The Closer Kin...(A brief biography of Norman Lankford) By Jason Wayne Allen

The boy watched the old man work over the bloody, dismembered doe lying in the wash basin, and listened as he explained how to get all the buck shots out of its stomach. “ See here boy, these sum bitches spread ever where, so you gotta be careful to make sure you clean out this part real good or else you’ll be breaking ya’ teeth on these bits.” He held a tiny pellet with his gnarled thumb and index finger in front of the boy’s face to examine it. “I ain’t much gotta worry bout that though.” The old man smiled a tooth less grin and purged his tongue between his purple gums and laughed. The old man turned around with the serrated knife and went back to cleaning the dead doe. The boy watched him pull apart the furry, brown skin, from the bone of the doe. The doe’s head cocked sideways with black eyes staring off into nothing, the head wobbled as the old man took its body apart. “See now look it’ dis’ here boy this is the best part bout huntin’ deer.” He held out a dripping, pink cylinder in front of the boy. It was the doe’s esophagus. “See boy, you cut out the throat here good enough and you’ll have you some pocket pussy.” The old man wiped the doe’s esophagus on his britches, wiping off some blood and handed it to the boy. “See boy, ya’ ain’t got you a woman, you just spit on that and fuck it.” The old man chuckled. The boy stuffed the doe’s throat in his pocket. “Welp, this sum bitch is cleaned and we got some good meat off of her, let’s take it to mama so she can cook it.” The boy helped the old man wrap the deer meat in some paper. “We is goin’ to have some meat in our turnip greens tonight” said the old man “Oh Wee this goin’ to be good ain’t it boy?!” “Yep, daddy, it’s gonna be good” said the boy.
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Norman Lankford got to the third grade and quit. His daddy ain’t never had no use for no schooling’ and neither did he. He knew how to skin a buck and change a tractor tire. He also knew the best way to fuck a goat was to wear galoshes and put that sum bitchin’ goat’s back legs in the galoshes so he don’t kick. Norman was almost fifteen and his cousin Lenore was getting older too. Her mama and daddy had put a trailer up on Norman’s daddy’s land. Norman didn’t pay much attention to Lenore at first, and then one summer, Lenore got titties! Big ole’ titties! All of sudden Norman’s interest in goats waned. He wanted Lenore. He figured “People’s is sposed’ to fuck people not goats!” Norman and Lenore got married at the little old church his family went to every Sunday. Their first child was a miss carriage, the second, Eli, was so inbred he grew up just cross- eyed and drooling, spending his days in a rocking chair on the front porch, and growled instead of talked, the third child, Hope, was mentally fine, despite the inbreeding, but she was fat! She was three hundred pounds by the time she hit eighteen. She lived on Norman and Lenore’s couch and never left the trailer. Norman and Lenore loved their kids. Family came first. The welcome mat outside of their trailer’s door read “Howdy ya’ll, in this house we will serve the Lord, ya’ hear?!”
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The family had an old, black, mutt, bitch they named “Nigger” that kept getting pregnant. They kept the first litter of puppies, the second; Norman put in a burlap sack and threw in the creek. The third litter was here now, six yapping little pups, mostly brown and black with spots. Nigger was nursing her puppies and Norman pulled one of them off her teat. He eyed it, the little gerbil-looking-thing was still suckling, and its eyes hadn’t opened yet. He put it a few feet away from Nigger, then pulled the other five off of her and put them in a sort of pile. He wanted to make sure Nigger saw this and learned a lesson. He left and came back to the pile of puppies with a shot gun. He looked down the barrel of the gun and had the puppies in his site. Little things, blind, and looking for a teat, they let out little whimpers. Norman pulled the hammer of the shot gun and squeezed the trigger. The blast startled Nigger and she yelped! A black, smoking, stain on the floor, blood, fur and puppy guts. Norman said to Nigger “That’ll learn you to get pregnant dawg, I see you with a swole stomach again and that’ll be you smoking on the floor!” Nigger cowered, laid down on her stomach, and rested her head on her paws. She was just a grieving mother.
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Last fall, Norman walked into the shed and found his daddy swinging by a rope from a beam in the ceiling. He had hanged himself, his face was purple, his tongue hung out; there was bile around his mouth. Norman loved his daddy but his daddy didn’t raise no pussy, so Norman didn’t shed a tear for the death. He had a stone cold, emotion-less, expression at the funeral. That’s the way his daddy would had wanted it. No cry-baby shit. All of the land his daddy owned was given to Norman. So, Norman rented lots for trailer homes. He made sure the goats, cows, and chickens were tended to and sent off to slaughter when it was their time. Norman was bound and determined to carry on his daddy’s legacy. Two new trailers moved on to Norman’s land. In one trailer lived Lenore’s niece and nephew; in the other trailer lived a young fellow named “Thomas.” Thomas’s daddy had recently died and left him a good sum of money. Thomas bought a trailer, drank whiskey all day, and shot his rifle at night sometimes. Norman liked Thomas, Thomas reminded him of the crazy, young, sum bitch he used to be. Norman and Thomas would sometimes drink whiskey at night and shoot weasels, owls, and sometimes deer that would appear in the yard, but most times they’d get drunk and just fire off their guns, laughing and trading stories. Norman liked Thomas so much he introduced him to his daughter, Hope. Thomas was the first man Hope ever met that wanted anything to do with her sexually. Norman thought his daughter was beautiful and was glad no men had tried to fornicate with her. He figured Thomas might make a good son in law one day. Norman became Deacon of his church. Every Sunday, the little Baptist church had a steady congregation of about fifteen people. Norman had gone to that same church ever since he could remember. No matter how much whiskey he had drank that Saturday night he’d show up every Sunday morning. Sometimes leading the congregation in prayer and always singing with the small choir. This was the church he was raised in, he was married in, and one day when he died he figured he’d be buried in that church’s cemetery. Buried next to his daddy. The cows were growing fat, the tomato plants were coming in good, the hens were laying eggs, and after church, one Sunday, Hope and Thomas had an announcement; Hope was pregnant and Thomas asked for her hand in marriage. Norman had the perfect life for an old country boy. Life was good for Norman Lankford. #
Years past, Hope and Thomas had a little girl. They named her “Faith.” Faith was twelve now and had grown into an attractive young lady. School wasn’t an issue around these parts. Fancy school-smarts were of no need to a girl from the country. Faith didn’t know how to read and write, but her parents barely knew themselves. It wasn’t important; Norman knew a couple of words and would sometimes read to his grand daughter. “C’mere you pretty thang, let Grand daddy read ya’ a story” Norman said. Faith liked grand daddy’s stories but it always felt weird when he’d tickle her, and she’d feel that bulge when she sat in his lap. Grand daddy would get all flustered and sweaty, touching places where she’d go to the bathroom. She liked his stories but it was just a weird feeling. She felt almost shameful, but he was her grand daddy and she loved him. She hopped up in Norman’s lap and said “Oh boy grand daddy what story you reading this time?” Norman said “The book of Job, from this here Bible, sweetheart, you ever heard this story?” “Nope” Faith said “Will ya’ read it?!” “You bet, sugar dumplin” Norman said. Norman knew the story by heart from church, he could make out a few words but mostly he just made it up from memory. Norman knew the Bible taught against these urges he felt toward Faith, but he thought the Bible also taught us that no sin was bigger than the other, and all would be forgiven. These contradictions justified his thoughts; he stroked Faith’s blonde, curly hair, and almost salivated at the little nubs sprouting up on her chest. She wasn’t old enough for a bra yet but she was close. He cleared his throat, pulled her close to him, and pretended to read from his Bible. “Ya’ see, there once was a man named Job who loved the Lord with all of his heart and the Lord blessed him with a big family, lots of money, and more sheep and crops than anyone” Faith felt the gristle of his five o’ clock shadow; she shivered because his breath smelled horrible. What she smelled was whiskey. “So ya’ see the Devil went to God and told him he bet that if God took away all these blessings Job would renounce God” His hand was caressing her leg, up and down her cut off denim shorts. Stopping, sometimes for a few seconds working his fingers in the groove of her crotch then rubbing down to her knee. “God took the Devil’s bet, and let the Devil have Job. The Devil killed all of Job’s children, destroyed his crops, wiped out his sheep, took away all of his money, and burned down his house. On top of all that he covered Job’s body from head to toe in painful boils” Faith felt the bulge in his lap on her bottom. She wasn’t paying attention to the story anymore. She was just hoping Grand daddy wasn’t going to hurt her. Every time her and Grand daddy had story time, and he started touching, he didn’t feel like grand daddy anymore. He seemed like an old mad dog! “So Job prayed, prayed, and prayed some more. His wife yelled will you just curse God and die already! Job refused and just kept praying.” She felt her grand daddy’s hand come up her shirt, his finger circling her nipple. She froze, this has happened before, he’ll stop. “Job still after all of that, loved the Lord with all of his heart, he died and went to Heaven” Norman said, with his hand cupping her tiny breast and massaging, “Ya’ see Grand girl, if you’re good and love God, through the bad times and good times, if you always keep your faith, you’ll get to Heaven.” Norman was sweating; he took off his cap and wiped his brow with his fore arm. He picked her off of his lap and stood her up and looked at her. “Remember” he said “Always trust and love the Lord” he rustled her hair and said “Now you go play but member what I said.” “I will grand daddy” Faith said and waved as she ran off, happy for story time with grand daddy to be over. Norman was as hard as a diamond; he had a young man’s hard-on. He didn’t want to waste it and Eleanor was a dried up cow. The change of life done got to her and he had to spit on her pussy to get any action. He figured he might as well be fucking the deer’s throat, fucking some pocket pussy like his daddy taught him. Jacking off is too undignified he thought so he whistled and called out, “Nigger, c’mere girl!” He whistled and called and she came to his feet, wagging her tail, panting.
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Inside Thomas and Hope’s trailer, Hope and Faith were on the couch in front of the television with micro waved dinners in their laps; Thomas was in a recliner drinking from a bottle of bottom shelved whiskey. “Mama” Faith said “Grand daddy sometimes makes me feel funny” “Honey baby” Hope said “That there is pride, we owe so much to daddy, and he’s such a good man” Faith said “Nah mama, it’s a different kind of funny” and forked some Salisbury steak into her mouth. Hope said “How do you mean?” and stopped eating and looked at her with her fat face askew. Faith said “I dunno mama; he tells me to come sit in his lap sometimes and tells me stories” “So” said Hope “That don’t mean nothing” Faith sighed “No mama he gets really close and during the story puts his hands in places”… Thomas jerked out of the recliner and yelled “You look here girl, your grand daddy’s a good man, you won’t talk ill of him under this here roof, unless you want a whooping’ or to sleep outside with the dogs!” Hope said “Yeah girl, you best watch your lip, if it weren’t for your grand daddy we wouldn’t have a roof over our heads and you wouldn’t have all this here land to play on! Your grand daddy is a man of God, a church deacon, you best not bring up anymore lies, don’t even think it!” Thomas said “Yeah girl, eat, wash up, and go to bed!”
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Norman came in the trailer, late, around six in the evening. He was catching his breath, as if he’d been running. Eleanor was cooking dinner, she asked “Where you been all day?” Norman said “Huntin’.” “It ain’t huntin season” said Eleanor “Ain’t no deer stirring this time of year” “Wouldn’t huntin no deer” said Norman and sat down at the kitchen table and put his head in his hands. “What’s wrong?” said Eleanor. Norman said “Nothing woman, this is my land if I feel like huntin’ dogs, I will, now leave me alone about it, what’s for dinner?” “Chicken and Dumplings” said Eleanor “With mah famous secret ingredients” “Whatever woman” said Norman “Just hurry up with it!” “You don’t have to be so dang grouchy!” said Eleanor. Norman grumbled something under his breath. Later on, Norman and Eleanor were relaxing in separate recliners dozing off in front of the evening news. “America’s going to Hell in a hand basket” said Norman and sighed. There was a knock at the door. “Good Lord!” said Eleanor “who could be wantin’ to visit at this hour?!” It was Thomas and he was frantic, sweaty, and smelled like a brewery! He said “Ya’ll see Faith?, she didn’t come home tonight.” Eleanor said “Naw son, I’m sorry I ain’t seen her, have you seen Faith today Norman?” “Nah, I ain’t seen her” Norman said, not taking his eyes off of the television. Thomas said “This ain’t like Faith, she’ll play from seven in the morning until five, maybe, she’s always home by supper.” Eleanor said “I hope she ain’t lost in the woods, a coyote could get her.” Thomas said “I’m getting some flash lights and having a look.” Norman laughed and said “You crazy sum bitch, you gonna get yourself lost in those woods as drunk as you are, shit, you’re twenty feet away and I smell your ass from here.” Eleanor and Thomas looked at Norman as if saying “Well, what do you think we should do?” “First thing” said Norman “Calm your asses down, there is a lot of land here but not that much, she is most likely lost, she’ll find her way back! Faith ain’t no baby; she’s smarter than to get eat by a coyote. Go home and pray, then try to get some sleep, she’ll be home by morning.” Thomas said “I don’t know if I can sleep, this ain’t nothing like Faith…” Norman laughed “You drunk sum bitch! As soon as your head hit’s a pillow you’re going to be out like a light, is Hope in a panic too?” Thomas said “Yep, she even considered getting off the couch to look for her.” Norman laughed “Now that’s really funny, I’m that ole’ girl’s daddy and I may have seen her off that couch five times total in all these years. I’m telling’ ya, go home and get some sleep, Faith’ll be back tomorrow, but you’ll best whoop that girl’s tail for getting lost and worrying everybody!” Eleanor said “That sounds like a good plan Thomas, just listen to Norman” Norman said “Tell Hope everything I said too, so she’ll get some sleep.” Thomas said “I’ll do that, thanks, but if she ain’t home by morning…” “Yep” said Norman “We’ll start searching; now you try to get some rest.” Thomas said “Sorry, to bother you folks”… “No bother at all” said Norman “That’s mah grand baby out there.” Thomas went back to the trailer and told Hope what Norman said and it seemed to calm her. Norman had that effect on the people on this land, what he said seemed to be law and it was comforting. He was everybody’s daddy and everybody’s grand daddy. Around nine am, Thomas had started hitting the bottle early and Hope sat on her couch watching television. Norman had finished with the chores around the yard, the cows were milked, the chickens were fed, the tomato plants were watered, and he sat down in the rocking chair next to the drooling inbred son, Eli. Eleanor was hanging some laundry on the line to dry. The trailer that Eleanor’s nieces and nephews owned was quiet as usual. Everyone was aware of the time and was waiting for Norman to give the go ahead for the search for Faith. Norman seemed to ignore his responsibility and decided instead of launching the search of the land for Faith, he’d try to teach Eli to pray. Eli didn’t comprehend at all and Norman gave up saying “God help you boy.” Eli just looked at him and growled and gurgled his saliva. Fifteen minutes later Faith swung open the trailer door and fell flat on her face to the floor. Thomas ran over and lifted her head by the hair, her eyes were blackened, her lips were split, there were bite marks on her neck, and arms. Her shirt had been torn and her denim cut-off’s ripped at the crotch. Thomas held her by the hair, her eyes rolled in the back of her head. Thomas said “Girl, you best start explaining where you been cause you in for the whipping of your life!” Hope said “Stand her up, slap her a couple of times to make sure she can hear us.” Thomas stood her up and reared back and slapped her. She was revived a little; at least she was coherent now. Faith gasped “Grand daddy…” and her head lolled back down. Thomas said “Look here at her leg Hope!” There was congealed blood that had run down her thigh. It was obvious little twelve year old Faith was no longer a virgin. Thomas slapped Faith in the face, “Wake up girl!” he said. Faith’s head rolled, she was semi-conscience. Hope said “I thought we raised you better than that girl! I thought we learned you to respect your grand daddy, looks to me you told him no and got yourself a whooping” Faith moaned and said “What?” Thomas said “We’re a tight family here on this land, it’s not talked about but we all do this, when I moved here your grand daddy made me feel so welcome, I couldn’t imagine telling him no when he wanted to put his thing in me!” Hope said “It’s just common decency, we all love each other, I figured you knew girl! Your grand daddy has been humping on me since I can recollect, I was always happy letting him! You think you’re to good Miss Priss?! Faith mumbled “No, nobody told me…” Thomas said “Are you dense? I really thought we raised you better, you’ve been here all of your life, we don’t ever talk about it though, gawd damn girl, you worser than Eli!” Hope said “Even Nigger knows better than to resist! It‘s just rude and ungrateful! You should be ashamed girl!” Thomas said “Well it’s no wonder Norman didn’t really care about looking for her, he left her for dead, and she can’t never look him in the face again! What are we gonna do, Hope?” Hope said “Well, I mean, I love Faith to death but her putting up a fight with daddy is unforgivable!” Thomas said “How could she not know?!” Hope said “Daddy thinks she’s dead, maybe we should…umm I don’t know.” Thomas said “Finish the job? I ain’t got no rifle shells, how…?” Hope said “No need, just make her show you where he left her and hit her with a rock or better yet just carry you a hammer out there, but nothing too messy, daddy will surely come back to check on her and he’ll get suspicious. Just leave her where he laid her, and we just won’t ever talk about Miss Priss Faith ever again. You brought shame to the Lankford family girl! I’m sorry I ever had you!” Thomas hoisted Faith up and she whimpered. He wrapped her in a blanket, got a hammer from his tool chest, and grabbed a bottle of whiskey. He had her small body laid on his shoulders and she gave him directions to where Norman raped her and tried to kill her. Norman had left her deep in the woods by the creek. When they got there Thomas dropped his daughter like a sack of potatoes. He sat down on a big rock, to catch his breath, and took a swig from his whiskey bottle. The blanket had unrolled and Faith was convulsing, her pupils looked like they wanted to get into her head but it was a heavy push for her eyeballs. Thomas took a big swig of whiskey, stood up, unzipped his pants, and pulled them down. “Girl, you a little too skinny for me, but maybe if I’da did this to you sooner, you’da learned.” Thomas raped his daughter’s convulsing body, and then with two shots to the head with a hammer, ended her.
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Norman Lankford stood up in front of the congregation that Sunday morning and sang “Amazing Grace“. Everyone said it was beautiful.

The Pinky's Passe' By Jason Wayne Allen

An article in “I’m a Teen” magazine says her t-shirt was “so last year”. She takes it off and puts it in a black, plastic, garbage bag labeled “Charity Sack” in black, felt- tipped pen, on white masking tape. Poor people don’t care if they’re un-fashionable she thinks and feels pride about giving her out-dated clothes to charity. The school day had finally ended and she was happy to be home and relaxing. Homework can wait. She’s a senior this year and will be graduating in a few months, she felt like she earned the right to “take it easy”. She opens her computer lap-top; it was time to check her “Flitter” website. The latest in social networking, she would have twenty four hour updates of all her friends at school, see new pictures of them, and read their online “Blogs”. Her best friend Kala had not been in school for two days and she was hoping Kala had an up date on her “Flitter” site. Kala hadn’t called or text her either, which was weird because they were best friends forever, B.F.F.s till’ the end. She pulls up her “Flitter’ and the first thing that she notices is her display picture is out dated. She had her hair trimmed since it was taken. This was no good; she had to take a new display picture immediately! She rummages in her purse and finds her digital camera but then it occurs to her that mom had made chicken tonight and she had seconds. She was still feeling kind of full from pigging out and decided she’d wait to take one. She didn’t want to look bloated; the thought of her friends thinking she looked fat sent a chill down her spine. Being considered “fat” would be a substantial reason to commit suicide. There would be nothing worse. Being considered “poor” would be a close second though. Both good reasons to kill one’s self she thought. She’s checking out her friends updates.
Adien: can’t wait to graduate Mood: Stoked
Beverally: Boyfriends suck! Mood: Angry
Samantha: hanging with the family tonight Mood: content
Kala’s page had been updated.
Awesome she thought I wonder what that crazy girl had been up to, I’ve so got to tell her how Mr. Thomas was staring down my shirt, like oh’ my God, so gross” Kala’s update was,
Kala: Get your hand modded homies! Mood: Happy!
Kala also had a new blog entry.
She thought what does “get your hand modded mean?” Kala is so awesome and weird in an awesome way, like oh my God! The title of Kala’s blog was “The Pinkys Passe’” it read… “Hey guys, Kala here. You might have been wondering why I haven’t been to school in two days. I haven’t been sick or anything don’t worry, LOL. I hope you guyz haven’t missed me too much ;) My mom took me to the kewlest little boutique in the mall that does hand modification. Yeah, like, ya’ know that little finger that you never use, some people think it’s all like, OMG cute, well people, The Pinky’s Passe’!!! It’s lame, it’s gross, and it’s out! The boutique cut mine off and I couldn’t be happier. Four fingers are, like, soooo much cuter! It hardly hurt at all too! So, don’t be lame and be walking around with five fingers like an old person, LOLZ!! Go, get hand modification; get that little ugly finger removed!! See you guyz at skewel, XoXo~ Kala <3 “
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“O-M-G!” She said when she finished reading Kala’s blog entry. Her mouths open wide in surprise. She thought, Kala is going to be at school tomorrow looking all cute with her little four fingers and I’m her besty and I’m going to look so dumb walking around with her with five fingers! That is if she lets me walk around with her. It’s too late to go to the mall now, and when I pierced my belly button, mom freaked, so she’d never let me get my hand modded anyway. Kala’s got such a cool mom! I pierced my belly button and there was nothing they could do about it but yell at me and ground me. I’m almost eighteen anyway! I’m almost an adult. If I cut off my pinky tonight, it will have to be bandaged until it heals but the kids at school will see the bandages and know I did it, at least. Her parents are nodding off in recliners, in front of the television when she goes to the kitchen and opens the freezer to get some ice cubes. She gets a plastic bowl from the cuppard and a huge, one of those, “cut through anything” knives her dad ordered off of an info-mercial on television. She dashes quietly back up the stairs, careful not to wake them up. There is a bathroom in her room and she goes in there and closes the door. She puts her right hand in the bowl of ice and leaves it there for a few minutes. While she’s waiting for her hand to go numb, so she can lop off her pinky, she admires the huge knife. She thinks, this thing is so sharp I might not feel anything. She takes her hand out of the bowl and sees it’s almost blue and it’s numb. She lays her hand down on the sink counter with her fingers splayed. She targets the pinky and stares at it. She grabs the knife and puts the blade lightly on where she’s about to cut, she has to get the aim just right, to avoid any messiness. She rears back the knife, takes a deep breath, and swings as hard as she can, bringing down the knife hard! The knife made a loud “Clank” noise against the counter. Her hand seemed un harmed at first but then she pulled it back and the pinky stayed on the counter. She brought her hand up to her face and looked at her mutilated hand. Blood came out of the stump slow and then started gushing like a water-spout. It was coming out fast, deep, thick, red, and almost purple. She stared at it and started getting light headed. The color left her face and she fainted and hit the floor with a thud!

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The next day at school Kala spoke at a conference in the lunch room at a memorial dedicated to her best friend who died of blood loss when she amputated her own pinky in order to fit in. “Guys” Kala said “Remember that this girl was an inspiration to us all and my best friend, she cared enough about her school and you guys, to go to such lengths to prove she had pride and school spirit! Let her be an inspiration to us all! Friends are the most important thing we have and we need to, sometimes, be extreme and go to extreme measures to make sure we fit in and never go against the crowd. We will miss you” THE END.