There was no cemetery in Widespot; Valentine buried his son next to the grave of Angel, his wife. “My God, Rhett, why did you have to be so wild?!” he mourned. He wasn’t surprised that some man had killed him, but he always thought it would be a jealous husband, not some old farmer. He had a family service for Rhett, just his daughters Candy and Goldie. Valentine was happy that they were doing well; Goldie had just graduated college, and lived in a little house with her husband, Candy had married into the wealthy Mann family.

Candy had a daughter, Minnie, and twins Melissa and Montana (who looked NOTHING like her husband).
How are your children”, he asked Candy, “and how’s that marriage working out for you?”
Candy reminded him WHY she had gotten married…


“Frankly, I’m just TOO busy to spend much time with them. But they prefer Junior, he spoils them rotten. My mother-in-law is just impossible…”
“I hear she’s really sick”, Valentine interrupted.
“Whatever. I moved out.”
“You have a job?” Valentine asked, thinking “That doesn’t sound like you, but neither does giving up all that luxury”. “You divorced Junior?!”

“God, no!” Candy laughed, a sound as brittle as her heart. “You think I would walk away from all that money?! Even when I left, I took what I could. Hell, they had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of crap laying around. They didn’t even notice when I took it all off their hands (and off the walls, and shelves, and the yards). No, the old bitch will croak, and Junior’s father is so old I bet he dies soon too. You know, he’s so decrepit he can’t even get it up any more.”


Valentine realized his mouth was hanging open, and poured some Jack Daniels into it. “How does she KNOW that?” he thought.


Valentine was closer to Goldie, and broke down talking about Rhett.
“Dad, I’m sorry, but you have no idea what was going on with Rhet. Don’t you hear people talk?”


"Now don’t you START!” Valentine shouted. A few gossiping biddies; they don’t know crap! I know Rhett had problems with his temper, and problems with women. He was being treated by a doctor, and I was trying to get him to see a therapist.




I’ve seen for myself, women running screaming out of the house in their underwear, and Rhett wearing nothing but a shit-eating grin.”


“Listen, Daddy, it really WAS worse than that. And it’s just wrong to think of this as our little family secret. That nice Mr. Land will be charged with MURDER! I’ve already talked to the police, and to other people in town; they have stories about him too. They never reported him to the police, and they won’t NOW – not unless YOU speak up. You know the real power in this town is Daytona Beech and Lana Mann – and I think they both LOVE YOU! They don’t want to hurt you, but if YOU talk to the police, they will too.”


Valentine had a sleepless night, but made his decision. The next morning he met Paddy Soggybottom as he waited for a taxi to take him to the police station (he had a snappy sports car, but it required a steady hand at the wheel, which he did not have).


“I’m sorry about your son”, she said, “but I have to tell you…he often harassed me. Now, don’t look at me like that, I don’t blame a guy for flirting. But I’m almost old enough to be his mother, and he wouldn’t take ‘NO’ for an answer.”



A few days later, he had visitors; the pillar of the community (and Valentine’s secret bed-bouncing buddy)Daytona Beech, her daughter Sandy and granddaughter Virginia.
“Rhett had a very barzarr way with women”, Daytona started. “Now I understand some men are fascinated by a woman’s bossum, but he went too far. “




Sandy: “I told the police about my run-ins with him. The chest business was bad enough, but he also liked to assalt women in other ways.


Virginia: “He never came after me, but I witnesses lots of things, here and in Pine Crest and even on the college campus there. The worse was an actual rape; the poor girl quit school because of that.




Valentine buried his head in his hands; the shame was bad enough, but worse was the pain his son had caused. Valentine understood women, he respected them, admired them. He knew the life-long pain that this sort of thing could cause a woman. And, like a stone thrown into a pool of water, causing ripples that grow and spread, he knew that that pain would spread to family, friends, even the whole neighborhood.
Valentine: I grew up that day. You can understand and feel sorry for someone that seems driven to do bad things, but that doesn’t EXCUSE them. We are all, in the end, still responsible for what we do. Rhett paid the untimate price for his foolishness. I always thought I wasn’t hurting anyone. Even Mary, who gave me two beautiful children, never complained. I haven’t done right by her. And then there is Rhett’s son by Penny Weiss. I know she didn’t want the baby – I was there when she had him, and gave him away!



Valentine had not wept over his wife's grave in years. But that day he did.
"Angel, I always was faithful to you; I thought when you passed I could take comfort in other women and no one would be hurt. I was wrong. I hope you will be happy when I re-marry; I hope I'm doing the right thing."