Five Miles to Paradise

39

I should have known that Heck would know what he was talking about when he told me to lock the doors. I did lock the front door, but it seemed foolish to lock the back. 

I think I had lulled myself into a false sense of security. 

Heck's house was in town. The sun was shining brightly. It was so oppressively hot, that I thought it would be alright to leave the back door open, allowing what little breeze to filter in through the screen door. I was busy in the bedroom, changing all the linens, when I looked up and saw Clancy standing in the doorway, watching me.

I jumped out of my skin. He was dirty, disheveled, and smelled as if he had not bathed in months.

"Mighty nice nigger our sheriff has," he said, a slimy grin on his face. "Mighty nice, indeed."

What few teeth remained in Clancy's mouth had rotted. I smelled his breath from half-way across the room. Above the odor of rotten teeth was the smell of alcohol. Clancy had been drinking heavily.

"What do you want?" I said, trying unsuccessfully to stop my knees from shaking.

"Sassy thing, too."

He bolted across the room, striking me hard across the face.

"Damn gal, somebody's got to teach you some manners? Who you think you talkin' to? I demand the respect I deserve, you black bitch!"

He hit me hard again.

I was bleeding, my head was spinning. I felt him come down on top of me, and no matter how hard I tried to fight him off, I sensed he would prevail. He was wiry and strong, the kind of animal strength that rises like a buck during rutting season.

I heard a knock on the front door. It was Miss Anjohn.

"Don't breathe a word, or you are one dead nigger. You un'nerstand?"

I shook my head. He had my hair in his filthy hands. He jerked me up from the bed, and we staggered to the kitchen. Lock the goddamn door. Pull the shades. I thought we could do this nice 'n neighborly, but I see you got more snoopy neighbors here ant hills got ants."

We walked to the front room. Through the white curtain, I could see Anjohn's shadow. She knocked two more times, then tottered off the front porch.

"Now, lookie here, gal," Clancy had a big hunting knife pressed against my throat, "we gonna sneak out the back, real quiet-like. You got that? Don't make no quick moves. Don't make no squawks nor screams for help. I will slit you from ear to ear. You un'nerstand?"

"Yes,"I whispered.

I don't know how, but we managed to cross the back yard and a weedy field. I was walking while being half-dragged by Clancy, with the knife up against my throat. Clancy shoved me into the back of a rusty, beat-up old truck. Key and Lakin were standing beside it.

"Whut in the world? Clancy, I thought you said you were gonna have a little fun at the house. Whut ya doin' bringin' her back to the truck?"

"You shut your mouth, Key, 'fore I shut it fer ya. We run into a problem. Somebody knocked on the door. Little change 'a plans is all. Little change 'a plans. Now, tie this one up. Lakin! Help Key! We gotta get outta here fast!"

Together, they threw me in the back, hog-tied me, and put a dirty sack over my head.

I was hyperventilating, sweating, and an inch away from full-blown panic, but somehow, I refrained from screaming. I was going to meet my Maker. I was sure of that. I felt the end was near. 

Still, I tried to listen as we drove along bumpy dirt roads. We were headed towards the swamps. I knew by the sounds and smells. Every bone in my body ached. I had been bounced in the back of the bed of the truck until I was bruised and aching. 

My head felt as if it had been transformed into a basketball, bounced incessantly off hardwood of the truck. I felt every rock and rut the tires passed over. And still, we drove on. How would Heck ever find me? Did I really want him to come after me when Clancy finished with me?

They stopped at the edge of the swamp. I was pushed and bullied into a flat-bottom boat. I heard Clancy curse, then the sputter of a small outboard motor, and the smell of gasoline filled my nostrils.

"Take that gwina sack off her. Lemme get a good look at our fine sheriff's woman. Boy, I bet you got a nice nest of spicery down 'air, ain't ya, nigger?"

"Baa, baa, black sheep!" Key chimed in.

"Bet she's got a mess a fine black wool down 'air, ain't ya, Lady Mary! Haha!" Lakin added. "Twat ain't gonna be like I never tasted before!"

"Lake, you killin' me," Key said.

"Shat your filthy traps, both ya," Clancy said, angrily. "Ain't gonna be funny when that lawman come lookin' for whut's his. Calm down. I gotta think."

"You gonna head to the shack?"

"'Course, you idiot. But you two take the truck, 'n go for a long ride. I'll take care 'a this one mah'sef. No sense leavin' a trail a blind man could foller, 'n I don't want it even hinted that you two had ennythin' to do with takin' this nigger.

Make a day of it. Stay gone for a couple ' days. Heah. Heah's a dollar. Go have some fun, ya' heah."

"Thanks, Uncle," Key said, taking the money.

"We'll put this to real good use," Lakin chimed in.

"Get in the damn boat, nigger," Clancy said. We gonna take us a little ride to paradise. Heh. Heh."