前，是个卡车司机. 然后他在一个叫“德州红”的乐队当过一阵子鼓手. 然后他结婚了，但三年后他的妻子离开了他. 后来他生病了，不得不在疯人院呆了一段时间. 他出来后，搬到了妈妈的另一处房子里. 距离印第安纳州南部的格伦维尔10英里. 他躲在另一栋房子里, 大多数时候, 在他闻起来像男人腋窝的卧室里.
我六年级的时候, Uncle took me to the pasture where the cows grazed when my Grandpa was still alive and showed me how to shoot his rifle. 他教我如何装子弹，瞄准和射击. 我扣了四次扳机才把啤酒罐从栅栏上撞了下来. 我这么做的时候，叔叔大叫一声，把靴子的脚趾踢进泥里. 他从我手里接过枪，重新装上子弹，然后把它还给了我.
他笑着说:“现在开枪吧，史黛西.”
他捶着自己的胸口说:“瞄准这里，宝贝女儿. 把我从痛苦中解救出来.”
我嘲笑他，听到妈妈叫我，所以我把枪还给了他. 我以为他在戏弄我. 我确定第一次，他只是在开玩笑. 他说hg888皇冠手机版以后再练打靶, 但当我告诉妈妈的时候, 她说不, 不再练习射击因为她不确定他是否还在服药, 所以hg888皇冠手机版没有.
有时, 在晚上, Uncle would put on his clodhopper boots and light a kerosene lantern and leash up Porter, 妈妈的猎犬, and take his gun and Porter up into the thirty-seven-acre woods that grew behind Mama’s house and partly behind his. 有时在早晨, 会有一只浣熊, 剥了皮，洗干净，无头漂浮, 放在妈妈家有盖的门廊上的一个盛着冷水的大锅里. 有时他把波特留在身后，独自上楼去. 在这些时间, I could hear him shooting in the woods so late 在晚上 that the moon was already to the other side of the sky.
叔叔有时喝强尼·沃克酒，喝醉的时候也喝, 他不想让任何人到他家来. 是我给他送早餐的. I’d walk it over, set it on the kitchen counter and yell at him to come down for his breakfast. 我会把早上洗好的盘子收起来, 但是当他酗酒的时候, he called Mama on the phone and told her not to send no motherfucking eggs and bacon over because he’s sick of being poisoned by her cooking and she was just a half-sister know nothing bitch.
Mama took the breakfast over herself on those days and made him get out of bed and clean his stinky, 喝醉了的屁股了. 我会和她一起去, 像小狗一样跟在后面, 她把盛满食物的托盘朝他的门口走去. 妈妈会把他的药从浴室拿出来, 把它们握在她手里，然后给他倒一杯自来水. 在他吃药的时候, Mama took the cartridges from his rifle that sat catty-corner by his refrigerator on those days too, because she said she don’t want to have to clean Uncle’s brains off the greasy walls.
That way of living, that breakfast routine, that coon hunting, went on for a while. 从我9岁到13岁.
有一天,, Uncle yelled down at me to bring the breakfast up to him and not leave it on the kitchen counter. I never did that before and was a little nervous of what I might find up there in the dark dust at the top of the stairs. 我把它送上楼，放在他卧室的门口，然后跑下楼. I feared Uncle because sometimes he yelled cusswords and he had that gun that Mama said she wish he didn’t have but if she took it from him, 他会打电话给他的老酒友, 柯蒂斯, 开车送他去小詹姆斯家再买一个. 叔叔收到了伤残支票, and he didn’t use it for nothing but to call 柯蒂斯 to give him a ride to town to buy whiskey and sometimes gave the check to Mama for his groceries or when she needed to pay his phone bill or the property taxes.
第二天早上，叔叔又叫我把早餐端上来给他. 我所做的, and I was fixing to leave it at the bedroom door when Uncle jerked open the bedroom door and stood there with no shirt on, 穿着一条旧牛仔裤, 从膝盖处切. 叔叔脸色苍白，骨瘦如柴，胸部有点弯曲. Uncle smelled terrible, like he just burped up whiskey and blew his breath into the air.
“把那个托盘拿进来，史黛西，放在那边的床头柜上.”
I wasn’t sure if I should, but he was smiling a little and he seemed normal acting. 我走进去，把托盘放下. 我试着对从床上传来的臭气不皱起鼻子.
“看看我对微波炉做了什么，史黛西，”叔叔说. He pointed to his broken up dented microwave that was on top of his clothes dresser. 我看着它，点了点头，快步走出卧室，走下楼梯.
当我走到楼梯底部时，我朝叔叔喊道. “妈妈要你吃药.”
他对我大声吼叫. “告诉你妈妈，我不需要吃药. 我不是疯了. 我还教了那只浣熊飞. 他现在能飞了，史黛西. 波特能飞. 我不是在做梦，是我教他的. 高到可以爬到树上抓浣熊. 告诉你妈妈她有一只特别的狗.”
I went to the kitchen and picked up the tray of dishes from the morning before and high tailed it back to Mama’s house. 我只回头看了一眼叔叔的房子. 叔叔从卧室的窗户望着我.
第二天，当我把他的早餐送过来时，他什么也没说. Didn’t yell down the stairs, didn’t look out the window when I walked back to Mama’s.
在那之后的一天也是一样，然后又是一样. 第二天晚上叔叔去打猎了, 在早上, 妈妈在门廊上发现一只浣熊漂浮在水面上.
在我13岁生日那天, 妈妈打电话给叔叔，问他要不要hg888皇冠手机版带一块生日蛋糕过来. 经过长时间的安静交谈, 叔叔一定答应了, 因为妈妈挂了电话, 切一大块巧克力蛋糕，把它放在一个纸盘上. 妈妈边哭边说. 那是一声无声的哭泣. 眼泪却没有哭泣.
“妈妈,”我说. “没事的. 你很长时间没见到叔叔了，他会很高兴见到你的.”
“是的,我知道. 他只是让我难过. 当我去那里的时候，他总是和我争论. 他的药用完了，不让我带他去看医生.”
She ran her hand over the top of her head like she was checking to see if it was still there.
“我把蛋糕放到厨房里就走.”
这对我来说不一样，不是例行公事. 不是好的方面的不同，但我不明白为什么它看起来是错的. 这不是通常的情况. 早上我通常带着鸡蛋、烤面包、培根和咖啡. 现在妈妈在下午拿着生日蛋糕.
她拿起那盘蛋糕，继续向叔叔家走去. 我走到她后面. 我看见叔叔的窗户边有动静, 我抬起头来, the curtains waved a little like Uncle had been looking and just dropped them back down.
When we got close to the house, Uncle came out naked, with his man stuff hanging out for us to see. 他带着枪.
“生日快乐, 史黛西,”叔叔说, 他从妈妈手里夺过蛋糕，同时把步枪递给我.
“我想你现在够大了. 我没有什么礼物送给你，所以我把我的步枪送给你. 好吧?”
我不想要他的来复枪，但我不知道如何拒绝叔叔，所以我把它拿走了.
Back to Mama he said, “I’m tired of you using your microwave oven to read my thoughts. 而且我知道微波炉里发生了什么. 你只是想找到证据把我送回疯人院, 所以你可以拥有所有的土地和我的房子. 我不是疯了. 我还弄丢了你的狗. 我很抱歉. 他就这么飞走了，我到处都找不到他.”
“谢谢你，”我大声说道，打断了他的咆哮. 我把步枪跑回屋里，妈妈站在那里和他争论.
当她回来时, I handed her the rifle and she took out the cartridges and put them in the kitchen drawer, 然后把枪带到了地下室. 妈妈把它藏在冷冻室角落里一块卷起来的地毯后面.
接下来我所知道的, Mama is calling Uncle and continuing the argument about coming outside with no clothes on and giving a loaded rifle to her daughter. Mama told him there is no way to use a microwave oven to get into his brain and that he needs to get back on his meds. 妈妈说如果他再做那种疯狂的事, 她会打电话给警长把他送回精神病院, 他属于.
In the morning, Mama made him scrambled eggs and biscuits and she took them over herself. Mama said she wanted to apologize for her angry conversation the night before and talk Uncle into letting her take him back to the doctor. Mama only stayed a short time and when she came back, her face was red, and her mouth was in a frown.
叔叔已经离开了家. 波特也不见了. Mama walked up to the edge of the trees, hoping to see Uncle coming out from the woods. 到了晚上, 妈妈在屋里等着, 整晚都在听叔叔的叫喊或者波特家的黑狗的嚎叫, 从厨房窗户望出去，看有没有叔叔或波特的踪迹. 到了早晨，妈妈打电话给警长.
大约一个小时后，一辆棕褐色的警车驶进了车道. Sheriff got out and walked around with Mama looking for clues, I guess, or something. 妈妈送警长去叔叔家. They went inside, and I heard Mama yelling then she screamed, and I heard two shots.
叔叔一丝不挂地跑出去，向妈妈家跑去. 我赶紧跑到地下室拿了我的生日步枪. 我跑回厨房，打开妈妈藏子弹的抽屉.
那时，叔叔已经站在前廊上，手放在门把手上. 当他打开门时，我举起了步枪. 我用枪指着他的脸. 叔叔愣住了，站在那里看着步枪的末端，然后又看着我.
“Shoot me, 史黛西, because I just killed your mama and that fat ass sheriff with his own gun.”
听到这话，我的手都发软了，犹豫了一会儿, 但我把枪拿了起来，牢牢地握着.
“来吧，做吧，宝贝女儿. 把我从痛苦中解救出来.”
“你为什么要杀妈妈??“我尖叫.
“今天是你的生日，我想送你点东西让你记住.”
他哭了，眼泪顺着脸颊流下来，脸变红了. 我也哭了，但我拿着枪稳稳地对准他的脸.
“那是谎言，史黛西. 我谁也不想杀，但我也不想回到疯人院. 微波炉把我的思想传播出去所以每个人都可以说我疯了.”
叔叔往后退，跑出前门. 跑回他的房子，拿着一串钥匙出来. 叔叔上了警长的棕色轿车，从车道上倒了出来, 啸声轮胎, 踢起碎石. I called 911 and soon I see one state police car pull into Mama’s driveway and two other police cars speeding on. 一架直升机从上面飞过，我知道他们在追叔叔.
过了一会儿，我看见了波特. 他在直升机后面飞行. 他那长长的猎犬耳朵像蜂鸟的翅膀一样拍打着. He dipped and bumped through the air but stayed dangerously close to the helicopter. 我为他感到害怕. 我叫他下来，但他没听见.
I am an African American writer who started seriously focusing on writing fiction in the late twentieth century. 我的文章发表在文学杂志上，比如《hg888皇冠手机版》, 的坩埚, 野牛疯狂, 和Punchnel. 2000年，我在俄亥俄山谷小说竞赛中获得第二名. 我开始对其他事情感兴趣，直到2013年才再次开始写作. 从那以后，我取得了一些成功. In 2017, 我在独幕剧比赛中得了大奖, 由曼德维尔30x90剧院上演, 新奥尔良的郊区. 2019年3月，我赢得了蚀刻hg888皇冠社的中篇小说年度竞赛. I was second runner-up in the Daisy Pettles writer-in-residence competition in May 2020. I was named as an honoree in the Emerging Author category for the Indiana Author’s Awards in September 2020. This year in April, I was named as one of ten finalists for the SAG/INDIE Screenwriting Fellowship. 我没有赢. 责难它. 5月, 我的故事, “Savonne, 不是Vonny,” was named as a semi-finalist for the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) program for short stories and novelettes.