Confession (5 page)

His eyes lit up with and idea and he ran off toward the center of Boldger.

Fifteen minutes later and Joey raced into fifty-five year old Sheriff Nate Damon’s office.  He thought that telling him what he saw in the woods would keep him in the good graces with the Sheriff.

Sheriff Damon always wore a khaki uniform, as that was the dress code for his department.  He sat with his brown cowboy boots kicked up on his desk.  The office was typically quiet today.

He saw Joey while he ran up to his desk out of breath.  “What the hell do you want boy?” Nate said and was irritated that Joey was in his office.  He hated colored people with a passion.

“Mister Nate, I saw Jimmy Nalla beat some white man in the woods.  He used a baseball bat,” Joey cried out of breath.  “That man is dead.”

Nate removed his boots off his desk and stood up.  He glared down at Joey.  “Okay boy.  I’ll check it out.  Now get the hell out of my office,” Nate said then lit up a cigarette.

Joey ran out of Nate’s office and started to wonder if he did the right thing.

Nate sat back down and smoked his cigarette.  He wasn’t concerned about some story coming from a colored boy.  

Later that Saturday night, Jimmy snuck out of the house at one in the morning.  He had his baseball bat in hand while he ran off down the dark and quiet street.

He ran through town and headed over to the colored section.  He was on a mission that could only be accomplished in the middle of the night when everybody was sound asleep.

Three days passed and two local residents of Boldger named Elmer and Howie were in the woods hunting for squirrel that afternoon.  It would be dinner for tonight.

They stumbled upon Buster and Gale’s naked dead bodies in the woods.

“What the fuck?” said Elmer while he stared down at the dead naked bodies.

“That looks like Buster Chaney,” said Howie.

“It is,” replied Elmer and he looked pissed that Buster was killed because he and Howie were frequent customers of Buster’s Moonshine.

“We better get Nate,” said Howie while he stared down at the dead naked bodies.

“You’re right,” replied Elmer

Elmer and Howie ran off through the woods to go back to their car.

An hour had passed and Sheriff Damon and overweight sixty-year-old Deputy Ernie Hughes were in the woods with Elmer and Nate.

“Yep, that’s Buster alright,” said Sheriff Damon and he was also a frequent customer of Buster’s Moonshine.

“Looks like we got a murder on our hands, Sheriff,” said Deputy Hughes.

“No shit,” said Sheriff Damon and he always thought Deputy Hughes was getting too old with being a deputy.

The four just stared at the dead bodies for a few seconds. 

“I better go round up Doc Stone,” said Sheriff Damon then he looked at Deputy Hughes.  “Do you think you can keep people from messing with my crime scene?” he said.

“You bet, Sheriff,” said Deputy Hughes and this was his first murder case involving a white man. 

“I hope so,” said Sheriff Damon while he had his doubts.  “I need you two to come to my office and fill out a report,” he told Elmer and Howie.

“Sure Sheriff,” said Elmer and Howie nodded in agreement.

Sheriff Damon, Elmer and Howie walked away leaving Deputy Hughes alone in the woods.

After five minutes, Deputy Hughes started to get the creeps being alone in the woods with two dead bodies.  Every critter that made a sound caused Deputy Hughes to remove his pistol out of his holster to defend himself from being attacked.  After all, he didn’t know if that killer was still lurking in the woods. 

An hour had passed and Doc Stone had Buster and Gale’s dead bodies in the morgue of the small hospital of Boldger.

Later that evening, Sheriff Damon drove over to Melvin Nalla’s house in his 1940 black with white squad car.  He recalled Joey Sampson’s claim on what he saw in the woods on Saturday and decided this was his first visit for his official investigation.

He got out of his car and walked up on the front porch.  He knocked on the screened door.

Melvin appeared in a tee shirt with a Mason jar with a little Moonshine at the bottom of the jar.
  He also had a lit Lucky Strike cigarette that dangled out of his cracked lips. 
“Why Nate, what brings you over o my house?” he asked then took a little drink of Moonshine.

“Well Melvin, it appears we found Buster Chaney’s dead body out in the woods naked along with the dead body of a young naked colored girl,” he replied then he looked sad. 

The screen door creaked opened while Melvin stepped out on the wooden front porch.  He looked sad.  “Poor Buster.  His daddy will be devastated.  Do you know how he died?” said Melvin while he glanced down at his Moonshine in his jar.  This was Moonshine Melvin had bought from Buster two months ago.

“Looks like someone beat him to death according to Doc Stone.  His head was split wide open.”

“Who would do such a horrible crime?” Melvin asked and fumed inside that a fellow KKK member was murdered.

“Well, on Saturday afternoon, a young colored boy named Joey Sampson ran into my office.  He claimed that your boy Jimmy beat Buster with a baseball bat.  I thought that boy was just trying to stir up trouble so didn’t think much of it.”

Melvin looked back inside his house.  “Jimmy, get your ass out here,” he yelled out.

They waited for a few minutes then Jimmy appeared at the screen door.  “Yes sir,” he said and got nervous at the sight of Sheriff Damon on the front porch.

“Sheriff here says that a colored boy, Joey Sampson, saw you beating someone in the woods on Saturday.  Did you do that?” Melvin asked in a stern tone.

“No sir,” Jimmy lied through his teeth and started to shake in fear on having another whopping from Melvin.

“Then why would that colored boy say that?” he asked Jimmy.

Jimmy thought hard for a believable lie and got nervous while Melvin and Sheriff Damon eyed him for an answer.  He had one.  “I was going to tell you but someone stole my baseball bat on Saturday after the game.  I saw Joey Sampson’s father run into the woods with a bat in hand.  I thought he stole my bat so I ran after him.”

“That colored man Sampson stole your bat?” asked Sheriff Damon.

“Yes sir.”

“Why didn’t you tell me on Saturday?” asked Melvin in a raised tone that Jimmy knew all to well to know his paw was pissed.

“I was afraid.”

“Afraid?  Afraid of what?”

Jimmy paused for a few seconds and knew he had to continue with his lie.  “Afraid that Joey Sampson’s paw would kill me.”

“Why?” asked Sheriff Damon.

“Because I saw Joey Sampson’s paw beat that man with my baseball bat.  He beat him because that man was naked with that colored girl,” said Jimmy then he silently prayed the two would believe his story.

Sheriff Damon looked at Melvin.  “Sounds like what happened.  That colored girl was Gale Washington.  She lived on the same street as Sammy Sampson.   Never did like him.  One of those uppity colored folk.”

“Yep.  Another of our uppity colored folk,” said Melvin.

“Well have to take care of this sad situation,” said Sheriff Damon while he looked at Melvin.

“Yep.  I’ll call a meeting for later tonight,” said Melvin then he took a little swig of his Moonshine.

“Call me when you get things arranged,” replied Sheriff Damon then he walked off the porch and headed back to his squad car.

Melvin looked down at Jimmy.  “Get to your room,” he said and looked pissed.

Jimmy knew what was going to happen next.  “Yes sir,” he said then walked away.

Jimmy walked down the hallway and went into his bedroom.  He stood there and waited by his bed.

Melvin entered and placed his Mason jar of Moonshine on the floor.  He removed his belt off his pants.  “Drop your drawers, boy,” he snarled out while he had his belt in a loop in his right hand.

Jimmy removed his blue jeans and lowered them down to his ankles.  He lowered his white boxers down to his ankles.  He bent over on his bed.

“Don’t you ever let some dumb fucking colored man make you scared,” yelled Melvin then he swung his belt and it cracked against the white bare cheeks of Jimmy’s ass.

Jimmy cringed over the pain of his paw’s belt hitting his bare ass cheeks. 

“Never,” yelled out Melvin while he gave Jimmy’s ass cheeks another whack with his belt.

Jimmy cringed and fought off from crying over a beating by his paw.  He learned a long time ago that crying would make the beating last longer.

After three more cracks of Melvin’s belt against Jimmy’s bare ass he stopped and placed his belt back on his pants.

Melvin was quiet while he picked up his Mason jar and left Jimmy’s bedroom.

Jimmy fought hard not to cry while he pulled up his boxers and then his blue jeans.  He smiled knowing that he got away with killing a human being.  So this beating from his father would be nothing compared if they believed Joey’s story.

Elizabeth was in the kitchen preparing fried chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner.  She heard the crack of Melvin’s belt hitting Jimmy’s bare ass cheeks.  She hated it when Melvin beat the boys with the belt.  After all, that was the way Melvin was raised by Gus Nalla and he figured it made him a better man. 

Melvin walked into the kitchen with his Mason jar of Moonshine still in his hand.  He was still pissed with Jimmy while he took a swig of Moonshine.

“Mel, Jimmy was scared.  You can’t fault him for that,” she said.

Melvin glared at Elizabeth and hated it when she tried to tell him that just maybe he was wrong with punishing the boys.  He smacked her across her face.  “Shut the fuck up and do you job of getting dinner ready,” he yelled at her then stormed out of the kitchen.

Elizabeth’s eyes welled up and hated it when Melvin hit her.  She was at the point where she started to figure out a way to leave this abusive relationship.

She returned to finishing dinner.

Two days later and it was two that Friday morning with a full Moon.

Deputy Hughes checked out Sammy Sampson’s shack in the darkness.  He found a baseball bat stashed under the crawl space of the shack and knew this was the murder weapon.  He rushed back to the squad car and drove back to the office.  He knew that Sheriff Damon would be proud of him when the sun rose above the horizon.

Deputy Hughes was correct and Sheriff Damon was proud of the old deputy.  He finally figured that there was hope this kid would be a fine lawman one day.  So Sheriff Damon called Melvin at the Ford dealership and told him to round up the guys.  They had a mission to perform that night.

It was late one on a Saturday night.

A 1939 and 1940 Ford drove down the dirt street of the colored section of Boldger. 

The two Fords stopped and parked in the front yard of a dilapidated one-story shack, which was full of bare spots and weeds. 

Eight men jumped out of the two Fords.  They were all dressed in their white KKK outfits with pointy hoods.

They rushed up to the front door of the Sampson shack.

“Git out here, Sammy!” one of the KKK members yelled out from behind his pointed hood.

A few minutes passed, and Sammy stepped outside on the front porch in a tee shirt and white boxers.

He saw the KKK members standing in his front yard and freaked out.  He ran back inside his house.

Four of the KKK members ran into the house after Sammy.

After a few minutes, they ragged Sammy outside of his shack.

While they dragged him through his front yard, Sammy’s wife, Eliza rushed outside in her nightgown with Joey only in his white boxers.  They watched in horror while Sammy was dragged over to one of the cars.  Sammy tried to free himself, but the KKK members were stronger.  They threw him into the backseat of one of the cars.  They all got inside it and drove off.

Eliza cried, as she knew she would never see Sammy alive again.  Joey cried, as he also knew what was going to happen.  And he knew why and peed in his boxers.

Twenty minutes passed, and the two Fords drove into the woods by a creek.

Jimmy and Ricky ran through the woods after the cars.   They knew what was going to happen since they eavesdropped to their father’s phone conservation earlier in the evening.  They just had to watch so they ran as fast as their legs would move.

The two cars stopped by a tree that was normally used for this event.  

All eight KKK members got out and two of them dragged Sammy behind them.

“I did nothing!” Sammy cried out in fear.  “Please!  I did nothing,” Sammy cried out again while they dragged him closer to the tree with a noose tied to a thick overhead branch.

Jimmy and Ricky finally got closer and peaked around a pine tree.  They saw two KKK members stand Sammy up on a stool while another member place the noose around Sammy’s neck.