Cemetery Street

A couple of shots later, as the bourbon burned down my throat, I asked Russell, "What really happened?" He turned towards me, sunglasses staring into my eyes. I told him about the day on Indian point. How Shannie demolished Angel Wind's monument. The old man trembled. "It's true," he mumbled. Russell's hands limp in his lap, his head hung low. "I didn't rape her; we were in love. I still love her. After all these years, I still love her." He grabbed my arm - his grip tore through my sweatshirt. "You carry the same cross. Till you're an old man, you will love her. And you love her boy, you hear! Always love Shannie. Love her a little more each day! To the day they plant you in the ground, you'll carry her cross. Yes you will." He let go of my arm.

A long silence ensued. I decided to leave. Rising, I patted his back and wished him a happy new year. Russell spoke, "Geneva was with child when her two brothers did Satan's bidding." I sat back down. "She was with my child. She lied about the father. When her brother's shook down the impostor, they came back and beat her. Beat her unconscious. When she comes to, they beat her till the truth come out. Then they beat her till the baby come out. Then they throw her off Indian Point. You know why? She disgraced the family. They say she laid with the beast. And then they tell everyone the niggers did it! The niggers raped their sister!

"They said she jumped off Indian Point. And then they goes and built that sham monument. Their family still maintains that farce. After butterfly did her thing, they built it again. The sham will outlive the truth." I wanted to say it wouldn't; that the truth always prevails. I didn't, I would have felt foolish.

Russell continued. "On Christmas Eve, a foggy one, the reaper, in the form of those two brothers came for my family. As we slept, they broke in, swinging their baseball bats at anything that moved. Screams filled the house. I don't know how many of my family they killed before they got to me. I know they didn't kill all of 'em; they save 'em for sport. Busting their knees, keeping them alive. When they gets to me, they bust my knees, only they gag me and tie me to a kitchen chair. On the table in front of me, they took to raping my sisters - one by one. And when they were spent, they raped them with whatever they could find. When they finish with my family, they drag me outside. They set the house on fire. As it burn, I hear my brothers and sisters cry. They say they're doing the honorable thing. The screams of my family fill the night, they tell me they're righting a wrong; they tell me because of my evil fourteen people are dead. They say killing me let me off too easy; that they hope I live to be an old man, that I live with the evil I wrought. When there are screams no more, when the heat of the fire burn the tears from my face, when the last of my family is dead, one brother says, just so you don't forget, we're going to make sure this the last thing you'll ever see. The other, he grab a tree branch, light it afire from our burning house and burn my eyes out." Russell took his sunglasses off, revealing ancient scars.