Chapter 1 -- Trailer Trash
Eight months after Hurricane Katrina, the authorities arrested eighteen year old Carla Staton’s mother for killing her father. When her teenage brother took his life the same week, she fled Hickory, Louisiana in denial. Catching a bus to Kansas City toppled her to shame.Five years later she escapes the pit she had fallen into. Accepting a ride to her friend’s wedding in Beaumont, Texas, she decides to call her sister on the way. Paula is excited to hear from her after all this time and calls her repeatedly the next few weeks, forcing her to face the family tragedy. Carla had buried her mother’s crime alongside Bill and Billy’s deaths in an urn, placed beyond memory.
Her cell phone played 'Fur Elise'. With trembling hand, she answers, knowing it is Paula. She can’t avoid her only sister. “You made your mama cry, Carla. Why did you promise to visit? She got her hopes up.” Gazing outside at mutts scouring trash cans, Carla knew all along she wouldn’t go.
“She made me cry.”
“It’s been five years. She just wants to see you.”
The stench, the barking dogs, and the rap music blasting from the bedroom down the hall triggered the volcano hovering her bones. She exploded.
“She killed my daddy! She killed my daddy!” Hurling the phone on the floor, she slumped in a kitchen chair and dropped her head on the table. Mothers should advise you, not murder your father. Her heart split into bite-size pieces. When she couldn’t cry anymore, she wiped her face with a paper towel.
