Re: [Jack & Clem: family reunion]
"He knew, sure as the day is long, that man knew, and he still took off. So, don't you go and absolve him of wrong doing, and all on account of him being part of your man's club." The explanation was offered real pointed from the doorway, and she was perched there, standing with a hand on the frame and not real sure if she was forgiving him enough to stay yet.
"I fell out a window. It was an accident, and I hit my head something awful. I ain't even sure how long I was unconscious. All I know, is I woke up and Michael was real long gone. He didn't even check on me. The man just took off, like we didn't never get married at all. Then Daddy dies, and the man don't even come 'round then, when Daddy's the whole reason I married the man in the first place. Now he shows up here, being nasty as vipers, and I ain't real pleased with any of it."
As if that last part wasn't obvious as the sun in the sky, but Clementine, she'd been taught young that life was a stage from beginning to end, and she was real good at taking the spotlight and holding it steady on her. "You go on and ask the man, see if I'm lying. He'll say I ain't, and he won't be able to give you a decent answer 'bout where he's been neither."