"Pulled into Nazareth, was feelin' 'bout half past dead."

Uncle Sebbie's car was the type that you didn't hear move or accelerate, but feel. It would pull you back as it sped up, rumbling and filling your chest when it roared to life. It was a roar that could be heard as a rattling grumble under your feet, like a lion's growl.
"I just need some place where I can lay my head."
Dollface never could understand why Uncle Sebbie would show up once a year and always insist on taking her for a ride in this car to Saint Louis for an early birthday, sometimes for Christmas, but he would, and there was no getting out of it.

"'Hey mister can ya tell me where a man can find a bed?'"

This time, it was more than a nice lunch and some time at a high-end GoodWill.

Dollface hated spending money.

It felt strange, especially when it was someone else's money. It just wasn't right, even if uncle Sebbie was family.

"He just grinned and shook m'hand…."

Having pressed a limited edition Funtom Rabbit, black label, (of course) into Dollface's tiny hands, Uncle Sebbie strode back outside to wait for her by the car with a glaring Regina. Dollface had placed the boxed toy next to the six or so other limited edition Funtom Rabbits on the shelf Grampa had put up years before.

She was too old for toys like that.

"'No' was all he said."

Dollface was ushered into the back seat of the car with one earbud in, feeling small in the real leather passenger seat, too used to Grampa's duct-taped upholstered truck.

"Tell me about town. Haven't been here for a while." Uncle Sebbie had a very thick English accent that put any other accent else to shame just by existing. He sat up front, Dollface and her new found sister in the back.

"Take a load off, Annie…"

Dollface avoided looking at Regina, still trying to find Michael.

Michael was nowhere to be found.

"Take a load for free…"

"Uuh, well, Old Man Krueger was….. Lynched... recently." Dollface didn't know how else to break the news. She thumbed the battered iPod in her pocket, wanting to put the other earbud in and process what had just happened to her, "There was also an incident at m'new job with Missy."

"Take a load off Annie…"

"My, how rude." Uncle Sebbie said. Dollface wasn't sure whether he was kidding or not.

Uncle Sebbie was weird like that, "I heard Missy's parents are in federal now. Know anything about that?"

"And ya put the load right on me."

"Not really, but last Halloween, Wolfie tried t'get more candy by dressin' up in different costumes." Dollface quickly changed the subject.

"Uncle Sebbie made a sort of chuckling noise. "Did it work?"

"About as much as you'd expect. She was pretty upset 'bout it."

"I picked up m'bag, I went lookin' fer a place t'hide…"

Sebbie turned down Hurricane Lane, passing Uncle Mike's house. "I was sent a video and some pictures of you and your friends in costumes. Care to elaborate?"

"When I saw Carmen and th'Devil walkin' side by side…"

""I work at a new restaurant, th'one right there." Dollface pointed as they passed Freddy's. "Apparently the already existin' characters are too creepy fer kids, so they'll have us do stuff occasionally t'keep 'em from havin' meltdowns," Dollface began to explain. "Sometimes we have t'dress up as human versions of the characters an'serve food'r sing songs, or whatever. It's been real good fer business too. People come off th'highway t'see us, an'go shoppin' while their kids play."

"I said, 'Hey Carmen, c'mon, let's go downtown'."

"Interesting. Maybe Regina will get her first job there soon." Something in Uncle Sebbie's brown eyes flashed red as Dollface bristled at the idea of working with her shitheel cousin-turned-sister every damn day, "How's the Missy situation now that her parents are under investigation?"

"She said, 'I gotta go, but m'friend can stick around'."

"No worse than usual. Izzy was th'one who found that they were embezzlin' money from her new boyfriend's family, an'they found a body in Mr. Custer's trunk too. That's why Old Man Krueger was killed. They thought it was him, but now th'Feds think it could'a been th'Custers' too since they're already under investigation. They'll now by July."

"Well, that's unfortunate." Uncle Sebbie said, switching lanes to get to the highway, "No children, even ones like Missy and her brother, should ever have to deal with that kind of grief."

"Go down, Miss Moses, there's nothin' you can say..."

Dollface shifted uncomfortably, realizing that she probably shouldn't have brought the lynching up again.

"It's just ol'Luke, and Luke's waitin' on th'Judgement Day…"

She should've listened to Michael and never spoke of what she'd seen that day, but she hadn't. She glanced at her Mead Academie.

"'Well Luke, m'old friend, what about young Anna Lee?'"

Regina pointedly ignored her. That was fine by Dollface.

Dollface glanced at her open Mead sketchbook.

"He said, 'Do me a favor, son, won'tcha stay and keep Anna Lee company?'"

What could she draw? That was the problem with drawing. Too much power.

"So Izzy has a new boyfriend? Is he any better than the last one?"

"Oh, SO much better. His family owns and runs a dairy farm a county over from us. They accidentally met at the state fair." Dollface said, "She ended up over at his place, and discovered a lot of th'Custers' mathematical errors."

Dollface looked out the window.

"Saw Crazy Chester..."

"Hope it works out though." Dollface added. "Her parents are scumbags, but it's not Missy's fault."

"You're too nice." Uncle Sebbie muttered.

No response as she put in her other earbud, Regina sulking.

"...An'he caught me out in th'fog."

Out of town and away from the residential area, Uncle Sebbie accelerated.

She could feel it in her, that subtle, anonymous power of the car engine. Missy had bullied Izzy into dating some creep last year, and it ended by getting stood up at the Winter Formal.

"How are your little friends doing these days?"

Princess is still dancing," Dollface said, pulling out an earbud, "She's getting really good on stage too, an'she got a new partner. Izzy had an appendectomy last November, and Dolli Mae won championships again."

"He said, 'I will fix your rack if you'll take Jack, m'dog'..."

"Why do you talk like that?" Regina asked.

"Like what?"

"Like you're chewing rocks."

Dollface shrugged and decided to keep her mouth shut, suddenly ashamed.

She could feel Michael glare and slumped into her seat.

"I said, 'Wait a minute, Chester, you know I'm a peaceful man'."

"Hey, Uncle Sebbie?"