Light Show
by
Joan
Leotta
Our car and our neighbor’s
car moved
slowly through the two-mile-long display of Christmas-themed lights, some
animated, some simply showy arrangements of light into shapes and words. Henry,
my husband, had called it the perfect holiday activity for two childless
couples when he ordered the tickets for the four of us. Because of some work
appointments I had, Jed and Melinda met us for an early supper at a small
tavern near the Light Show Park, so we were each in our own cars, winding
through the suburban park cum wonderland.
As we “snailed”
past the setup
of a canon whose faux shot magically “toppled” a cache of bowling ball pins just
a few yards away, I thought I heard the sharp crack of a hunting rifle. A
hooded man with rifle in his left hand slipped out from behind the bushes that
framed the site. He was not a figure formed from bent metal covered with
lights. He was a real human carrying a rifle that certainly looked real. The
man was visible for just a moment before jumping back into the greenery. The
musical accompaniment of each animated display was so loud I began to doubt my
own eyes, that is, until I heard the screams from our neighbor’s Cadillac
Escalade as it rolled into the back bumper of our Honda CRV. Jed was screaming.
My husband, Henry, stopped
our
car and jumped out. I opened my door, but before my feet touched the ground, he
ran back and told me to stay in the car. Then he hit 9-1-1 on his phone. I
could hear crying and more noise from our neighbor’s Escalade. Henry just kept
saying, “It’s awful, it’s awful. She’s been shot.” Sirens soon drowned out the
holiday tunes.
When the police asked me
if I
had seen anything strange, or if I couId think of any reason someone would
shoot my dear neighbor, I neglected to mention the hooded man.
After all, why would I give
away
sighting the person I’d paid to shoot that scheming harlot, Melinda, who was
carrying on with my husband?
Joan Leotta plays
with words
on page and stage. She has contributed both poems and short stories
to Yellow Mama and other mystery magazines. Internationally
published as essayist, poet, short story writer, and novelist, she’s a two-time
nominee (fiction and poetry) for Pushcart and Best of the Net, has been a
nominee for Western Peace Prize, and was a 2022 runner-up in Robert Frost
Competition. Joan performs folk and personal tales of food, family, strong
women on stages across the country and in UK and Europe, teaches classes on
writing and presenting stories (as poems, fiction, and non-fiction), and offers
a one woman meet-the-author show bringing Louisa May Alcott to today’s
audiences. Her two books still in print are poetry: Languid Lusciousness
with Lemons on Finishing Line Press and Amazon and Feathers on
Stone from Main Street Rag or by contacting Joan. Joan is currently a
Regional Representative for NCWN and operates a writing meeting zoom site for
general writers and another for poets. You can find her on Facebook, Joan
Leotta, or contact her at joanleotta@gmail.com
regarding her writing, writing instruction, to arrange a story
performance, or to “meet” with Louisa May Alcott.
