Episode 8: The Many Uses of a Meat Mallet

Sheriff Tom decides

Excerpt

You may wonder why the islanders have an almost verbatim transcript of the confession carried around in their heads, or why there are some variations on the theme. For instance, some people assert Gloria went into detail here about Seamus’s sexual prowess; others say that’s hogwash—Gloria is too circumspect to reveal lurid details, and somewhere along the line someone must have padded the story.

As if it needed padding.

The answer to the question—how do the islanders know what Gloria said?— isn’t terribly interesting, but you might as well hear it, so you can focus on Gloria’s story.

After the arrest, Sheriff Tom carried Gloria’s confession in his heart and in his head until it felt like the words were strangling him, and one night, months later, when he’d had too much to drink (which is ironic, as you’ll soon see), he shared the story with Larry. The two men were sitting in Retha’s Bar and Grill. Retha and several others heard, and each of them told just one other person, someone they trusted to take the secret to his or her or their respective grave, and in very short order the entire island knew this part of Gloria’s history.

So now, many of the islanders are purveyors of the cautionary tale, and they tell it word for word, like the old oral histories.

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