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"You’re daht, she did" There was pride in Vonnie Lou’s voice "I’ll tell you what happened Richard attacked Merodie in her own home, and in self-defense, Merodie hit him over the head with a softball bat"

The instant she said "softball bat" I recognized that this was thefor, the reason the Anoka County attorney was pushing a ainst Merodie It would see its words carefully--a propensity toward violence and possibly even an MO since Merodie used the same weapon--the bat--on both victims

"Merodie hit him with the bat," Vonnie Lou continued, "and Richard broke her jaw They both ended up in the hospital, only Richard was there for a night and Merodie was there for nearly a week She complained to the cops, but it was one of those he said/she said deals A douy called it As far as the cops were concerned, it was both of their faults"

"What did they fight over, do you recall?"

"Silk"

"Merodie’s daughter?"

"Yeah See, Merodie has this fantasy that Silk is co to just show up, suitcase in hand, or so to happen"

"Why not?"

"Silk has been living with her aunt all these years and she doesn’t co, I can’t say I’ve known Merodie for, God, at least ten years, probably more, and I’ve never raphs that Merodie has that are really old Iback At least I can’t see it Only Merodie believes, okay? So when she learned that Richard had been dealin’ out of her house, she freaked out, told his in the sa led to another

"Anyway, there was no way Merodie was going to let Richard get ahat he did to her--laughing at her, beating her Right before she left the hospital she called the cops and burned hiround He was already in custody by the ti--perhaps she always srew hard and cold

"Merodie, she’s one of the nicest people you’re ever going to meet," she said "I love her to death I , but when she does get angry--you knohat? You don’t want to ry"

8

The Katherine E Nash Gallery was housed just inside the Regis Center for Art in the West Bank Arts Quarter--at least that’s what the colorful banners hanging fro Twenty-first Avenue called the area It was near O Meredith Wilson Library as Benny had promised, on that part of the University of Minnesota campus known as the West Bank because it was located on the western shore of the Mississippi River I had gone to the U, mostly on the East Bank Graduated cum laude, thank you very much Yet all this was new toTheater I also re Bar on Nineteenth and Riverside The rest--Barker Center for Dance, Ted Mann Concert Hall, Ferguson Hall, the parking ramp that I would have used if I had known it was there--when did all that happen?

You really should start paying attention to the alun on an easel outside the entrance to the gallery read WELCOME MFA SHOW I presumed MFA meant master of fine art and this was an exhibit of the students’ work Probably Benny had a sibling or a friend in the show

I didn’t knohat to expect when I entered the gallery--a handful of elegantly dressed patrons exa thene and hors d’oeuvres, I suppose What I found was a pulsating throng of supporters, half kids around twenty-five and younger and the other half adults about fifty and older Most were attired as if it were ninety-five degrees outside; I felt overdressed in black jeans and a black silk sports jacket The crowd moved in a counterclockwise swirl, not unlike a hurricane, froe room to another I ith the flow

There wasn’t much that interested me One artist--and I use the ter that had a facade like the State Capitol There was a silhouette of acorridor inside the building and another painted on the wall at the other end Ain the , I just didn’t knohat