Black Widow

Outside the church it is freezing, raining, but inside Lavonia is doing just fine. She is seated on the first pew in her widow's weeds facing the casket of her x-husband and his common-law wife in the choir. Young Betty will have her day in the seat of honor for another dead man. Then the two women face off against each other in the white limo on the way to the cemetery and all hell breaks loose.Blood CountsIn this polite place:A hand trained in the waysof death and deliverycups a pill, slides a gurney,shrink-wrapped, bubbling,through sterile chambersoverfilled with hintsof salvation servedon sheets of steel.Suffering is silent here: Purple or black fishes dartin diversionary circlesat the backs of smiling clerks,when blood countsdon't add up.