Killing Mr. Jones

By James Morgan Ayres

Set in Mid-Century America, young Jesse J. Rideout's first love is attacked and injured. He seeks revenge and encounters a moral dilemma in this coming of age story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Morgan Ayres
• Release date: Apr 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463708323

James Morgan Ayres

James Morgan Ayres served with the 82nd Airborne and the 7th Special Forces Group (Green Berets); he has also worked as a private contractor with various US government organizations. He graduated from the US Army’s jungle survival school in Panama and the winter survival school at Camp Drum, New York. During the past decade, Ayres has written dozens of articles and stories for Blade Magazine and the Knives annuals. His books include The Tactical Knife and An Introduction to Firearms. He resides in Southern California.

Book preview

Killing Mr. Jones

Copyright © 2016 by James Morgan Ayres

Published by Nomadic Press

Smashwords Edition

Cover by M.L. Ayres

For Katie

I was twelve the summer I killed Mr. Jones. Everyone in town believed me when I said it was self-defense. But I set out to do what I did and there was anger in my heart along with the fear, and satisfaction when I pulled the trigger. In catechism class at St. Joseph’s I was taught that intention determined the nature of the action. By that standard what I did was pure murder.

August is the hottest month in the American mid-west. Unpicked corn dries in the husk, and during long afternoons dogs lay up in shade waiting for the heat of the day to pass. People move slowly under the sun. Willows droop lifeless and there is no breeze to be found. In mid-century, before air-conditioning was commonly available, people sat on their front porches in late afternoon and drank iced tea. Dinner would be ham, potato salad and green salad, or chicken or steaks that had been cooked in the cool of the morning and served at room temperature. There was always a cool glass of water on the table with fresh spring onions from the garden that crunched when you bit into them, and usually watermelon for dessert

Nights were so hot and still that people would sleep outside, on screened in porches if they had them, or on their lawns if they didn’t. Neighbors would be out on their lawns during those evenings, everyone friendly, eating ice cream and talking until late. Kids were allowed to run a little wild while the moon was high, until their parents called them to bed down. Then it would gradually grow quiet as everyone settled in to sleep, except for a few of the men who stayed up talking and drinking a bit, and me. I always watched and listened to the men, to everything really,