Junebug Fischer by Mandy Haynes

Junebug Fischer by Mandy Haynes

“I don’t know what caused me to shoot the arrow.

I didn’t think about it. I just did it.

Was it fear or was it pride?”

Next June I’ll be ninety-six years old. Hard to believe, since I don’t feel a day over eighty-three. I was still working then but turned the saw off for good when I almost lost a finger. I leased my woodshop out to Savannah Carter the very next day. She’d just graduated from the university with an art degree and was looking for a studio. She uses daddy’s old tools to teach woodworking and I know he’d be tickled. He sure was proud when I started building furniture, even though most people back then thought it was a job for men only. When I think about how people balked at the idea of a girl carpenter, it almost makes me want to get back in the shop, but I’m an old woman now and I’m content to watch Savannah and her students from my front porch, in the comfort of mama’s old rocking chair. You know, it’s one of daddy’s first pieces and Savannah tells me it’s worth a fortune. All I can tell you is that it’s as comfortable now as it was ninety years ago. Ninety years ago... how’d that happen?

The other day I found a forgotten block of cheese in my fridge. Lord, you couldn’t tell what type it was for the mold, and it got me to thinking. I don’t want to live past my expiration date, if you know what I mean. I probably won’t be around to see my ninety-seventh and that’s alright with me. I’ve had a wonderful life, don’t feel like I missed out on a thing and I’m sort of excited to find out what’s on the other side. I guess other people know that I’m not long for this world. Maybe that’s why they’re getting nosy and have started asking me questions.

I ain’t never talked about the summer I turned fifteen to nobody except for a handful of people, and I don’t reckon any of them ever told nobody. But some stories are like dandelion seeds, tiny little pieces of nothing to start off, but they get scattered and take root. Before you know it, they spread like kudzu. Left long enough and they cover up everything. Including the truth.

There’s stories going around that I used to run shine and that I killed my first husband in cold blood. You’d think I’d have tried to clear my name sooner, but the truth is I thought the stories were kind of fun, a lot more fun than the truth, anyway.

The fact that some people say I killed my first husband—when I ain’t never been dumb enough to get married in the first place—is proof that people enjoy a tall tale. I figured I’d let them say whatever they wanted. But now that I’m older, and I see that things ain’t changed that much when it comes to choices young girls have around here, I think the truth might be a story that ought to be told…

“Junebug Fischer is the kind of strong, feisty young lady hero we love, and Mandy's writing of her story draws you in from the start. You'll feel like you're sitting on that porch with her, and I guarantee you'll want more. Her characters come to life in all of her stories, and I recommend you read everything Mandy has written, and will write! You won't be disappointed.” Five Star Reader Review

Junebug Fischer is a novella that’s in the collection, Sharp as a Serpent’s Tooth - Eva and Other Stories. If you want to hear the rest of Junebug’s story, you can read it now for free through Kindle Unlimited, or purchase it for ninety-nine cents.

Mandy Haynes spent hours on barstools and riding in vans listening to great stories from some of the best songwriters and storytellers in Nashville, Tennessee. After her son graduated college, she traded a stressful life as a pediatric cardiac sonographer for a happy one and now spends her time writing and enjoying life as much as she can. She recently with her three dogs and one turtle from Amelia Island to Semmes, Alabama into a barn at Good Fortune Farm Refuge where she helps author, Carolyn Haines take care of farm chores and rescues of all shapes and sizes with various medical issues and special needs. They are collaborating on a Feminist Thriller/Suspense novel that mirrors their life on the farm - minus the body count.

She is a contributing writer for Amelia Islander Magazine, Amelia Weddings, author of two short story collections and a novella. She is also the editor of the WELL READ Magazine’s Best of 2023 anthologies, and co-editor of the Southern Writers Reading reunion anthology, The Best of the Shortest.

Mandy is the editor-in-chief of WELL READ Magazine, an online literary journal that was originally created to give authors affordable advertising options but turned into so much more!  WR started accepting submissions in 2023 and has published some amazing prose, poetry, and visual art in every issue since. WR is a monthly journal that supports and promotes authors of all genres and writing backgrounds.

Like the characters in some of her stories, she never misses a chance to jump in a creek to catch crawdads, stand up for the underdog, or the opportunity to make someone laugh.