"Beyond the neon Pig" (1st draft )

"BEYOND THE NEON PIG" by m. sharpbeard

The first time penny saw him she was drawn to his sparkling green eyes. so much so she didn't hear him speaking to her as much as she saw his full lips moving. she couldn't take her gaze away from those eyes. only when the lady behind her rudely bumped her bottom with a full grocery cart did penny realize she was staring at the new cashier at her local Piggly wiggly store. his name tag said Jim and penny thought she had never seen such a beautiful man in her whole 27 years of living.Looking into his face Penny knew she had finally found the man of her dreams " mam are you ok? " the handsome boy was saying. shaken from her delightful fog penny blinked several times and almost came back to her senses. " uh oh I well yes , im fine " penny stammered to the guy named Jim. " I was thinking of something else im so sorry" when Jim smiled and flashed the most perfect set of white teeth penny had ever seen she almost lost it again,but forcefully made her slightly shaking hands start unloading her groceries onto the now moving checkout counter. when she had put all her food for one on the counter she smiled as she watched Jim scanning each item . he carefully lifted the 6 cans of single serve Campbell's soup turning each in his hand to find the bar code and swiping them one by one. he didn't catch her looking at him intently again until he picked up her bag of 4 cucumbers still damp from the produce section. he raised one perfect eye brow and grinned at her in what penny thought was a most intimate way. she blushed red all over and didn't exactly know why.but she knew it felt good , yes , very, very, very good. when he had finished scanning her items he bagged them perfectly. cans on bottom eggs and bread on top. penny had the cash in her hand to pay and suddenly decided to write a check instead, looking at him she couldn't be much older than him she thought so why not give him a check and maybe he would notice her phone number on it and maybe just maybe,....... " thank you for shopping at Piggly wiggly" Jim was saying " and please come again" " yes I will thanks" penny said still half way in a fog of feeling she hadn't had since jack had left for New Mexico 4 months ago. walking swiftly to her little yellow pinto penny berated her self. " damnit I looked so stupid in there " she said aloud to no one. " "gawking at a guy in the grocery I must be mad " starting up her car penny drove the long way around to leave the parking lot, taking her right in front of the stores big glass windows. as she passed the store front she glanced toward the check out line Jim had been working. he was gone. penny sighed and turned her pinto toward her apt seven blocks away...

it was almost dusk when penny unlocked the door to her small apt. her grey cat stormy meowed her hello and jumped on the counter as she unloaded her bags. " hi sweetie kitty" penny murmured to her cat as she patted his head," heres your dinner miss kitty" she opened a can of tuna for stormy and a can of clam chowder for her self and checked her answering machine. still no messages. she had moved into the small cramped apt nine months ago when things got really bad between her and jack. after her last trip to the hospital for another so called fall down the basement steps she had had enough. decided she wasnt taking one more beating from her husband and left the next day when jack was at work. she had 1600 dollars and her cat and 2 suit cases when she moved into the apt. plenty to rent some pieces of funiture and pay the bills for a month. she found a job that first week working in a nursing home and so her new life with out jack had begun, at first she was sure jack would find her and cause her problems, but after the second month had passed she wasnt so afraid anymore and settled into a kind of groove of working and watching tv and reading in her spare time.when she heard from her sister that jack had moved to new mexico she was relieved and decided he was gone for good now. penny wasnt scared any more . with jack 3 states away and her mother dead, she finially felt really safe. she knew it wouldnt be long before jack filed for divorce because jack was never with out a woman for long. so in pennys mind she was already free of all the old pain and bad memories. still when she would see no messages she felt a twang of regret. she wondered how jack could go from the wonderful man she thought she married to the raving wife beater he had become in such a short time. and if he had honestly loved her why hadnt he changed or at least tried to find her? shaking off the lonley feeling penny went to the bathroom took off her uniform and turned on the water for her shower.

the hot water felt good after her shift at the nursing home and penny stood under the flow as long as she dared. it didnt take much to run her water heater out of hot water.about 10 mins was a long shower for her now. when she had washed her long blonde hair and rinsed off, the water was just starting to get colder..she dried off with her favorite red beach towel and wrapped her hair in a smaller white one and put on her robe. as she walked barefoot to the kitchen she set the microwave to heat her soup, washed out the now empty kitty dish and grabbed a diet soda . the soup smelled good and she was suddenly very hungry . she ate her soup washed her bowl and took her soda into the livingroom. as usual she flipped on the tv and scanned every channel .nothing suited her tonight and she had it on mostly for company. liviing alone had its advantages and its draw backs she thought as she snuggled into her favorite position on the cheap sofa. stormy jumped on her lap and purred as she rubbed his soft fur. in less than 20 minutes she was nodding off to sleep with the tv still blinking in the dim room.

the next few days for penny passed like the last few months . work, sleep, read , watch tv. she hadnt made many friends in this new town she had moved to. she knew a few of the people at work but they were all either married or dating and she had turned down all offers to go to movies or shoping with them .at first she didnt want to be seen out at night for fear of jack and now that she had gotten to a place where she wasnt scared of him anymore the girls at work had already stopped asking her to go anywhere. so penny was feeling more alone that ever . her only joy of the days were stopping by piggly wiggly and buying something just so she could go through jims lane again. she had even started going home to shower and change before making her grocery runs which lately consisted of items she knew she would never have bought before. kiwi and pamagranate juice, milkyway candy and peanut butter. the simple fact was penny forgot everything when she entered the big automatic doors of the piggly wiggly and spotted jim. for reasons she couldnt understand penny had become fasinated with jim. just seeing his lean body, jet black hair with one curl slightly drooping over his left eyebrow made penny feel like a school girl. and his uncanny likeness to jack was remarkable. they could have been brothers or at least cousins. she always hoped he would say something to her besides come again and have a nice day but he never did. so she would smile at him say thanks you and take her grocerys home stuffing them in the cabnets and refridgerator until after 3 weeks of this both, were over flowing. a few nights she tried to have dinner using some of the items but nothing seemed to be a real meal. just any old thing she could grab off the shelves is what she bought.she only went every day to look at jim anyway.

she spent her nights with her cat and the tv, and her days at work. at home her mind always drifted to jim and she wondered what he was doing at the same time. probly with his girlfriend or his wife whe thought. no guy that good looking could ever be alone . she knew that for a fact. all the good looking guys were mostly taken . but in her mind she saw jim asking her on a date and taking her to a nice place to eat. maybe a movie . she dreamed of him being romantic and playfull. just the perfect kind of guy for her. she lately fell asleep holding one sofa cushion and imagining jims green eyes closing slightly right before he kissed her for the first time.

then one day as penny came through jims lane at the piggly wiggly the unexpected happened.

it was a day like all the others same old routine and penny was extra tired from working a double shift . 16 hours in the nursing home felt like 48 to penny and she was just to tired to go home and change before going to catch a glimpse of jim.she hadnt felt really well in a few days and working over time hadnt helped. she felt weak and dishelveled. but figured since jim hadnt taken the slightest bit of interest in her when she took the extra time to clean up after work she really didnt expect to do any more than grab something fast go throught his line catch a look at his dreamy greens and go home. she actually didnt know what she expected. she just couldnt shake the compulshion to see him at least once a day. over and over in her mind she rehearsed all the right things she would say and all the perfect things she would do if he would only do or say anything at all to let her know he was noticing her even half as much as she noticed him.

when penny got to the piggly wiggly it had started to mist rain and she couldnt see clearly into the big windows . her vision was all blurred from the rain . she hurried into the automatic doors and was slightly blinded by the bright lights after being out in the gloomy morning. it took her only a few seconds to scan the registers and notice jim was no where to be seen. he was always here every morning, same time . penny started to panic . she was standing still, breathing hard and wildly looking around the front of the store for any sigh of jim. rain dripped off her now frizzy hair and in her somewhat spotty stained uniform. her eyes took on a far away look and people began to take notice of her.

it wasnt until she started to scream that they came to her side asking if she was ok and when she fell to the floor in a fetal position someone used a cell phone to call 911.

When penny woke up she was astounded to be on her back strapped down in a drafty ambulance. the two young paramedics were saying something to her. her hand was stinging and she knew they had started an iv. blinking she tried to shake her head side to side to get her damp hair out of her eyes. " Shes waking up" the blonde emt was saying . " Miss, Miss are you ok can you hear me?" He was so close to Pennys face, she could smell his minty fresh breath and see his perfect white teeth.

still bafffled at first penny couldnt speak. then the horror of her breakdown hit her full force and she began to cry. " its going to be fine mam I promise " the minty breath man was saying , but Penny couldnt stop crying and with each sob she became more and more distressed. "where are you taking me?" penny slobbered between gasps for breath. " We are in route to the hospitial mam just calm down and it really is going to be ok" Penny only heard the word hospitial above the ambulance's siren and the honking of its loud horn and she fell into a complete panic. She hated hospitials. She had spent 8 of her years locked up in a hospitial and she had no intention of letting that happen again. Not now that she was grown and had some say so about her self. Struggling againsts the restraints and trying to jerk the iv tube from her arm, penny let out a loud ear piercing scream NOOOOO!! LET ME GO . LET ME GO RIGHT THIS MINUTE I DONT WANT TO GO TO A HOSPITIAL. YOU DONT UNDERSTAND OH GOD LET ME GO!" Pennys last wide eyed memory was the miney fresh breath man pushing a needle into her left arm. Then her lights went totally dark. .. 3085 words

chap.2

For Penny, the absolute terror of hospitals come at an early age. She was too young to remember the first doizen or so times her mother took her into the hospitial but that was a good thing. It was bad enough that she remembered the hundred or so admissions that came after she was six. Her mother always told her she had been a sick baby right from the start. At first accepting the word of her mother seemed to help penny as she grew older. But that soon faded. She felt doomed to a life of painfull tests , after effects of medicines and probings from doctors. No one could put thier finger on exactly what was wrong with Penny so she was subject to many diognosis through the years. She would sometimes get better while in the hospitial only to have horrible set backs and nasty infections on going home. Her mother became her soul caretaker and saving grace.Or so it seemed to outsiders. Penny began to realize about age 10 that her mother might not be doing all she could to make Penny better. In fact Penny knew her mom was trying to make her worse. Everytime Penny tried to tell someone about the strange things her mom was doing to her no one listened. Oh they saw the results alright. A thin frail girl child puking green bile after her mom decided thet tiny green pills that went into the gold fish bowl to clean it might just clean out Pennys insides. Or the decision of her mom to rub feces into already festering wounds on her small body causing it to erupt into almost gangreen like abcesses. But no one believed Penny. Sometimes her mom would make her promise not to tell the nurses and doctors about what was happening and sometimes Penny wouldnt. At her young age she only wanted to please her mom. As strange as it seemed . Pennys mom seemed happiest when Penny was the sickest or when she was laboring through the most painfull of tests. So for a long while, Penny indured. She indured until she was 13 and then she rebelled. Crawling out of her sick bed one afternoon while her mom was out getting more medicine Penny knew she would force her to take.Penny went to the phone and called 911. Fearfull her mom would come home and discover her out of bed, which was sorely forbidden , she ran to a neighbors apt and hid in the breezeway. Praying the police would come and save her before her mom started looking for her. The police did come, and finding Penny crouched in the corner behind a large plastic palm tree, they took her still shaking and crying into a patrol car and carried her directly to a hospitial All the while listening and believing her mothers lies that Penny was a troubled preteen who had tried to swallow belach to get back at her for not letting her date. Protests from Penny were squashed when her mother somehow presented a diary written in a childish scrawl admitting to the belach revenge and many more horrible things. Penny had never seen that diary before and she tried to tell anyone who would listen, No one did. That night Penny was admitted to the state of Tennessee's best mental hospitial. She remained a patient for the next 8 years. The years at the hospitial were even more terrible than living with her mom. She suffered horribley from the drugs she was once again forced to take and was at the mercy of overworked nurses and sometimes peverted orderlies. With no escape Penny reverted into her self and became one of the silent suffering, locked inside her own mind, thus able to detatch her self from the abuse her body suffered daily. Then one day she was free. Penny left the childhood horrors behind her , as well as her memories of mother and soon married jack. when that ended so badly she ran as fast as she could away from him and ended up here in Lincon. She vowed to start over soon and found a job in a place of caring. The nursing home job would have seemed somehow perverse to someone who knew of the things she had suffered in hopspitial settings as a child, but to Penny it was a setting she had also come to find comforting. Not all of her doctors and nurses in the years had been bad . So to her the enviroment was somehow comforting , She was not the patient now. She could come and go as she wished and that added to her sense of freedom. Her apartment came next and she settled into a form of normalcy and atonnomy in the city. Until her world rocked off kilter when she first laied eyes on the Piggly wiggly checker guy Jim.

995+3085= 4080 word

The hospital staff accessed Penny and ran her throught the midred of tests and with in a few days determined she was not a danger to her self and others. Penny smiled and gave all the right answers to all the questions she was asked. After all she learned long ago that in order to get out of a hospitial she had to show everyone what they wanted to see. The doctors final report stated that Penny had simply fainted in the Piggly Wiggly, from lack of sleep and over work. He suggested she take a few days off from her job as a caregiver to the elderly and just rest and eat healthy.Then he promised her a clean bill of health. With in a week she was released from the hospitial and in a cab on her way home.

When she entered her apartment Penny was pleased. Through her haze of the first couple of days she thankfully had the senseability to tell a nurse to call her neighbor and make arrangements for her Stormy. From the looks of her spick and span clean kitchen her neighbor had done more than just feed the kitty. She saw the counters gleaming and the refridgerator even had a new supply of juice and yougrt , bread and deli ham. Penny made her way to the sofa and sat sinking deep into the fluffy cushions. Stormy jumped into her lap and purred loudly. " Oh, missed me didnt you my sweet kitty? Well I missed you too my little honey" Rubbing her cats head as she spoke. " I have decided something miss kitty " Penny spoke softly in the cats ear. " I have to go away for a little while and i want you to be good and not worry ok, my sugar pot? You will be just fine and when i come back we can pick up right where we left off . I know you like Miss Lucy and her doggy Simon, I bet she will be glad to let you stay with her a few days ." With that she let the cat jump down and watched as it headed to the kitchen for another bite to eat. Penny picked up the telephone, which thankfully still had a dial tone , dialed the nursing home and quit her job. Next She called Miss Lucy up stairs and arranged for her to board stormy a few days telling her the Dr. wanted her to rest and get some much needed sleep. Hanging up the phone Penny smiled . She was going to fix everything. Yes, her life had taken a wrong turn and it was all Jim's fault. Him and his striking good looks and perfect skin. Him with his Undressing her eyes. Him with his teasing words and back stabbing ways. How dare he lead her on like he did. How dare him make her think he was in love and would never leave only to do exactly that!. Leave her alone and at the mercy of the hospitial devils! "Well I can fix his little red wagon Oh, yes i can " Penny said aloud. She was now clutching her fists so tight that a tiny trickle of blood seeped through her fingers from the small cuts her nails were opening in her pale white palms. Shaking her head side to side furiously her hair spraying in all directions Penny began to beat her fists againsts her temples, eyes squeezed shut and her mouth opened wide in a silent scream..

5265 words

Before Penny could do too much damage to her self the phone rang. It was Miss Lucy again and they confirmed a time for her to come and retrieve Stormy from the apartment. Penny told her she would just leave the key under the welcome mat as she must make a run to the grocery store to pick up a few cans of soup and didnt want to inconvience her by having her make another trip. Miss lucy agreed and so Penny was pleased. She grabbed her purse , car keys and a hidden stash of emergency money she kept in the bread box. She took the half loaf of thick pepperage farms bread and a new jar of jiffy extra crunchy peanut butter in a piggly wiggly plastic bag and left the apartment. Stopping by the Ace hardware store on the corner she ran in to pick up a few items she needed. It was nearing dark when she finished shoping and drove slowly to the Piggly Wiggly, circled the parking lot until she could see directly into the big glass front, parked and turned off her headlights.

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As the evening sun stooped to hide behind the giant neon pig. Penny watched and waited.The last few shoppers pushed thier wobbly carts to thier cars and loaded thier food supplies into them. Leaving the carts in the dim parking lot like so many scattered cattle waiting for the roundup.

Promptly at nine pm Penny saw the inside lights go out one by one ,folowed closely by the big pig, all but half of his apron, one red eye and a few big letters which blinked off and on sporaticly. The sign now read " PIG WIG which made Penny giggle.

One by one the Piggy employees left the darkened building and made thier way to thier respective vehicles and drove away. First was the big blonde with the even bigger beehive hair. Wobbling on swollen feet stuck in too tight red sneakers.Gladys. Penny remembered her well. She popped her pink chewing gum and smiled a too big smile showing her oversized tobacco stained teeth whenever she saw Penny in the store. Giving her a big "How ya doing honey" that made Penny shiver every time. Three teenagers a boy and two girls , followed behind Gladys, waving G'bye to her as she struggled to squeeze into her small toyota, and jumped into a black chevy nova jerking off thier pig paper hats and aprons and laughed histerically as the driver reved the engine several times to the delight of the two squeeling girls and sped out in to the night.

The butcher mr freeze, with his too black brillcreamed hair soon limped out into the night

wiping his hands on the front of his red apron with the even darker red staines on the front and climbed into his old volvo. he too was soon pulling away from the parking lot.

Three middle aged women she did not reconize passed close by Pennys car and thier chattering sounded to Penny like three blue black crows fussing over a shiny piece of tin foil.For several minutes no one else came out the big automatic doors. Penny watched the dark doors and started to sweat .Her palms were stinging from the cuts her nails made earlier and her tight grip on the stearing wheel.The stench of panic filled the small car and the windshield was fogging up.Supressing a low growl Penny swipped at the window fog with her hand. "Where is he? where is he ? Where is that no good snake in the grass? " she wailed to no one. She was taking too deep breaths and her whole body began to shake.She bit her lower lip so hard droplets of blood seeped from between her teeth and slowly carved a red trail toward her chin.Squeezing her eyes shut Penny began to chant."Let him be here, let him be here, let him be here..."

Someones laugh cut through the empty parking lot and Penny jerked her eyes open. It was a red haired girl in tight jeans and she was walking close beside jim. Her arm loosly linked in his as they walked under the street lamp one row over from her. It was all Penny could do not to run out of the car and confront them both right there.The stupid giggling red head was still laughing as they reached the side of an older model ford and jim opened the drivers door and helped her in. She watched as he shut the door and leaned one hand on the cars roof, bending at his waist to be at eye level to the girl. Penny heard him laugh a deep laugh and saw his perfect head nod a few times at girl and saw too when he palyfully tapped the roof of the ford with one fist and waved, still smiling as the redhead drove out into the night, a idiotic smile plastered on the nasty whores face.

Penny was almost beyond rage. She had seen it with her own eyes and heard it with her own ears.He was not only cheating on her he was making fun of her too. Tears ran out of Pennys dark circled eyes and a big glob of snot escaped from her nose falling with a plop on the palstic car seat . . " why me? why ?why? why? why always me? Why does everyone who says they love me and promises to take care of me always end up lying and hurting me? Why?"The words groaned out of her like she was giving birth. A real physical pain made her clutch her stomach and she threw up in her own lap.

Wiping her eyes Penny looked out into the night and the now empty parking lot The Pig Wig sign now mocked her with one red blinking eye as she franticly looked for any sign of jim. She caught sight of his taillights just as he was leaving the lot. Penny quickly started her engine and pulled out into the sparce night traffic behind him.

She had to pull across the street and wait when he stopped at a quick stop for gas . .She trailed one car length behind him through the next three traffic lights and held back as he turned into the mini mall and stopped in front of pizza hut. While she watched him run in the place, she wondered why he had not noticed her folowing him."Proably has his mind on that red headed slut!" Penny seethed through her clenched jaw . she waited for him to come out, wallowing in her pain of betrayal.with in minutes jim returned to his truck carring a large steaming pizza box and pulled back out into the highway. She kept a close watch on his tailgate as he manovered the truck onto the exit ramp and headed out of the city. a few miles later she saw his brake lights flash and saw his blinker signaling his turn into a long dark drive way surrounded by trees. Penny slowed her car to a stop in front of a mail box that read: j franklin. and turned off her engine and headlights.with her window rolled down she had no trouble hearing a dog bark hello and jims truck door slam shut. She waited under the bright orange moon for just the right time to follow him.She wanted to also have time to clear her head and decide just what she would say to cheating jim. black hearted betrayer jim . jim who said he loved her and would always take good care of her . jim who had stabbed her in the heart with a laughing redhead.

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At twenty four years old jim franklin hadnt done too bad for him self. He had gotten his first job at the Pig right after high school and hadnt missed but a few days working since he was hired. he was always on time and never failed to accept any over time he was offered. He was well liked and a hard worker. In less than a year after gradguation, he was able to move out of his mothers cramped apartment with his sister sally and into a small rented frame house on the out skirts of town .Sally was his younger sister by exactly nine months and it had been up to Jim all his life to make sure Sally was taken care of. His mother was a drunk and flitted from one bad relationship to another and that made things hard on her two kids. Jim and Sally spent most of thier childhood living with thier mothers parents on a farm in Tennessee. thier mother finially settled in Lincon right across the state line when they were around sixteen and seventeen respectively. Jim had always regreated thier decision to give mom one more try and move to Lincon with her. Because he wasnt much of a party animal he had saved his money well. One day he was going back to Tennessee and with his savings, help grandpop fix up the old barn and get the place back in working condention.In the mean time his job as stocker / checker at the big Pig was just fine. Even Sally liked her job at the Pig.

Tonight he had worked a double shift and was tired. Sally had informed him as they left work, she had a date and proably wouldnt be home until morning. Sweet Sally, she deserved a good fella thought Jim. He wanted to see her happy and her new boyfriend seemed to do just that. When Jim had chided her for staying over night with Jeff , Sally had only laughed that angelic laugh of hers and reminded him he was not her father , only her older and not too much wiser brother. She promised to be home in time to pack for thier visit to tennesse to check on grandpap that weekend and with a giggle and a flash of her alburn hair he watched her happily pull away from the Pigs lot.

Now home Jim got out of his pickup carefully holding his pizza in one hand and giving sam the rotty a hello pat on the head with the other, he whistled as he unlocked his front door. snapping on the lamp, he set his pizza box on the coffee table and flopped on the ratty sofa. He watched tv flipping through the stations while he ate, hungerly licking the warm sauce and chewy cheese from his fingers and drank from a warm bottle of verners gingerale. He dozed off while david letterman was giving his latest top ten list. Sometime after one am he woke up and groggy with sleep made his way to his bed room and fell across the bed. he was snoring as only a young man can do almost before his head hit the lumpy pillow..........

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Sitting in her darkened car searching for just the right words to confront the love of her life who had done her so very very wrong, Penny tried hard to get contorl of her shattered emotions. How could this be happening again? First her mother then jack now the only man she ever truely loved , black hearted jim. What was so wrong with her that everyone wanted to hurt her over and over again? wasnt she a nice person? Didnt she always, no matter what, try her hardest to be a good girl? she couldnt understand why she was the one to always end up getting crushed. Crying softly she angerly wiped the tears from her face and blew her nose on the tail of her damp shirt. " Well i am not going to be a victim any longer , i am taking my life back and some day Jim and everyone else will be sorry they didnt appreacheate me more". Reaching into the crumpled ace hardware bag she looked at her purchaces by the glow of the moon. Turning each item over in her hands , deciding which ones felt right . when she knew she slipped each one into a pocket of her jeans , the last thing she slipped behind her back and lodged it into a belt loop. That done, she opened the plastic pig sack and using one of the long flat screw drivers still sitting on the seat to make her self a thick jiffy extra crunchy sandwich.Licking the metal tool clean she stuffed it into her back pocket as well. One bite was all her stomach could hold and even that bite made her gag,." Damnit jim see what you have done now. I cant eat because you have hurt me so. The last time she couldnt eat she had to have a feeding tube shoved in her nose and down her throat , it had hurt like hell as it went down her raw throat, burned and blistered from the drain cleaner her mother had forced her to drink that day when she was a frail seven year old, a captive, a helpless victim to her mothers whims and horrors, all in the name of motherly love.

New sobs burst from her as she relived the anguish of knowing the truth about her mother and having to lie all thoes years to everyone who had asked what and why. Absentmindedly she stuck the sandwich in her jacket pocket and buttoned it to her neck. She heard the rumble of jims truck engine starting and quickly started her own car and edged it down the road a few hunderd feet vered it off the pavement and into some tall trees.

Jim woke early. It was still dark out and he could tell his wayward little sister wasnt home. If she had been he would have heard her stero palying one of the fifity or so country Cds she had collected. Still dressed from last night , Jim went into the kitchen and flipped on the coffee pot. He knew they needed to get an early start for thier trip to tennessee and he really did not want to have to stop and find someplace to eat on the road. Opening the fridge he saw to his dismay there was nothing to fix for breakfast. Knowing Sally wouldnt think to stop on her way home he grabbed his cell phone and keys and jumped into his pickup for a fast run to quicky mart for eggs and bacon and maybe even a half gallon of milk.

He would fix breakfast and by the time Sally was packed they could hit the road south. His truck would easily make the trip. The chevy was a young mans dream ride. It had all the bells and whistles. fully loaded and it even had a custom killer alpine Cd player with mega speakers. Popping Jim morison in the player he hummed along as Mr Morrisons slutry voice sang:

"There's a killer on the road,
His brain is squirmin' like a toad,
Take a long holiday,
Let your children play,
If ya give this man a ride,
Sweet family will die,
Killer on the road,.......

Jim and sally had a lot in common for siblings but their taste in music wasn't one of them. Adjusting the volume to an ear splitting level only allowed in the country backwoods or a sound proof room, he backed up a few feet and turned around in the yard.

Pulling out of the driveway and Jim did not see the small yellow pinto hidden in the stand of pines right past his mailbox.

As soon as penny saw Jim leave she got out of her car and ran toward her house cutting thru the trees by the side yard. A deep growl met her as he entered the yard. In front of her blocking her path was Sam the huge rotweller. Ears back, large slick glistening body quivering, constantly aware shiny black eyes fixed on the strange human headed toward the front porch. Penny didn't slow down at all . Reaching into her jacket she grabbed the sandwich with one pale hand . " Here choke on this shit head" Penny said calmly and tossed it toward the big dog.

With a questioning twist of his big head Sam saw the good smelling thing hit the ground. He instantly wagged his tail and accepted the thick sticky nugget of joy and happily trotted back to his usual spot under the dogwood tree to eat.

The front door was open and Penny could see right into her house through the screen door.

Jim never did remember to lock things up penny thought to her self.. The smell of coffee greeted her and she hungrily picked up a thin dirty paper cup from the sink and poured herself some of the golden liquid.

Sally angled her big ford into the drive way and parked in front of the house she shared with her brother Jim. She hadn't slept much all night but relished with joy every minute she got to spend with her new boyfriend Jeff. Jims pickup was gone and Sally figured he had thought of some last minute detail he had to complete before thy left for grandpaps.

Sam was busy chewing something and didn't give her but a slight glance as she went into the house. the screen door slammed behind her and she tossed her purse and red pig apron on the chair by the couch. kicking off her shoes sally saw a still steaming cup of coffee Jim had left on the kitchen counter. Knocking the empty pizza box off the coffee table as she passed by, Sally grimaced and said quite loudly to no one, "Slob!" It was her pet name for Jimbo. He was always leaving messes for her to pick up. Well she didn't have time to play hazel the maid this morning she needed a shower in the worst way. she grabbed her favorite Willey nelson cd and shoved it into the stereo. Willeys pure country voice filled the small house and sally sang along with him.

Now the red-headed stranger, from Blue Rock, Montana
Rode into town one day
And under his knees was a raging black stallion
And walkin' behind was a bay
And the red-headed stranger had eyes like the thunder
And lips that were sad and tight
And his little lost love lay asleep on the hillside
And his heart was heavy as night ..........


Undressing as she sang she headed to the small bathroom to wash away her lovely memories of Jeff and last night. now fully naked, She sat on the toilet and peed as she reached behind the flowered shower curtain to turn on the hot water.

The shock of 25000 volts hit her in the arm and she fell with a thud to the cold bathroom floor. Penny stepped from the tub and gave the husband stealing whore another couple of jolts for good measure. Then she wound the fingers of her left hand into the stupid bitches red hair and forcefully shoved a long silver ice pick into sally's heart. After a few quick cuts with the box cutter and a yank or two she claimed her prize letting the now lifeless cunts body slam back into the cold white blood splattered tub..


Jim saw the ford as soon as he drove up to the house. Good, he thought to himself, sally's home now we can get this show on the road.

he heard willey nelson singing as soon as he got out of his truck. He grinned at the thought of her always singing off key with willey nelson as he opened the screen and went inside. he caught a sight of flash of sally's red hair in the kitchen . her back was to him and she was drinking his forgotten cup of java. "Just like you to be too lazy to wash your own cup sis ' he teased her loudly over the twang of country music.He walked into the kitchen still talking and placed the food he'd bought on the kitchen table . "Your even to lazy to brush your hair after a long night of loving aint ya? She didn't hear him so he playfully reached out to give her long hair a tug. He knew that annoyed the heck out of his little sister.

The thick mane of long tangled red hair came off in his hand as easily as butter melting on a slice of hot toast. The woman who turned to look at him , slammed the cup of warm coffee to the floor and it shattered at his feet. Unable to hold back his shock and revulsion he gagged. Jim wide eyed, stared at the crazy damp sticky thing stuck to his hand and then into the eyes of a monster. Pieces of what looked like flesh hung in long strands and mingled into the red hair he held in his hand. shaking with terror he franticly threw it toward the monster lady with the blazing eyes and blotchy face. "How dare you Jim!" he heard the crazy woman screech. "and in our own house too!. After all these years of me standing by you and loving you . you had to go and hurt me didn't you? me ! your wife! the one you promised to love and never leave. you just had to go find your self a redheaded slut didn't you , you sorry bastard! well you love red hair so good now you have it don't you mister man? You vile hurtful piece human of sewage! Yea you got it now big boy! Jim gagged and tried to back away from this living nightmare, but Penny rushed toward him like a line backer knocking him off his feet and causing him to lose his breath. he gasped and tried to kick the thing off and at the same time trying not to choke on his own bile. the stench of her was worse than he could handle and he vomited last nights pizza supreme all over the floor. On his knees now and desperately trying to escape Jim slipped on the mess and his nose slammed into the coffee table causing a new gush of hot liquid to erupt and race down his face.

he screamed when he saw the point of a long screwdriver heading toward his chest.

Sam the rotty burst thought the front screen door with a vengeance and leaped on the animal that was attacking his master. Growling with rage Sam tried his best to grab its neck and rip out its throat. Penny fought like a tiger wanting desperately to get past this beast and to her real target. Jim. Blood from the bites Sam was making on her body gushed hotly and when her flesh ripped with each new bite it made her scream. she became locked in a life or death battle with the big dog.

Jim managed to slip ,crawl and roll toward the sofa and grab his Mossberg shotgun from underneath. his hands slick with gore, betrayed him and it took several tries to pull back the pump and drop a shell in to the barrel.

Aiming at the monstrosity that was fighting with Sam he hesitated . he didn't want to shoot old Sam but he also didn't want to be killed by some maniac either.

Still grabbling on the floor with the furious snapping , biting, growling, rotty, penny began trying to stab the dog with the big screwdriver. Raising her hand over the dogs head she gouged at it as hard as she could. On one upward reach a loud blast rang in her ears and sheered her hand off at the wrist. her small pale hand still gripping the bloody screwdriver flew across the room and landed in the kitchen sink. Sam startled by the noise ran to his masters side. The monster lady writhed in pain on the floor calling "Jim, Jim ,why Jim? why did you have to hurt me Jim? why?? Jim stumbled out the front door and locked himself and a panting, slobbering, blood covered, Sam in the pickup and dialed 911.

Penny opened her eyes and was almost blinded by the familure round chrome ceiling lights. cinched firmly in the straight jacket and strapped tightly to the hospital bed her stump ached something terrible. But pain was nothing new to little Penny. It was just another part of her sorry life. she raised her head as best she could and looked around the room. she was alone except for a tall well built man with a slight limp, mopping the green tile floor. He heard her move and turned to look in her direction. His dark brown salt and pepper hair hung short and flat on his head, highlighting a solid intelligent face with a strong square jaw. He reminded her of a famous author of several horror novels she had read, but she couldn't quite think of his name. Penny looked into his sparkling blue eyes framed with sensible glasses and caught a breath. He was beautiful. The man tilted his head slightly to the right and smiled compassionately at the poor girl laying on the bed and Penny instantly saw that the tiny gap between his two front teeth and his sweet little overbite only made him that much more desirable to her. She had never seen such a beautiful man in her whole 27 years of living. " Looking into his face Penny knew she had finally found the man of her dreams. The mopping man raised one perfect eye brow and winked at her in what Penny thought was a most intimate way. she blushed red all over and didn't exactly know why. but she knew it felt good , yes, very, very, very, good. ...........................

the end
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