Carnal Innocence

Arnette Gantry.”
    “You’re crazy.” Toby could barely get the words through his lips. The dog was quiet now, and he could see old Custer crumpled on the grass—dead or stunned. Rage came quickly, then he saw the rope John Thomas Bonny and Wood Palmer were swinging over the branch of a gnarled oak. Fear followed. “I never killed nobody.”
    “Listen to this, boys.” Billy T. gave a cackle while his eyes staved dark and flat on Toby’s. “He says he didn’t do it.”
    Even through terror, Toby recognized that they were all piss-yourself drunk. That only made them more dangerous.
    One of the others leaned on his shotgun and brought a pint of Black Velvet to his lips. “Might as well hang him for a liar, too.”
    “His neck’ll stretch just the same. You nigger boys can dance, can’t you?” Billy T. grinned until his eyes turned to slits. “You’re going to do some dancing tonight. Why, your feet ain’t even going to touch the ground. When you finish dancing, we’re going to burn your place to the ground.”
    Fear turned Toby’s bowels to ice. They would kill him. He could see that in their eyes. He would fight them, and he would lose. But he couldn’t lose his family as well.
    He shoved the rifle, felt the bullet sear his rib cage as it exploded. “Winnie!” He shouted in despair and terror. “Run. Get the children and run!” As he clutched at his wounded side, Billy T. brought the rifle butt down in his face.
    “Coulda killed him.” On a nervous giggle, Billy T.wiped the back of his hand over his mouth. “Coulda blown a hole in his belly, but that’s not the way. We’re gonna hang him,” he yelled to the others. “Drag him on over.”
    He saw the woman rush out, shotgun blasting. In her terror, Winnie fired wide. Billy T. backhanded her and knocked the gun clear. “Lookie here.” He snatched the struggling woman around the waist. “She’s going to protect her man.” When she clawed at him, he struck her again so that she fell dazed to the porch. “Hold on to her, Woody. Truss her up. When that cocksucker wakes up, we’ll show him how it feels to have his woman raped.”
    “I ain’t raping no woman,” Wood muttered, already having doubts about the whole night’s work.
    “Then you can watch, too.” Billy T. reached down and yanked Winnie down the steps by the hair. “Take hold of her, goddammit. John Thomas, you go in and bring those nigger kids out here. They got a lesson to learn.”
    Winnie began to scream, one keening wail after another. She kicked and bit and clawed as Wood bound her hands behind her back.
    There was a shout from the house, a curse and a crash. John Thomas staggered back out to the doorway, his shoulder seeping blood. “He cut me.” Holding out one bloody hand, he stumbled to his knees. “The little fucker cut me.”
    “Christ almighty, can’t even handle a kid.” Billy T. walked over to examine his brother’s wound. “You’re bleeding like a stuck pig. One of Y’all bind this up. Keep an eye on the house. That boy comes out, do what you have to do.” Near where the cross burned, Toby began to groan and stir. “I’m going to do this myself. For Darleen.” He leaned over. One of Toby’s eyes had swollen shut, but there was fear in the other. Billy T. fed on it.
    It was power. He tasted it and found it heady. All his life he’d been second rate. Now he was about to do something important, even heroic. No one would ever look at him the same way again.
    “I’m going to put this noose around your neck, boy.” He reached up and snagged it. Dragging Toby to a kneeling position, he pulled the loop of rope around Toby’s neck. “I’m going to tug it nice and tight.” He slid the knot down until it pressed evilly against flesh. “But we’re not going to string you yet. First I’m going to do to your wife what you did to those white women.” He grinned as Toby fought against the rope and gag. “Only I bet I can make her like it. And when she’s yelling for more, we’re going to hang you.”
    “I don’t hold with raping no woman,” Wood said, firmly this time. Snarling, Billy T. whirled, bringing the gun up with him.
    “You just shut the fuck up, then. It ain’t rape, it’s justice.”
    “I can’t stop this bleeding.”
    Billy T. glanced over to where one of the men tried to staunch the wound on his brother’s shoulder. “Well then, let him bleed for a goddamn minute. Won’t kill him.” He was losing them. He could feel