Spencerville

"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.

* * *

Annie yelled out in surprised pain. Usually, she prepared herself for the first blow and hardly made a sound until the pain got to be too much. Yesterday, she'd taken ten strokes without crying, and that had given her some satisfaction.

He said, "I was gonna give you only five, but now you're gettin' a full ten. You count, and if you lose count, I start over again. Ready?"

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 Annie to catch her breath and count. Before the last stroke, she started to sob, and he said, "Well, I gave you one before we started, so I'll count that as ten. What do you say?"

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 runnin' into him. And all the time you was suckin' his dick. Right?"

"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 gonna pay for what you did. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes."

"And you're gonna keep payin', 'cause you can't ever make that right. I'll bet you're sorry you did it, ain't you?"

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 gonna be. When I get through with you, you're gonna be like my bitch retriever. You're gonna do what I say, when I say, eat when I tell you, curl up at my feet, lick my hand, and follow me around with your head down. Right?"

"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."

Annie hesitated, then walked on her hands and knees over to Baxter and came to a stop at his feet.

"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 gonna treat you like a whore."