A Chicken-Fried Mistake

by John H. Dromey

About the Author: John H. Dromey has short fiction published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Crimson Streets, Flame Tree Fiction Newsletter, Gumshoe Review, Mystery Magazine, Thriller Magazine, Woman’s World, and elsewhere.

Excerpt

Ever since she was knee-high to a grasshopper, Magnolia Culpepper gave every outward indication of being a quintessential Southern belle. Inwardly, she was anything but. Maggie, her alter ego, had an independent streak a mile wide. Given her druthers, she’d forego the frills of high society in favor of an unpretentious lifestyle without rigid restraints of conformity in customs and couture.

Of necessity, to maintain familial harmony, Maggie suppressed her wildest desires. Indeed, she hid her tomboy tendencies so well her pappy thought only a true old-school Southern gentleman could ring her chimes … after walking her down the aisle, of course. He was not the least bit concerned about the possibility of a shotgun wedding. The double-barreled firearm hung over the dining room mantel was just for show. The paterfamilias felt no need to keep any shells for it in the house.

Both her ma and her pa were blissfully unaware their demure daughter Magnolia was not predisposed to say “I do” to any gentleman caller. Maggie might have considered saying “I do declare,” if only she could have found a filthy-rich suitor willing to let her write her own vows, get hitched in a simple ceremony, and move Out West. The chances of that happening were slim to none.

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