Sister Katie

The other man was suddenly there, pinning her arms behind her as the man with the scratched face got to his feet and punched her across the back of her head, buckling her knees.  She reeled...a series of bright multicolored lights swam before her eyes...and slid to the floor.  He squatted beside her, his hot whiskey breath on her face and commanded the other, “Go git that nigger!”  The shadow tore from the room, leaving them.  She heard the banging of the screen door, and heavy footsteps pounding the porch, but her only worry was that Margaret, may have lost her sense of direction coming from the dark hole, for she knew otherwise he would never catch Margaret.  Not the girl who had three medals for being the fastest on the track team, and besides, she knew the short cuts to Charlie’s house...it was her stomping grounds.  Suddenly, powerful arms dragged her across the floor to the other side of the house, her body sliding over the torn linoleum until she was stopped by something in her path...Pappy’s Bible.  She was yanked to her feet, her head snapped backward and then toward the door where a triangle of light sat on the ceiling like a stranger afraid to come inside.  The shadow was too close for her to see his face.  He punched her in the stomach, grunting like a man lifting something heavy.  The blow lifted her from the floor onto her toes.  She reeled again and slipped on the pages of the open Bible, trying to maintain her balance.  The dark figure holding her did not speak.  He punched her again and again until she slammed against the wall, her hand falling against something cold and smooth...the axe.