The Southern Way

Once upon a time in a place time forgot there lived a man who was very much stuck in his ways.

Willie lives his whole life in Berrien County, Georgia, a place full of farmers, drugs and poverty. If you weren’t a farmer chances are you would become a degenerate. Willie loved to partake in the drink and other things that would takes his mind to other places and he would let you know real quick that was his damn business. He wasn’t much of a people person but he felt connected to the farmers and degenerates who lived there, what he couldn’t stand were the rich that made their money in the backs of the poor. They were living they high life while everyone else here was stuck trying to find the next meal.

Willies favorite place to frequent was Ten Mile Bay, an open body of water in the middle of the swamp. They only way to get there was to walks miles in the woods which he did religiously. He would often walk deep into the woods and set up camp and stay for days on end living off the land. There was no worry of game wardens, law or anyone for that matter coming back there. Many nights as he lay by the water and listen to the bullfrogs croak he would imagine dragging the lifeless bodies of the rich and snobby who could care less about the people of this town. He almost had himself talked into it, nobody would ever find the remains back here. The alligators, hogs, bobcats and insects would devour any flesh left in these woods.

One night as Willie lay in bed in his one bedroom single wide he started to contemplate even more how much getting rid of these people would help his community. The citizens of Berrien County had been under the thumb of three families who were rich for 150 years. These three families owned everything, if you worked anywhere here you worked for one of them.

Buck Perry owned all of the farm land in the county and charged farmers a high premium to use it, he had forced many a farmer to call it quits. Willie, like every one else could set their watch to his daily routine, 7 am on the dot he would walk into the Dinner Bell, sit at the table all the way in the back and order grits, eggs over easy, bacon and a cup of coffee. When he was done with his meal he would head to the farmers market that he also owned to see what kind of tax he could collect that day. At 11:30 am he was back at the Dinner Bell before the lunch rush to order his normal, liver and onions, brown gravy over mashed potatoes and a sweet tea. After lunch he would head home to take a nap, same routine every day Monday through Friday.

Willie knew what he had to do but he wanted to make sure he did it right. Because Buck was one of the three that ran the county the law always kept a close eye on him to keep him safe, he and they knew he had lots of enemies. Willie knew the best time to catch him would be when he went back home for his nap.

Willie spent the whole day planning how he would pull this off. He set out clothes that he never wore, a mask and some old gardening gloves. He laid a new pair of boots that he never planned to wear out beside the door. His next step was to borrow Old man Powell’s farm truck but without asking. He was set, tomorrow was the big day.

He was always an early riser but today he woke up two hours before normal, he had barely slept the night before. He got dressed, put the gloves and mask in his back pocket and took off through the woods to Powell’s barn. As he walked through the woods a sense of excitement came over him and he actually smiled and began to whistle, he couldn’t remember the last time he had smiled. As he came to the edge of the woods by the farmers barn he squatted down and kept a good lookout for ten or fifteen minutes, once he was certain it was clear it walked toward the truck. He hoped in and lo and behold the keys where in the ignition. He hadn’t anticipated that, he was quite sure he would have to hot wire the old thing. As he turned the key he scanned the area to make sure no one was around, Powell wouldn’t hear the truck because he lived a couple of miles away. Once the truck started he drove away, still smiling and whistling.

Buck through his normal dismal tip on the table, waved goodbye to the patrons and workers and told the waitress he could take care of her if she would let him and walked out the door. Normally he would head home to take a nap but he didn’t feel all that tired today and he felt like seeing what was going on around town. He jumped into his brand new pickup that never saw a day of work and drove off down the strip.

“What is he doing?” Willie asked himself out loud, he is not headed toward his house. Willie thought for a minute about just giving this up, it was for sure a crazy idea. The more he thought though the more driven he was to accomplish what he set out to do. He followed a few car links behind Buck until he saw him turn into the parking lot of an old abandoned warehouse. Willie pulled in and cut Buck off so he had nowhere to go. He jumped out of the truck and yelled at Buck, “This is your last day holding this town hostage, after today this county will be free if you.” Bucked screamed but to no avail, Willie cracked him across the head with a ball peen hammer knocking him out instantly. Willie tied Bucks wrist and ankles up and duct taped his mouth shut and through his limp body into the back of the truck. As Willie drive toward Ten Mile Bay he imagined how he would take his life, would he make it instant or would he draw it out and make him suffer? Either way this cancer would be removed today. Willie pulled the truck into an access road that had long been abandoned and pulled in behind some trees so the truck couldn’t be seen. He grabbed his pistol and walked toward the bed of the truck. He snatched a wiggling Buck out the bed of the truck, cut the ropes off of his ankles and shoved the pistol into his back.

As the two men walked deeper into the woods all was silent except for some whimpers coming from Buck. As they got to the edge of the water Willie snatched the tape off of Bucks mouth, Buck begin to babble and beg, he said “I will give you anything you want and won’t tell a soul if you let me go.” Willie just laughed and said “ You have nothing I want.” He then cracked him in the head with the pistol. At this moment he knew he just wanted to get it over. He shot Buck six times, threw his body in the water and began to slap the water with a tree branch. The sound of the water would bring the gators in because that sound meant something struggling to them. As he watched the gators make it the body and begin to tear it apart, he turned around and started to walk back to the truck. Buck toward his house, he had another long day ahead of him tomorrow. He parked the truck in a clearing down the road from his house and walked the rest of the way, as soon as he got inside he sat on his couch and fell asleep.

His next victim would be easy, he never left his house and he lived alone.

Hoss Franklin woke up, rolled over to look at the clock but instead saw a bear of a man standing beside his bed. Before he could make a sound he was knocked unconscious. The whole thing was boring for Willie because it was basically the same thing as yesterday. When he finished and got home he began to be overwhelmed with emotions, his last target would be easy to get to but hard to finish. Tomorrow will be the longest day of all.

William Brogdon was the richest of the three and by far the nastiest. He owned more than the other two combined and he loved to tell everyone. There were only two factories in town and he owned both, he paid barely over minimum wage and made millions every year. He had every official in the county in his pocket and did what he wanted to. Many a men had died poor and broken making him millions.

Willie woke up and got ready, he knew this mama routine like it was his on, he knew exactly where he would be. Willie pulled up to the cemetery and parked where the truck couldn’t be seen, he waited until William pulled in and walked to a grave. Willie got out and walked toward the man standing alone in the cemetery. As he got close William turned around, “Junior what are you doing here, I didn’t think you came to visit your mom, you didn’t even come to her funeral.” Willie said “Dad I couldn’t stand to see the only person I loved and the only person who loved me laid in the dirt.” She sure did love you.” William said. “ That’s more than I can say for you.” Willie retorted. Willie pulled the pistol out and pointed at his dad and said, “ After today no one will suffer because of your greed.” William laughed and asked, “You wouldn’t kill your dad would you?” Willie just nodded and pulled the trigger.