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angry ones. He thought about his dad and that oversized voice of his, booming with pride if Hassan got something half right. He tried to imagine not seeing either one of his parents again and couldn’t. He tried to imagine a way out of this situation and couldn’t.
    Fangs flashed in a streak before him and Frank’s rifle swung for it. Hassan jerked. One snarl. One bang. One thud. Done.
    “Whew,” Frank said. “Damn stray’s been harassing my chickens forever. Diseased by the looks of it, too.”
    Hassan’s ears rung from the shot. He told himself he shook from the cold and only stood, immobilized, to gather thoughts.
    Edy’s grandfather gave him a once over and snorted. “Now, that you’ve been sufficiently scared, let’s you and me talk expectations, you understand?” Hassan’s head bobbed in agreement. “I’d like to know the boy stupid enough or in love enough to lay down with a girl in her Kentucky granddaddy’s home. You see, this walk is so I can figure out which one you are.”
    ~~~
    Edy flew from the bedroom as she buttoned her jeans and vaulted right in pursuit of Hassan. She found her grandmother boiling water in the kitchen.
    Boiling water at a time like this.
    “Where are they?” Edy demanded.
    Her grandmother stood on tiptoe to reach for an overhead cabinet. Once open, she squinted at an assortment of boxes. “I’m looking for a small wooden container with Chinese—”
    Edy wanted to fling herself from the kitchen, but her grandmother was that quick. She gripped her arm and squeezed. “What’s between them is theirs. You leave those boys to it.”
    She stared at the woman. What brand of craziness was this? Hassan needed her; therefore, no one would get in her way.
    Edy snatched free and rushed for the door. A gun blasted and she screamed.
    The screaming didn’t stop. Not as she rounded the house at top speed. Not as she slipped when the ground gave way in an unexpected slope. Only when she tumbled into a roll and choked did Edy’s screams subside.
    Face down in the dirt, her heart detonated, eviscerating itself on a kamikaze mission. Pain slapped her blind, gutted her hollow, and tossed her soul to the wind. A slow tremor built from her belly up; pressure like a ruptured dam. Hassan, she thought. Oh, please, don’t leave me Hassan.
    Edy looked up to find her grandmother, grandfather, and Hassan standing over her.
    “A chicken ran by. Did you see it?” her grandmother said.
    “Let the girl alone,” her grandfather said. “I obviously scared her killing that wild dog. Not my intention.” He extended a hand.
    Edy’s mouth sputtered. “Not your intention!” She scrambled off the ground, body juddering like a clock with slipshod springs. “Are you crazy? Did you take him out and pretend to shoot him as some form of discipline?” No wonder her mother was hardcore. 
    Her granddad, for his part, looked uncomfortable. “The plan wasn’t to make either one of you think I’d shoot him, especially given what you’ve been through. What I wanted was to talk to Hassan, man to man, about his intentions toward you. Yes, I’m old fashioned. I’m an old man and I don’t apologize for that. Now, I recognize times have changed, but no kin of mine will get taken advantage of under my roof on my watch.”
    Edy willed herself to still, and found amazingly, that she did. “He’s not taking advantage of me. He never has. He never would.”
    “Yes. I get that impression, too.” Her grandfather started for the house with his rifle. His nutty wife scurried after.
    Later, much later, after Edy had worn herself down with pacing, her outrage melted to relief. Her relief melted into shame. She owed her grandparents an incredible apology and when she found her grandmother in the living room, she made it known.
    Edy put a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry about earlier. I’m sorry we … disobeyed. I don’t know what we were thinking.” Her cheeks sparked and overheated.
    Her grandmother smiled