"Hullababloo" (A Shannon O'Day Short Murder Story)

Hullabalooon by his screened-in-door behind him to his right side,
(Part of the End) And so Shannon O'Day knew thatthat led into the kitchen, where'll the bugs gathered
very first morning of October, 1953 knew that Kentpeacefully, with no worries, no need to escape the
Peterson would be where he was always in the weedeath hand of fate, and Kent wanted to talk a little
hours of the morning, on that porch of his waiting forwhile with Shannon, but he never stopped long enough
him to walk through the front gate to paint, andfor the old man to get a syllable out, just kept right on
Shannon could no longer withstand, the moment hadwalking by, just like those bugs behind him, so he
simply come to that point that no longer could bothtreated the old man, as if he wasn't there.
breathe the same air in the same farmyard, in the(Trains) By the time he got back to his farm, he
same county, and same state, on the same day, andgrabbed a jug of whiskey out from under his kitchen
what he said pushed him over the forbidden line, thecabinet, walked a mile to the train tracks, sat on the
red line. And so lacking his patience, and perseverance,edge of an embankment, waited and watched for the
to subdue his pride, to withstand his nagging, histrains to come and go by, those coming from Chicago,
persistence, he fell back on that right to defend it, theto St. Paul, a few stopping in Stillwater Township first,
way he did in the war, the Great War, the one heabout twelve miles away. The train it self, he liked to
earned a medal for killing his enemy, with his rifle,hear the four whistle blasts for a crossing, the
bayoneted, like Kent Peterson was to him now. Butheadlights, the nosy engine, see the shadows of the
the war was of course over.engineer, and conductor, and fireman, and watch the
It began in the fall of 1953, or a year prior. Oh maybeslowing down of the coaches, the people in the late
not, perhaps it started in the summer of 1951, or evendining room car. The black waiters going back and
sooner, but it shaped itself into a hullabaloo betweenforth with food for the rich: then the back lights of the
the two, when he was ordered to paint his house andtrain were gone as fast as they had appeared in a
barn, paint for fifteen days. It all stemmed fromclap of an eye.
arrogance, intolerance and pride, and then destruction. ItBetween the long days of working for Peterson, and
all started when they started to breathe the samehis hours of drinking after twilight, he became a
Midwestern air day after day after day, because he,fleshless, sleepless, foodless near mindless, empty
Shannon, was not a contentious man, not like Kent, butman, a shell of a man, all over that twenty-dollar horse,
he was defending his wimple rights, in the only way hethat now was worth seven time that amount because
knew how. So perhaps Kent made his own fate,he wanted to fool Mr. Peterson, in feeding him, for a
destiny when he finally impinged on Shannon's, if indeedshort fall and long winter, because he couldn't afford to
he we can say that is what he did, provoking Shannon.do it. But Mr. Peterson had fooled him, and fed him
This was all after Shannon's wife left him, andknowing quite well if he did, he'd get fifteen days of
Shannon had rented out a farm next to Kentwork out of Shannon.
Peterson, who was rich enough to have several(Frozen Anger) It was as if Shannon wanted to get
Negro workers on his 400- acres of land. The problemmad, or madder each day he worked, and anger
was Gus, his brother was gone out of town, notgrew, but he didn't want to cause trouble, he knew he
around to help him out of this jam, he was downowed Mr. Peterson, and was determined to pay him
visiting Mabel's parents in Fayetteville, North Carolinaback, even if he had to drain every ounce of blood out
celebrating for a month their anniversary, their 35thof him. And he knew inside of his cup of anger, if it
anniversary.overflowed its rim, Kent's life was at risk, and thus, it
(The Beginning) It was Shannon's one and only horse.mustn't reach that stage.
Not having much money, and trying to do what hisDay Fifteen
brother did create a self-sufficient farm, anWhen he woke, it was tomorrow morning, day fifteen.
independent one, asking no favours of any man, paying(Rest of the Ending) It was 5:00 a.m., when Shannon
his own way. He-the horse (called: Dan), had strayedgot down to Kent Peterson's farm a two mile hike
off in fall, into the skeleton cornfields next to his farm,from his, he was disturbed, so old man Peterson did
and there he was over by Kent Peterson's place, andnotice, and being indifferent, he didn't much care, said
Shannon couldn't feed him so he left him there; andquietly, eating a biscuit, eating it steadily, standing on his
lived the whole winter without him, let Old Manporch, Shannon didn't even notice him on his porch as
Peterson feed him, knowingly feeding him. So Petersonhe walked by, until he said,
feed the horse, knowing it was Shannon's, the rest of"Looks like you had a hard night drinking," never thinking
fall, and through the winter-a long hard cold winter, andhe didn't have time to plough and hoe, and get his
when spring came, then Shannon went to get hisground ready for planting, on his farm, that perhaps
barren horse, worthless horse, his twenty-dollar horse,that was on his mind as well, nor did he have a dinner,
but he was fat and healthy now.or breakfast, and his usual coffee, as the old man
(The Deal) According to Mr. Kent Peterson'susually had simply slept away his afternoons.
calculations, and the sheriff from Dakota Country,(Shannon had taken from his army gear, the dull and
Sheriff Terry Fauna, who had asked a few otherrusty bayonet the one he had used in the army in the
farmers what the horse was worth now, and they allGreat War, to scrape the old paint off the last wall of
agreed it was valued at $140-dollars, not thethe barn and finished this last and fifteenth day of his
$20-dollars Shannon had paid, now that it was fed andpenance, and bring home his horse; the bayonet almost
exercised, and groomed. Thus, this was the price tagas long as the forearm.)
for Shannon to acquire his horse back, according to"Now what?" asked Shannon?
law."You, look like a zombie," he remarked.
Yes indeed, all this trouble over a twenty-dollar horse,"I'm burnt out old man, shut you mouth and let me work
that now would cost him $140-dollars because hemy last day out."
wanted to fool Mr. Peterson, in feeding him, for a shortHe then went over to the hedgerows and patches of
fall and long winter, because he couldn't afford to do it.woods to take a leak- concealed and undetected. But
"All right!" Shannon had said to Kent Peterson, to thisthe old man followed him, was right behind him,
sheriff, "I'll work the fifteen days to get my horse back,"You owe me one more day's work Shannon, for
peacefully, if that's what you all want, and if that isfeeding that house of yours for the last fifteen-days,"
what it takes, I guess I'll have to do it, I went throughstill chewing on that biscuit.
the Great War, I can do this standing on my hands, IInflexible, was the old man, silent was Shannon, as he
can withstand you both likewise."did his duty, and he thought: 'Maybe if he worked
And he, Shannon felt forlorn and defenceless hetoday, and tomorrow, tomorrow wouldn't be the last
wished his brother Gus was back from down south,day either. Maybe there would never be a last day,
he could straighten things out, but he wasn't.period!'
'If Gus was back,' he thought, 'he would have settledHe put his hand under his coat, his fingers around the
this issue with the horse, he knows the sheriff and Mr.handle of the bayonet, pulled it out slowly, his fingers
Peterson,' but he was too impatient. And so he agreedalready tightening and taking up the slack around the
to work for Mr. Peterson for fifteen days, to get hishandle, 'I'll never satisfy him,' he told himself, whispered
horse back, lest he lose both the goat and the rope.out loud a second time, without thinking, and between
Shannon worked for Kent, on his farm, painted histhe scream and the bayonet and its impact of the
house a two-story frame building, then his barn, allthrust for him to say to Kent, and for Kent to have
440-square feet of it. He had fifteen days to work offreasoned with it: 'I'm not killing you because of the
(nine days being spent on the house), and as hefifteen days of work, that's okay, I done reasoned that
worked on the shifted from the house to the barnout, and not because you're rich and have no limits, and
from sunup to sundown, he watched the young mensleep all afternoon in that hammock of yours, but
and girls from the city driving by drinking in their cars,because of that one additional day you added on."
and he'd stop painting the barn to watch them, and theThe case of Shannon O'Day never did reach the
couples and old people, children. The barn faced thecourts, it was said, (some years after the incident of
highway, the cars all moving in two directions. He couldMr. Kent Peterson) someone paid the judge to dismiss
even hear their radios on, playing music-loud. Heit, and a check in the mail came from down south, for
followed each car with his eyes, at night too, a lantern$10,000-dollars, delivered personally to the judge. And
outside the barn lighted as now.an eye witness showed up at the district attorney's
(The Barn) On the tenth day, now working at night onoffice, said, there was another man hiding in the
the barn, he heard the freight trains pass, which didwoods, which had it in for old man Peterson, an old
almost at anytime throughout the evening, let alone theworker, and grabbed Shannon's bayonet, and did him
other passenger trains. So just by spending thein. When Shannon was asked if he killed Peterson at
evenings in one 440-square foot area, with only a littlethe inquest, or not, he answered, "I rightly don't know, I
movement, he would hear maybe three or six trainshadn't had any sleep for days, or food, and when I
before twilight.woke up, I had a nightmare that I did, and the police
When his day and evening was finished he'd walk pastwas hauling me down to jail."
the old man, Kent on his way home, a two mile walkThen the judge said, "We don't put people in
to his farm, as he sat in his dim rocking chair on hispenitentiaries for nightmares, in this country of ours;
porch in the cool of the dark evening, an electric lightinefficient evidence, case dismissed!