With Apologies to John Steinbeck
Ellis got up on his knees. His breath rattled in his sunken chest. Zoey’s blood gargled out of the side of his grey mouth. “You ain’t gonna leave me, are ya, Nick? I know you ain’t.”
Nick came stiffly near and sat down beside him. “No.”
“I knowed it,” Ellis cried. “You ain’t that kind.”
Nick was silent. Ellis said, “Nick.”
“Yeah?”
“I done another bad thing.”





