Spencerville

he did last time, only this time I’m behind him with a pistol to his head. Simple and safe. You see any problems with it?”
    “It sounds okay… they always
sound
okay, don’t they?”
    “Right. Sometimes, they even work.”
    Billy smiled. “Remember them chalkboard sessions in football? Every play was a touchdown play. Same in the Army. But they never showed what happened when some of your guys got taken out, and nobody ever knew what the other side was plannin’ on doin’ to fuck you up.”
    “That’s life.”
    “Yeah.” He thought a moment and said, “I think I fucked myself up. I didn’t need no bad guys.” He added, “But I hung in there long enough to catch this break.”
    They waited in the cold dark, wrapped in their canvas ponchos. At midnight, Keith stood, dropped his poncho on the ground, and said, “Let’s move.”

CHAPTER FORTY
    C liff Baxter put down his magazine and yawned. He finished his can of beer and scooped out a handful of pretzels from the bag and ate them. He looked at his wife in the rocking chair and threw a few pretzels on her blanket. “Don’t say I never give you treats. Eat up.”
    She ignored the pretzels and didn’t reply.
    He said, “Ready for bed, darlin’?”
    Still looking at the dying fire, she replied, “No, I just want to sit here.”
    “Yeah? All night?”
    “Yes.”
    “Who’m I gonna cuddle with?”
    “Not me. I’m chained to the bed.”
    “Handcuffed, not chained.”
    “What difference does it make to me?”
    “Hey, if I could trust you, you wouldn’t be chained to the floor, or cuffed to the bed, or nothin’. Can I trust you?”
    “Yes.”
    He laughed. “Yeah, I can trust you to blow my brains out.”
    She looked at him. “Are you afraid of me?”
    His eyes narrowed, and he said, “I’m afraid of anybody who can pull a trigger. I ain’t no fool.”
    Annie said, “No, you’re not. But you’re…”
    “What?”
    “You don’t trust people, Cliff. Do you know how to trust?”
    “Nope. Why should I trust anybody? Why should I trust you?”
    “If I gave you my word that I wouldn’t try to kill you, would you uncuff me?”
    “Nope. Why you makin’ such a big deal about bein’ cuffed?”
    “
Why?
Because I don’t want to be chained like an animal. That’s why.”
    “Oh, you ain’t chained like an animal. Animals got more freedom.” He laughed. “You’re chained like a felon who got caught by the law. Them dogs outside never did nothin’ wrong, so they can move a hundred yards or so. You fucked up, lady. Big-time. Maybe in a few weeks, I’ll hook you to the dog run, then you can say you’re chained like a animal and thank me.”
    Annie took a deep breath and said, “Cliff… I had a chance to kill you that time… it’s not in me to kill anyone. Please believe that… you know that. You said so yourself. Let me sleep without the cuffs tonight. I can’t sleep like that with my wrists cuffed to the headboard. Please. I swear to you, I won’t harm you.”
    “Yeah? But that ain’t sayin’ I won’t wake up cuffed to the bed, and you’ll be long gone. Right? Right? Hey, don’t bother to answer.” He leaned toward her. “That reminds me. Next time you got to take a piss, you can do it right where you are.”
    “Cliff… please…”
    “Then clean it up.” He added, “But not in the bed.” He yawned again. “So you’d rather sleep in the goddamned chair all night than sleep with me?”
    She shook her head. “No… I’m sorry. I don’t want to sit here all night. I’ll go to bed.” She added, “I have to go to the bathroom.”
    “Yeah? I got a better idea. Stay here. Do you some good.” He moved toward her and ripped the blanket away, throwing it across the room. “Freeze your ass off, and piss on your chair.”
    “Bastard.”
    He pinched her cheek hard. “You got ten strokes across your butt comin’ in the mornin’. Think about that all night. And no breakfast. You can sit there in your own piss and smell the bacon and eggs cookin’.”
    He walked to his gun rack and unlocked it, taking down the AK-47, then relocked the rack. “I’d rather sleep with a rifle than you, anyway. Rifle’s warmer than you ever was.”
    She sat in the rocker, her arms around her, looking into the glowing embers.
    He asked, “You want me to throw a log on?”
    She didn’t reply.
    “Wasn’t gonna do it, anyway.”
    She looked at him and said, “Cliff, please… I’m sorry. Don’t leave me here. I’m cold, I