Quitetly, Quiggly stepped into the darkness as he stealthily approached and steeled himself to kill the only two people he'd ever loved and for whom he'd ever lived. He was ready. Suddenly, he stood face to face with the evil man himself, with the very man who had ruined his life and crushed his heart, with Richard Snipes. "I-I-I . . . ," he stammered in disbelief. He was speechless! The only words that came to him were those which he long ago had given himself. "I can't believe I'm doing this," he admitted to himself. "I can't believe I'm still doing this. I must be insane." But he had no choice. He had been driven mad and he was acting as if insane. He only hoped that the end would be as quick and effective as the long train of events had been. "What's that I hear?" Snipes screamed, turning toward the sound. Quiggly quickly turned, too, as if his soul had turned and fled. He fled not only with terror, but with regret. Quiggly had almost expected it, yet he still wasn't prepared. He was startled when the blade flashed and he found himself falling backward onto the ground, his blood seeping from his mouth and his head feeling like it had been torn apart. He was gone in an instant, and Richard Snipes stood over his body, smiling his sickly, sinister smile. "That's what happens when you fuck with my business," he whispered menacingly. "You're so dead, so fucking dead." And even though the words were muttered rather than yelled, they reached every corner of the house. "I can't believe you're still going around saying things like that," snapped Loretta as she sat in a chair across from her aunt, hands on her waist, with the TV still going off and on. "What? What do you mean?" asked Aunt Gladys. "That's my husband's father you're talking about, Aunt Gladys!" "What? Oh, I . . . I was referring to him. I meant he was a bastard, that's all." "I thought that's what you meant." "No. I mean no disrespect, Loretta. No disrespect at all." "Well, then let's just forget it," said Loretta as she got up from the chair. "Oh no. He was a real pig, he was. Nobody ever deserved what he put you through." "I know, I know. Now let's just drop it." "Drop it? Nonsense. That's what men do to women, Loretta. They treat you like garbage, because that's the only way they know how to be men. I was his second wife, but I was his first victim." Loretta sat back down and stared blankly at the TV. "I know I didn't do right by him, but I just wanted to warn you, sweetheart. So now you know how much of a pig he was, and to prepare you for the . . . the piggery which he always brought home with him. That's what it was, just the piggery. Nothing to do with love." "I don't understand." "Never mind. Just don't be surprised if he makes you clean the place when you get married, because that's all you're worth." Loretta shook her head in disbelief as she looked at her aunt, in a kind of shock. "Okay, that's enough." "Okay. I'm going to go lay down. Good night." "Yeah. Good night." When Aunt Gladys had left the room, Loretta didn't know what to think. Aunt Gladys was never this irrational. Something was definitely wrong. Even more startling was the fact that Aunt Gladys was suddenly speaking her mind. She'd said things she didn't even want to think about, and that only a few days ago would have sounded like it was coming out of Loretta's mouth. She turned her head toward the clock. It was almost eleven. Who'd want to eat a sandwich at this hour? What time did you serve fish and chips in this town? Whatever happened to breakfast, then tea, then lunch? How about dinner? If you were gonna have a sandwich in the middle of the day, that would be when. Loretta tried to put her aunt's comments out of her mind and made the effort to tune the TV down and out so that she wouldn't be able to think about anything except the game that was coming on. This was going to be one of those nights, she said to herself, as she lay down on the couch. She didn't realize how much she'd miss Aunt Gladys's nagging until the woman was gone. She was always right. The TV had always been too loud, or she hated the food that Loretta cooked, or this, or that. This was going to be one of those nights, Loretta thought, as she sat up, looked at the TV, then turned it off. A night like a hundred other nights. "I was so lucky," Loretta said aloud, staring at the game. "Why? I mean, he was awful, horrible, disgusting, sick, and . . . he was always, always so good to me. Why? What did I do to deserve him? How did we ever get to the point where we both loved him? And what the hell happened to that other life I thought I was destined for?" Loretta just didn't know. She never had. "The only thing that I can think of," Loretta said, as she laid her head back on the couch, "is that he was the most beautiful man I ever met. Even when I first met him. I'm telling you, a man could drown in that face, that smile, that whole deal. It was like a dream come true, a real-life fairy tale. Maybe I shouldn't have had to marry him, and maybe I shouldn't have been born, but here I am and I have to live with the consequences." Loretta fell asleep in complete amazement. She didn't know that life in the Twilight Zone had led her to believe that good and evil, life and death, were two different things. She would have been in far less shock had the phone suddenly rung or someone knocked on the door. "Just what we need," she said to herself as she lay there, "to have Aunt Gladys call." But that was the last thought she had before her slumber was suddenly and rudely interrupted. "Loretta, honey, what's taking you so long to answer the phone?" It was an unmistakable voice. Aunt Gladys's voice. "Just get off your duff and answer the phone. I know you're in there and you know I'm out here. Why you been trying to keep me out here all night? Is that why?" Loretta jumped up. She didn't know what to do. Her aunt was not supposed to be home. There was only one thing Loretta could do. She picked up the phone and made a call. "I just got back in," she lied. "You mean to tell me you haven't gone to bed?" her aunt bellowed. "Well, no. You said come in and I'd give you something to eat." "I meant I was gonna fix something for you and nobody told me you'd been in here since yesterday." "What?" "Now, how did I know that? How do I know it wasn't you who didn't answer the phone?" "I haven't been in here but a minute." "Only a minute? You been in here that long?" "Okay. Okay. I've been in here a minute," Loretta lied, "and I just got back in." "A minute! A minute, you say? I don't know why you bothered to come in at all. I could have been gone a few minutes, got back and you'd have been in here all alone. A minute? A minute? Why, I should know what to do with you, you little bitch!" There was only one thing to do. Loretta grabbed the bottle of sherry from the cabinet and started pouring it on the carpet. "There," she screamed. "I can't stand the sight of this old carpet. It's already brown, and it smells like crap!" "What?" Aunt Gladys screamed. "What'd you just say? Did you just call me a bitch?" "I said I can't stand the smell of your filthy carpet." "Oh, that's rich, coming from you. You know what you need to get rid of? All this bullshit you've been writing about me, about our family. That's what you need to get rid of. And it's you who needs to get rid of it. You need to take all this garbage you've been scribbling about us, and you need to shove it up your ass. And don't you ever call me a bitch again! You hear me? Do you hear me?"