Have you read the original UNFINISHED short story and can’t wait to find out what comes next? Have the tables been turned on Donny? Did he do it? Will he survive?<\/p>\n

To answer all of these questions, you’ll have to wait for the full novel to be released. But for now, here’s a sneak peak at chapter 2.<\/p>\n

I must be dreaming.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Wake me up, lord, wake me.\u00a0 But I\u2019m alive, breathin\u2019 and apparently on trial.<\/p>\n

The Bailiff drags me to the Defense Table.\u00a0 I\u2019m not kickin and screamin, cause I don\u2019t believe this is happening.<\/p>\n

Melanie tightens the scarf around her neck as a sort of re-assurance. The Courtroom is silent.\u00a0 Melanie looks me dead in my eyes, \u201cDonny York… that\u2019s him, I\u2019m sure of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Prosecutor, with a smug look sewn across his yapper asks Melanie, \u201cPlease explain to the jury what happened on the night of February 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

[sociallocker id=”683″]Melanie stares at me as if trying to communicate telepathically.\u00a0 I can\u2019t read a damn brain wave, thought, nadda.\u00a0 Frustrated, she continues, \u201cDonny and I had just had dinner at the Fountain.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI had been after him for weeks to take me there.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cAnd the place did not disappoint.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWe ordered from the happy hour menu as Donny was cheap that way.\u201d \u201cBut I wasn\u2019t complaining.\u00a0 The food was delish, the drinks free-flowing… just like Donny\u2019s hands.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHe couldn\u2019t keep his mitts off of me… touching me in places that are normally off limits in public.\u201d \u201cBut I decided, what the heck, we\u2019re celebrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Prosecutor chirps in, \u201cCelebrating what?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cOur commitment to each other.\u201d \u201cWe were betrothed.\u201d<\/p>\n

All that she was saying was true, in fact.\u00a0 Except for the part where I whacked her.\u00a0 I began to watch, more than listen to her words; her movements, ticks, patterns of speech.\u00a0 Somethin\u2019 is off kilter.\u00a0 Her nails, or lack there of… she bites them down to the nub when she\u2019s nervous, feeling cornered.\u00a0 That dame suffers from onychophagia; a serious case if ever I saw one.\u00a0 She even joined a 12 step program in order to help her stop the biting.\u00a0 Our last night together, her hands resembled that of Mother Mary.\u00a0 Now look at them.\u00a0 Hands of a grave-digger.<\/p>\n

The last time Melanie felt cornered was several months ago.\u00a0 We were at the zoo.\u00a0 I hate the zoo.\u00a0 Very depressing. But Melanie wanted to go.\u00a0 Something about the mixed breed exhibit.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t see what the big deal was.\u00a0 We see mixed breed all the time.\u00a0 It\u2019s called a donkey.\u00a0 But she had to go.<\/p>\n

I left her in front of one of the open-air cages to pick up some suds.\u00a0 Suds usually do the trick.\u00a0 Coming back, I see Melanie in an argument with some flat foot.\u00a0 As soon as he spots me, he abruptly concludes the conversation, casually walks away, leaving Melanie biting the shit out of her nails.<\/p>\n

She refused to tell me what was really going on; only some crap about mistaken identity.<\/p>\n

Now I know I\u2019m no Einstein, but I know when I\u2019m being handed a bill of goods.\u00a0 And this sister was dishing it out.\u00a0 Who was that badge, and what did he want with Melanie?<\/p>\n

The Prosecutor takes quantum steps to land precisely in front of me.\u00a0 Ten equally measured steps.\u00a0 All timed precisely to give weight to the moment he pronounces my guilt with his index finger pressing on our table, his finely pressed double breasted with creases pointing in my direction.\u00a0 This Joe means business.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor shifts slightly to the right in order to highlight his good side for the viewing audience.\u00a0 And that\u2019s exactly what this was, a show, a farce, with me as the main attraction.<\/p>\n

I jolt out of my seat, as if hit by a bolt of electricity. \u201cMelanie, speak the truth, doll, and I\u2019ll forgive ya!\u201d\u00a0 The judge pounds away on his gavel, the prosecution wags his finger in my direction, yet, the Bailiff shoves me back in my seat.\u00a0 This is the sound bite that they\u2019ll play over and over again on the news.\u00a0 I gave them theater!<\/p>\n

Melanie buries her face in her hands, refuses to look in my direction.<\/p>\n

My grandfather, in the jury box, smiles, gives me the thumbs up and the Prosecution, the finger.\u00a0 I loved it.\u00a0 The Judge didn\u2019t. They remove him from the jury and replace him with an alternate.<\/p>\n

My gramps has the last word as he\u2019s ushered out, \u201cSo what if he did it, my boys deader than a door nail in 48 with or without your stinking verdict!\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks gramps.\u00a0 I think.\u00a0 But he was right.\u00a0 Why put an unfinished on trial for murder when there is no way they can serve any kind of sentence.<\/p>\n

Unless, what they say about 72 hours…. to say it without the trimmings, is a lie?[\/sociallocker]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you read the original UNFINISHED short story and can’t wait to find out what comes next? Have the tables been turned on Donny? Did he do it? Will he survive? To answer all of these questions, you’ll have to wait for the full novel to be released. But for now, here’s a sneak peak<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[14,16,22,31,35,12,13,29,11,34,82],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patricewilliamsmarks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patricewilliamsmarks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patricewilliamsmarks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patricewilliamsmarks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patricewilliamsmarks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.patricewilliamsmarks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":695,"href":"https:\/\/www.patricewilliamsmarks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691\/revisions\/695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patricewilliamsmarks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patricewilliamsmarks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patricewilliamsmarks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patricewilliamsmarks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}