Fish Farm by Walt Sautter (ereader for android TXT) đ
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- Author: Walt Sautter
Book online «Fish Farm by Walt Sautter (ereader for android TXT) đ». Author Walt Sautter
âYou wait here and make sure nobody comes snoopinâ by. Iâll go meet him and get the bags. Weâll slide him in and carry him out to the carâ said Jack.
âThen what?â replied Clyde.
âTomorrow weâll go fishingâ answered Jack as he turned and walked towards the park entrance to meet Petey.
Clyde stared, perplexed at Jackâs reply as Jack retreated into the shadows.
After several minutes of waiting, Peteyâs old Toyota pulled up to the curb.
âGimme the bags and wait hereâ yelled to Petey through the open passenger window.
Petey motioned to the pile of bags on the seat. Jack reached in, grabbed them and disappeared back into the darkness.
Soon Jack and Clyde emerged through the mist. Clyde had Wheelerâs bag wrapped body slung over one shoulder.
âOpen the trunkâ Jack instructed and the deck lid popped.
Jack raised the lid.
âWhatâs all this shit you got in here?â he snarled and slammed it shut.
âOpen the back doorâ he again commanded.
âPut him in hereâ gestured to Clyde who obligingly slid the body into the back seat.
âGet in and letâs goâ he continued.
Clyde paused for a moment to get his breath and then he walked to the other side of the car and got in the back seat next to Wheelerâs lumped form. Jack got in the front next to Petey and the car lurched forward.
âWhat the fuckâs going on? Whatâs in the bag?â asked Petey as they drove towards home.
âHave to take a ride to Larryâs tomorrow morning, earlyâ replied Jack.
âHoly shit! You got to be kiddinâ Not again!â answered Petey in dismay.
Jackâs reply made Petey obviously nervous. He grasp the steering wheel with both hands and bowed his head forward. He chastised himself as the ride continued. How did he get himself into this shit in the first place he questioned over and over.
âWell itâs too late nowâ he thought to himself. He certainly wasnât about to confront Jack.
When they got back to Peteyâs place they cleaned out the trunk and stuffed Wheelerâs garbage bag clad body into it.
âSee ya in the morninâ light, about six. Call Larry and tell him weâre cominââ and the three left Peteyâs make-shift hearse for the night.
Chapter 13
The morning the sun shone brightly as Jack made his way over to Peteyâs. He immediately walked to the back of the building to check the car and make sure it was undisturbed. He then called Petey.
âIâm by the car. Letâs goâ he said and hung up.
Several minutes later they were on their way to Larryâs.
They rode quietly, each uneasily contemplating the task lying ahead. After a prolonged silence, Petey spoke.
âI kinda thought the Firemen were a done deal after our last trip to Larryâs. I havenât seen hide nor hair of them around the neighborhood since. I thought we scared âem all offâ he began.
Jack said nothing.
âWhich one is the guy in the trunk?â continued Petey.
Again Jack failed to reply.
âYou okay Jack?â
âYeah Iâm okayâ answered Jack abruptly.
âLetâs just get up to Larryâs and get this over withâ he added.
âYeah, I know what you meanâ said Petey and they continued their sober journey.
Soon the sign, âLarryâs Fishinâ Holeâ loomed ahead. Petey turned down the long, dusty road. There was Larry waiting on the porch, rocking slowly back and forth and puffing on short cigar stub.
âHow ya doinâ boys?â announced Larry with a forced grin.
âI see ya brought me another one of your local pricks. How many more is it going take before they catch on and get the fuck outta town on ya?â he continued.
âIâm guessinâ their a bunch of dumb fucks, slow learners. Jack trying to teach âem, arenât ya Jack?
But its just not sinkinâ in?â Petey added.
Jack nodded slightly but said nothing.
âLetâs have a couple beers before we finish this up. Kinda get our stomachs up for it if you know what I meanâ said Larry as he disappeared into the house to retrieve three cold ones.
Several drinks later, the three got into Peteyâs car and rode to the pond. The bright yellow chipper sat next to the pond, like a grizzly monster awaiting its subsistence.
Petey popped the trunk and they pulled the garbage bagged form from it. Larry slid the first bag from the corpse exposing Wheeler ashen face to the glaring sunlight.
Upon seeing it, he rose sharply from his bent stance stilling holding the bag.
âWhat the fuck is this?â he exclaimed.
âThis aint no young punk!â
At the sight of Wheelerâs face, Petey looked up at Jack with equal surprise.
âWhatâs goinâ on here?â asked Petey.
âLook, I was all for helpinâ you guys get rid of those little pricks that are terrorizing your neighborhood but Iâm not up for this kind of shitâ said Larry sternly.
âLarry, I didnât know. I thought it was one of the gang like you didâ explained Petey.
They both looked squarely a Jack awaiting his explanation.
âDid you ever hear of Tyron and the Tyron collapse?â asked Jack.
âCanât say as I did. I donât ever watch the news anymore. I canât deal with it. It just pisses me off too much. Aint watched it in yearsâ answered Larry.
âI kinda remember somethinâ about it. Sounds familiar anywayâ added Petey.
Then Jack continued.
âLet me tell you the whole thingâ began Jack and with that he blurted out the entire story. He began with the loss of his job at Tyron and ended with Clyde accidentally killing of Wheeler. Larry and Petey listened intently with little emotion.
Jack concluded and Larry spoke.
âWell, whatever the case, I guess we gotta get rid of him.â
Larry proceeded to remove the bag from the lower part of the body. As he did, he continued to intensely peruse Wheelerâs lifeless countenance.
âThis guy look awful familiar for some reasonâ he muttered to himself under his breath.
After a few minutes the body was disrobed and Larry pulled hard on the starter cord and the chipper roared to life. Jack and Larry raised the body onto the bed of the machine and it towards the whirling blades.
Again, as before, the machine did its gruesome task and a flurry of bright red, semi liquid pulp sprayed into the pond. It was met by churning water were in landed as the fish scrambled for their share of the ghoulish feast.
Within minutes, it was over, Wheeler had been consumed by the chipper, the spray ceased and the pond waters returned to their usual colorless calm.
Larry proceeded to wash down the machine while Jack picked up the pile of discarded clothing and carried it towards the rusty oil drum and threw them in for burning. The grim clean up completed they all piled back into Peteyâs car for the ride back to the house.
âWait a minuteâ announced Larry.
âWe gotta burn up the guyâs duds. I sure donât want thing layinâ around hereâ he said as reached for the car door handle.
âWhat did you find in his pockets?â asked Larry as fumbled to find a match.
âHoly shit! I put the clothes in the barrel and didnât even look. You would think Iâd know better this timeâ replied Jack.
Larry walked to the barrel and pulled the clothes from it. He rifled through the pants pockets and withdrew a wallet and stuffed into his own pocket. He then lit a match and ignited one of the sleeves of Wheelers shirt. When it was thoroughly aflame he dropped it and the rest of the clothing back into the barrel.
He got back into the car as smoke poured from the fiery container and they pulled away. Back at the house they sat silently on the porch each trying to clear his memory of the macabre task they had just completed. After several moments Jack broke the stillness.
âLarry â what did you find in the wallet?â he inquired.
Larry reached in his back pocket and pulled it out. He opened the money compartment and began to count.
âTwenty-three dollars!â
Then he slipped a small stack plastic cards from the other compartment and began to slowly shuffle through them.
âJames Wheeler!â he announced in a startled voice.
âYeah, that was his nameâ replied Jack.
Larry continued to stare at the card and then reached into another one of the walletâs compartments. He slid out a piece of laminated plastic containing a dark shriveled fragment. He stared at it intensely for a few moments and then grasp it tightly in his fist. Then, without a word, he rose and walked into the house.
Jack and Petey continued to sit on the porch. A few seconds later they heard the screen door slam behind them signaling Larryâs return.
Suddenly, Petey heard the deafening blast of a shot gun blast. Jack lurched forward from his chair falling face down on the porch floor. Bits of hair, flesh and bone were scattered over the decking adjacent to his body and spurts of blood gushed from the huge hole in the back of his head.
Petey turned to see Larry standing in front of the doorway holding the still smoking gun by his side. He instinctively closed his eyes and raised his hands shielding his face from what he expected to be Larryâs next shot. Seconds passed and not a sound. He opened his eyes and slowly lowered his hands looking at Larry in astonishment as he did so.
âDonât worry Petey I aint gonna shot youâ announced Larry.
Petey swallowed hard and squeezed out a terrified reply.
âWhatâs going on?
You just killed Jack!
Right out of the blue like that!
Why?â
Larry sat down in Jackâs empty seat.
âI had tooâ he answered, âI just had too.â
âWhat the fuck do you mean âHad tooâ?â
Larry held the small, laminated object that he had retrieved from Wheelerâs pocket for Petey to see.
âKnow what this is?â he asked.
Petey leaned forward for a closer look.
âCanât really tell. Looks like beef jerky!â
âItâs a Congâs ear. Been in this guyâs wallet since sixty-eight when I gave it to himâ replied Larry soberly.
âYou mean you knew the guy we just shot into the pond?â asked Petey incredulously.
âKnew him? Shit yeah I knew him. He was Knotsy, my bud from Nam. When we first pulled him outta the bag I thought he looked familiar but I aint seen him in twenty-five years or more so I didnât really recognize him.
Jack never did tell me his name so I never put anything together until I pulled his wallet outta his pants pocket and saw his name was Wheeler. The was Knotsyâs last name, Wheeler.
And then when I found this I knew for sure it was him.â
There was a quiet and then Petey finally spoke.
âSo why did you just kill Jack? He couldnât have known that he Wheeler was your friend Knotsyâ asked Petey.
âDonât know. I guess it was just that old Nam thing.
It just came right over me. I just had too. It was like Jack, all of a sudden, looked just like that Cong that I shot outta the tree that day when everybody got killed âcept me and Knotsy. I looked up at Jack a couple of times after I found Knotsyâs ear and each time I was hopinâ to see Jack but I just kept seeinâ that Cong sniperâs face on him.
After lookinâ at him four or five times and seeinâ the
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