and ordered fried catfish

"Very well. Pursuant to this will, I will appoint you as the executor of your late father's estate. Notice to creditors will be filed today and published in a local paper. I'll waive the bond. Inventory and accounting will be due pursuant to the statute." Ray had heard his father utter those same instructions a hundred times. He glanced up at Judge Farr. "Anything further, Mr. Vonner?" "No, Your Honor." "I'm very sorry, Mr. Atlee," he said. "Thank you, Your Honor." For lunch they went to Claude's and ordered fried catfish. Ray had been back for two days and he could already feel his arteries choking. Forrest had little to say. He was not clean and his system was polluted. Ray's plans were vague. He wanted to visit some friends around the state, he said. There was no hurry to return to Virginia. Forrest left them after lunch, said he was going to back to Memphis. "Will you be at Ellie's?" Ray asked. "Maybe" was his only reply. RAY WAS sitting on the porch, waiting for Claudia when she arrived promptly at 5 P.M. He met her beside her car where she stopped and looked at the Realtor's For Sale sign in the front yard, near the street. "Do you have to sell it?" she asked. "Either that or give it away. How are you?" "I'm fine, Ray." They managed to hug with just the minimum of contact. She was dressed for the occasion in slacks, loafers, a checkered blouse, and a straw hat, as if she'd just stepped from the garden. The lips were red, the mascara perfect. Ray had never seen her when she wasn't properly turned out. "I'm so glad you called," she said as they slowly walked up the drive to the house. "We went to court today, opened the estate." ? "I'm sorry, must've been tough on you." "It wasn't too bad. I met Judge Farr."