Dark Dixie II by Ronald Kelly

Author:Ronald Kelly [Ronald, Kelly,]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Horror
Publisher: Crossroad Press

BOOKMARKS

Jennifer huddled against her father’s body, seeking warmth and comfort. There was little of either there in the camp. She faintly remembered her room, bright and cheerful, filled with colorful toys and decorated with posters of Sesame Street and Disney characters. It was during periods like this – when she was hungry, exhausted, and on the verge of slumber – that the six-year-old could remember the good times the best. In the daylight hours, with the drab and dirty tents, with the men in white jumpsuits standing on the wall with guns, Jennifer had a difficult time remembering the past. All she experienced then was misery and resignation, as if she had been born there in the filthy hovel they now called home.

Drowsiness began to overcome her and, gradually, she remembered things as they had been a year ago. The big two-story house in a Memphis suburb. Her father in his study, sitting in front of his computer. Her mother baking raisin oatmeal cookies and taking care of the new baby. But that had changed abruptly in the dead of night, with rough hands dragging Jennifer from her bed and strips of tape sealing away her screams of terror. The next thing Jennifer knew, she and her family were in the compound, surrounded by people dressed in dirty pajamas and nightgowns like themselves. Some of the people cried, while others merely sat there and stared into space.

She thought that maybe their imprisonment had something to do with Daddy and his job. Daddy didn’t go to work like other daddies did. He stayed at home and wrote books. Books with scary names and pictures on the covers that gave Jennifer nightmares if she looked at them too long.

She remembered the people that made Daddy mad; the ones who marched in front of their house, carrying signs and yelling Bible verses. They said that their book was a Good Book and that Daddy wrote Bad Books. They said Daddy worshipped the Devil and that he would burn in the Bad Place. The people had frightened Jennifer. She had cried and Daddy had told her that it wasn’t true. He told her that what he wrote was just make-believe, like Curious George or The Cat in the Hat.

Then things got worse. Daddy started crying, too, and drinking the Nasty Tasting Stuff because the stores in town didn’t sell his books anymore. He looked real sad and didn’t play with Jennifer or Baby Joey like he once did. He didn’t talk to Mommy very much, didn’t hug or kiss her like he used to. He just sat there, drinking the Nasty Tasting Stuff and watching the congressional hearings and the new President talking about “reviving moral values” and things like that.

Jennifer opened her sleepy eyes and stared at her mother, who lay curled up on her side at the other end of the tent. Mommy hadn’t said anything for a long time. Not since Baby Joey went away. Her little brother had coughed and cried for days.

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