Spencerville

Suddenly, she disappeared, and standing where she had been was Cliff Baxter. He focused as tight as he could, then watched Baxter making some sort of odd movement. It took him a few seconds to realize that Baxter was swinging something, a whip, or a belt, or a switch, and he understood what was happening. He lowered the binoculars and felt a tightening in his stomach.

Billy whispered, "What do ya see?"

"Nothing."

"You see anybody?"

"Yes... I did." He looked at Billy and said, "He's beating her. I'm going in." He grabbed his rifle and started to stand, but Billy pushed him down. "No! No! You wait."

Keith lay on the ground. He thought he could hear the sound of whatever was happening in that house, the steady slap of something against bare flesh and her crying. But, of course, he couldn't hear it, but he felt it, as if it were happening to him.

A

He said, "I was go

She didn't reply.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

Cliff Baxter proceeded to deliver nine slow, steady strokes with the belt across his wife's buttocks, which still had yesterday's red welts across the flesh. He waited between each stroke for A

She stifled a sob and said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Can I get up?"

"No. You can spread your legs right there."

She spread her legs as far as the chain allowed, and Cliff Baxter unzipped his fly and took out his erect penis. He entered her from behind, but before he came, he pulled out and said, "Turn around."

She stood unsteadily and turned toward him.

"Kneel."

She knelt down in front of him, and he pulled her face into him and said, "Put it in your mouth."

She knew that after he came, he'd calm down a little, and all she wanted at this point was to get through the night. Still, she hesitated, and he pulled her hair and shouted at her, "Now!"

"Come on, Keith. We don't want to spook him. We got to back off and wait awhile. Right? Hey, man, you okay? Get it together, Keith. This ain't a trainin' exercise."

Keith didn't reply.

"Come on. We can't stay here."

Keith got up on one knee, then stood and raised the binoculars again, but couldn't see anything through the window.

Billy reached up and pulled him down again. "Jesus! If he's lookin' through that infrared scope, you're dead. Come on."

The dog barked again.

"Swallow it."

She swallowed.

Baxter turned away and walked back to his chair, leaving her kneeling. He sat down, breathing hard, watching her. He heard the dog bark again, but he ignored it. After a minute, he smiled. "You're gettin' better. You have fun?"

"No."

"Bitch. Did you give your boyfriend a blowjob?"

"No."

"Don't lie to me, bitch. You sucked his cock, didn't you?"

"No."

"You can stay like that all night until you tell me the truth. You blow him?"

"Yes."

"You fuckin' whore." He leaned forward and kept staring at her. "Look at me, bitch. You lied to me about him, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"You said you didn't even remember ru

"Yes."

"Maybe lover boy got AIDS, and now you got it, and you gave it to me, bitch."

She didn't reply.

"He probably fucks everything and everybody. Probably fucks goats and little boys and two-dollar whores. Whatever he got, you got. He use a rubber on you?"

She didn't reply.

"How many times you fuck him?"

"Do you mean in high school and college, or?.."

"Shut up! You make me sick. I ought to kill you, but you ain't gettin' off that easy. You're go

"Yes."

"And you're go

She didn't reply.

"Answer me."

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"I'm sorry."

"You bet you are. And you ain't half as sorry as you're go

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. And I'll treat you just fine, though you don't deserve it after what you done. You'll get three meals, a warm place to sleep, and a whippin' only when you deserve it. Right?"

"Yes, sir."

Cliff sat back and watched her still kneeling, her head down, and her arms wrapped around her. He smiled. "Cold?"

"Yes, sir."

"Come on over here by the fire. Don't walk."

A

"Straighten up."

She rocked back on her haunches and sat up, facing him, her head still down.

"Look at me."

She looked him in the eye and noted with some satisfaction that his right eye still had blood in it.

"When did you fuck him? Where did you fuck him?"

"In his house."

"You fuck him in our house?"

"Yes."

He seemed surprised and asked, "How the fuck did you manage that? You're lyin'! You never could've fucked him in our house."

"If you say so."

"You're a fucking slut. You know that? You're a fucking whore, so I'm go

She noticed the gun belt on the small end table to the right of his chair. She thought she could grab it, roll away, and draw the pistol before he reacted. She could make him chain himself with the leg irons, and she could get away. That's all she wanted — to be away from him and this house. She'd only shoot if he made her, and then she'd only try to wound him. She waited for her chance.

Reluctantly, Keith moved away from the house, Billy behind him. About a hundred yards from the edge of the clearing, some two hundred yards from the house, they stopped.

Billy sat with his back against a pine tree and said, "The son-of-a-bitch could have nailed our ass with that infrared scope."

Keith nodded and looked at him in the dim light. "You don't have to stay. Go back to the truck."

"Hey, we got a deal. Right?"

"Yes, but..."

"Cool out, Keith. I know you saw somethin' that got to you, and I didn't see it. But I don't have to see it. I know him better than you know him. I been in his jail."

Keith got himself under control. "Okay. Thanks."

"We just sit here awhile. Let the dogs calm down. Let Baxter get settled in. We got him fixed. Remember that... how'd that go? Find 'em, fix 'em, and finish 'em." He added, "Fuck him."

Keith nodded to himself. He thought perhaps he should have taken the shot. But there were good shots and bad shots, sure shots and long shots. That definitely would have been a bad, long shot, and if he'd missed, or just hit Baxter's body armor, there was no taking the shot back. You just never knew. They told you in class that the first shot was not always the best you were going to get, but it might be the only one you'd get. You had to make a quick calculation, had to decide when to maintain fire discipline and when to go for it. Maybe if he had seen or foreseen what Baxter was going to do to A