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INEZ MARTINEZ AND NAUGHTY BETTY... ASH WEDNESDAY... MID MORNING NEAR THE VERY CENTER OF BRENDA’S NUT FARM... APPROXIMATELY SIX WEEKS PRIOR TO EASTER...

WITH INEZ ( A NERVOUS, LITTLE ILLEGAL MEXICAN GIRL WHO APPEARED ONE NIGHT UNDER BRENDA’S FRONT PORCH AT THE NUT FARM )... ( WHO HAD BECOME EMPLOYED - SORTING AND GRADING NUTS FOR A WHILE, NOW )... LOOKING UP, AND VERY CONCERNED WITH THE PRECARIOUS LENGTH OF BETTY’S ASHES...ALONG WITH A POSSIBLE OVER-HEATING OF BETTY’S LEFT BREAST...(HAVING BECOME QUITE AMOROUS OF BETTY) ... FEARING THE ASHES COULD FALL...

AND SIMULTANEOUSLY CONCERNED WITH THE FACT OF THE DATE...AND WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF AN ASSOCIATED RECURRENCE FOLLOWING THAT DATE WHICH HAD SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF HER THE YEAR BEFORE...

WHEN... (WHO HAD BECOME HER HALF-BROTHER)... JIMMY... HAD DRESSED IN A LONG WHITE ROBE WEARING A MAKE-SHIFT CROWN OF PRICKLY RED RASPBERRY VINES, AND JUMPED FROM BEHIND A LARGE ROCK WHICH HAD PARTIALLY CONCEALED THE OPENING OF A NUT FARM CAVE, AND YELLED BOO...

IT HAD BEEN NAUGHTY BETTY WHO SET THE BIG SCARE UP, AND THAT’S WHO INEZ WAS WITH AT THE MOMENT...

AND INEZ WAS BEGINNING TO SMELL A HUGE RAT...