Flash Forward

It'd been some years. A move to the frigid Great Lakes region. A home whose many fireplaces couldn't heat it completely. A bed that Leroy kept warm with Elizabeth.

Elizabeth had some wrinkles on her now. She'd kept her pussy bushy, and was rigorously fighting off any grey hairs that emerged. She had married Leroy, and they'd had Leroy Jr. and Emmitt in short succession. He would be celebrating his 69th birthday in a week, and was making sure everyone knew. Elizabeth was 42.

Her oldest, Emily was 21. Elizabeth suspected if they'd stayed in South Carolina, Emily probably would have subsumed herself into the social circuit, marrying well and living a boring life, much as Elizabeth had once upon a time. But instead she'd dropped out early, living in the projects, with the reputation as an easy lay that could be lured with cheap liquor or ****. It was frustrating to Elizabeth, but her eldest wanted no help.

Aaron had succeeded academically, but not socially. He was still a virgin, and Elizabeth had eventually concluded that he was closeted. Like Emily, he didn't want to listen to reason. But he was at the university, majoring in accounting.

Katie, now 19, had stayed rooted in social justice causes. She'd helped Douglas for years, finally helping him to secure Luther's pardon. In the process, she'd become obsessed with Luther's accomplice, Alonzo, to the point she'd married him a week after turning 18. He was still incarcerated, and both she and Douglas were fervently trying to get him released. She was still a virgin, with eyes only for Alonzo, despite the fact she'd be a prize for any man.

Back in South Carolina, Shanequa had married Will, and they lived happily on Will's ranch. Shanequa's oldest daughter had moved up to the capital, studying agriculture at the university and working at a redneck bar near a trailer park.