Prednisone and ringworm

Courtship had more red flags pop up than in the annual running of the bulls, yet our put-upon protagonist can't hear the sound of the Mack truck bearing down on him, at full ramming speed.
Goodness, do all such folks have to be possessed of IQs lower than their age? How does this guy manage to dress himself?
Given all that family and friends dished out on him, I'm surprised that: (a) he hadn't been institutionalized; and (b) his revenge was so weak...poison ivy/oak for most folks, a few days of prednisone will handle that.

Ironic that I'm hopped up on prednisone & some antibiotics that I think are called Godzilla. I've got pneumonia gagantuosa, & lo & behold your story speaks to me. I love the sweet, gentleness of this story, how so many people show their concern & caring. The worst thing after a rape is the loneliness & I'm glad that wasn't part of the mix. You are a joy to read & a gifted writer. I'm moving on to the next installment, happily, because I have the company of a beloved writers stories to help me heal.

I met an Armenian girl who was, is, a friend of one of my daughters; petite little girl, long curly black hair, eyes so black they hypnotize. She's just lovely; all perky and saucy. She'll be my next heroine. I showed her this story and she was furious! She wanted to know what was going to happen to poor Poncho and Lefty.
The desert's quiet, Cleveland's cold, so the story ends we're told. Poncho needs your prayers it's true, but save a few for Lefty too. He only did what he had to do, and now he's growing old. (They played it on the radio...)
You guys are going to be sorry when Poncho's gone and you didn't give him one measly tip of the hat. That's thoughtless indifference to a national institution.
The story's still pretty good in a silly sort of way, but shouldn't the sun be up by now? There's going to be a lot of commuter traffic, and I bet a lot of people are double parked. Can't remember the name of the island in the Arctic where they think the last Mammoths lived. Save that damn pachyderm; I heard some nefarious Zambians were out to get his tusks.
These things should all be getting fives; for balls if nothing else. (Elephants have big balls)
Oh, oh I just felt a rush of blood to the head! The damn Prednisone is kicking in. By for now...

You've turned the setting of funky, skunky New Orleans into Generic Anytown ,U.S.A. . I get that maybe you never have caught or thrown glass beaded necklaces at Mardu Gras but there's no exscuse for not at least taking the trouble to check out a James Lee Burke novel from library to get a tenth of a clue about points of interest and languorous, lovely dialect. EVERY character so far talks like they were born & bred in Toledo Ohio.

You set the hook in Chapter 1 adeptly . It's gone ALL hokey in this installment. Arranged Marriage jitters? This only occurs to him that oh so fateful night after Dad's hat in ring pronouncement and not the three months the Princess Bride couldn't be troubled to return his calls, let alone cast a shadow on their marital bed? H-O-K-E-Y.
We all knew something was afoot five seconds after his mother alleged that the princess was cutting eyes at him the year after brother's death. This guy be glacier slow on uptake for alleged Law Review material.
Oh and as for the 'tried and true ' cliche about scheduled featured musician replacement our hero undertakes while he's trying to go incognito because there's ' no one else' . Well you don't have to venture out to a street corner in the Big Easy and you'll flat trip over three skilled musicians ( and one pickpocket ).
To sum things up- if this chapter was a dog not only couldn't it hunt- it schould huddle under a bed and fear it's going to be sent on one way ticket to Micheal Vick Canine Obediance and training camp. If track records hold to form, you'll come back from this flea and ringworm infested mutt of a chapter. But strictly in terms of today's effort . NO Crawfish GUMBO for you Mr. Rehnquist !