"Misses 'D' misses 'I' misses 'F-F-I'…" Mercedes' first grade class was repeating the song that she taught them on how to spell 'difficulty'. They were a small class of only 17, but they were fun. The home bell rang, and everyone went to their cubbies to gather their things and call it a day. "Don't forget that your homework is on page one hundred ten!" she said as the kids exited. As she was tidying up her desk, she saw Eryn Luft, one of the fourth grade teachers. She is also on the board council. Miss Luft was opposed to Mercedes teaching at the school. She said that "some people just don't need to work around children."

Eryn is about 65 years old and she's from Little Rock, Arkansas. At first Mercedes didn't know why miss Luft hated her, and then she overheard her talking in the teacher's lounge to a kindergarten teacher, Ms. Jolep. "niggers don't need to be around children, influencing them to get crunk and do drugs and what not." She whispered. Mercedes was shocked. She'd been all around shady grove. It has a small population of 500 (260 on the west, 240 on the east). She lived on the east side and had met almost everyone and NOBODY was like that, but whatever; to each their own right, right? She just couldn't wait to go see her old friend Quinn and then go home to her husband Sam.

"Emmeline hand me that pink hand bag would you?" Emmeline gave Quinn a hot pink hand bag with a sparkly bow on it. "Oh no not that one, I meant the other one," Said Quinn. Emmeline gave Quinn a blush pink handbag with the silver baby phat cat on it. As she was placing it carefully on the shelf, her good friend from high school Mercedes walked in.

"Hi sweet pea!" said Quinn in her heavily southern accent. She and her brother Sam were from Nashville, Tennessee. Although Mercedes married Sam, Quinn and Mercedes had been friends far before she knew Sam. "Hey quinine," replied Mercedes

"declan said the cutest thing today."

"Is he the cute Irish one?"

"Yes he's adorable. He asked me why there was a place called wales if there were no whales there." Quinn let out a laugh like tinkling bells. "Aww well isn't that just precious," she said. "So is it easier with more help around the shop?" asked Mercedes. "Yes, Emmeline and kitty are just the best." She replied. "How about marley?" asked Mercedes.

Marley was the receptionist for Quinn: she took the calls for orders that came out of the catalogs, marked them down, got them shipped and put the money in the bank account. "oh she's just the sweetest little china doll," Said Quinn. "what's it like in school?" asked Quinn. "still getting dirty looks from…" Mercedes looked around and whispered "ol' crusty…" she said. Ol' crusty was the name they gave to Eryn. "I swear that woman could make a preacher cuss," said Quinn. Mercedes' phone beeped. "sammy's waiting," she said. The two said their goodbyes and Mercedes walked out.

She could easily walk from the shop to her cul-de-sac house. It was only a half mile, a little shorter than the walk to the beach and to the park. When she stepped in she smelled beef stew and heard guitar twangs. She saw Sam sitting on a stool absently plucking at his guitar. "Hey babe, practice just ended," he said. He was a guitar teacher and a doctor. "Mmm dinner smells good," she said. "Yeah I know it's your favorite. But I JUST started it, and it'll be done in like 2 hours. So maybe we could…watch a movie?" Mercedes wasn't opposed, so they sat and watched "the shining". It was their favorite movie. At the part where blood poured from the elevators, Sam's pager beeped. It was urgent.

"Uh, babe…" he said. "I know, I understand," she said, kissing his cheek. "Go do your thing,". He turned off the stove, grabbed his coat and left. He hopped in the minivan and he went to shady oaks emergency room. Jake Puckerman ran up to him and was panting. Sam suddenly got a little tense. Everyone was rushing around.

"What's going on jake?" he asked.

"Someone's been stabbed almost to death, elderly woman, estimated to be in her late fifties to mid-sixties." He replied. "Sam…it's bad." He said. There was a small trail of blood from the entry way. He followed jake to the room where she was being treated.

He recognized the woman as Eryn Luft, the teacher Mercedes worked with. She had 13 stab wounds; 4 in the stomach, 4 in the neck, 4 in the back and one right through the chest. Except they didn't use a knife, they used a broken yard stick. He knew because it was still protruding from her chest. "Sh-should we pull it out?" asked one of the interns, Jesse. "No. someone needs to cut this yard stick as low as it will go, and then we pull it out and hope for the best."

Jesse held the stick while Sam cut the top, and then he turned her over slowly to cut the bottom. "Okay…" he said nervously. He estimated that there were still ten inches in her. He slowly and steadily began to pull it out. It was so quiet in the room that he could hear the blood drip, drip, dripping on the floor in a steady rhythm.

And just as he got to the 5th inch mark, all hell broke loose. A fountain of crimson blood spurted from her body and onto his clothes. "Crap," he muttered. There was beeping everywhere. Everyone was rushing around trying to do something, anything. Everone, that is, except for Sam Evans. He was just staring into her cold, blue, judging eyes. "You won't help me. Why won't you help me?" they seemed to plead. "I'm sorry," he whispered to her. Then, he heard the flatline.