A regular psychopath, Eric stole people’s cars, impregnated their daughters, and set fire to the village schoolhouse.

   

    But Eric never did anything to Mr. Johnson, who lived next door to him.

   

    When Eric dropped out of high school, Mr. Johnson told him, “You’ve been a bad boy most of your young life, but you’ve never bothered me.  Which is why I have hope for you.”

   

    “Don’t count yourself lucky,” Eric said.  “I’m saving my worst just for you.”

   

    And that, they say, is how he ruined Mr. Johnson’s life.

promise

by merle drown

Merle Drown is the author of stories, essays, plays, reviews, and two novels, Plowing Up A Snake (The Dial Press) and The Suburbs Of Heaven (Soho Press, 2000), trade paperback (Berkley Press, 2001). He edited Meteor in the Madhouse,  the posthumous novellas of Leon Forrest, published by Northwestern University Press in 2001.  Barnes and Noble chose The Suburbs of Heaven for its Discover Great New Writers series. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the NH Arts Council and teaches in Southern NH U's MFA program.  "Promise" is from his collection-in-progress, Shrunken Heads, miniature portraits of the famous among us, or Balzac in a Nutshell, which  have (or will) appeared in Amoskeag, Meetinghouse, Night Train, The Kenyon Review, Rumble, Sub-Lit, Word Riot, Bound Off, JMSS. and 971 Menu.