It was 7:00 in the evening, a time that the inhabitants of Louisiana call "moss time". Long strands of green reached through the dusk to whisper across Maybelann's cheek as she tottered her way across the back yard to the porch. Crickets had given way to the deeper buzzing sounds of oncoming night.
The thump of her cane sounded loudly across the raised porch. Maybelann used the sound to warn away snakes as she cast an interested eye over the curtains framing her back door. Something dripped from the corner of the yellow gingham; something green and ominous. She did not grimace. There was no disgust in Maybelann, she simply did not like dripping green things. She opened the door to the kitchen and screwed up her rheumy eyes to look about her.
The warped cabinet door on the eastern wall hung open, revealing a missing Kerr's jar. The kitchen sink was empty and dry. Water and mud streaked the white and yellow linoleum of the floor she'd scrubbed that morning. Maybelann cautiously maneuvered the slippery spaces as she made her way to the living room. She would prefer to use lady-like tones and avoid foul language, but she had learned long ago that in this native, wild land, only savage talk could be heard.
"God-dang it Horace!" She yelled. "I done told you and told you to clean up after yourself!"