The Mayor of Christ Mountain

The Dantents’ white ’97 Jetta pulled into the driveway of their new home. It chugged a little bit as Edmund shut down the engine. He got out, stretched his arms up as far as he could reach and involuntarily let out something between a groan and a grunt. He turned and watched Jenn do something… Continue reading

Edmund pulled into his driveway and set the parking brake on his car. His first day at ViaTech was about what he’d guessed it would be: shown around the offices, met a lot of his coworkers, filled out a pile of paperwork half as tall as he was. He’d settle in there soon enough. As… Continue reading

It’s a sad fact that good times make for bad stories. It wouldn’t be accurate to say that nothing much happened over the next five years. Many, many things happened. Cassie started school, made lots of friends, and got pretty good grades. Edmund excelled at his job and Jennifer got a part-time job of her… Continue reading

“. . . and nothing but the truth,” Edmund Dantent finished, then looked around the courtroom. His throat was tight with anticipation of the questions he might have to answer. This week had been circled on his calendar for two months, although he didn’t know when his specific day would come. Defense counsel Leonard Clump,… Continue reading

The prosecution had wrapped up their closing arguments. Their case was a simple, straightforward summation of the known facts. Edmund didn’t see what else there was to say, but now was the defense’s turn. Leonard Clump stepped up to the lectern. He looked around the courtroom a moment, and then smiled genially at the jury.… Continue reading

Edmund watched the members of the jury as they filed back into the courtroom and seated themselves. Even though he tried to suppress it, he felt vaguely uneasy about the fact that six of the twelve were black. Surely that doesn’t matter, he thought. They’re reasonable people. And no one can actually take Clump’s nonsense… Continue reading

Edmund stood there in shock, open-mouthed. Everyone in the courtroom was staring at him, the judge, the jury. Even Jennifer, sitting right next to him. Had she slid away from him on the bench? He didn’t understand what had just happened. He didn’t say that word. He didn’t even think that word. He was a… Continue reading

Edmund was out walking that afternoon. He needed some time alone, some space to think. He drove to a park not far from the house and then just started walking, not really paying attention to where he was going. There were a lot of kids running around the playground there, often yelling and laughing. He… Continue reading

Although it never got big, the story of Simmons’ acquittal and of Edmund’s outburst was reported in national venues, and it got significant airtime locally. After watching and reading just a few of the reports, Edmund vowed never to touch one of them again. One coffee mug broken after being flung across the kitchen was… Continue reading