Leonard lay on the ground in the vomit next to the dog and cried silently. Pork and Vinnie went over to the Impala and opened the doors and stood so they could get a grip on the car to push. Vinnie reached in and moved the gear from park to neutral and he and Pork began to shove the car forward. It moved slowly at first, but as it made the slight incline that led down to the old bridge, it picked up speed. From inside the trunk, Farto hammered lightly at the lid as if he didn't really mean it. The chain took up slack and Leonard felt it jerk and pop his neck. He began to slide along the ground like a snake.
Vinnie and Pork jumped out of the way and watched the car make the bridge and go over the edge and disappear into the water with amazing quietness. Leonard, pulled by the weight of the car, rustled past them. When he hit the bridge, splinters tugged at his clothes so hard they ripped his pants and underwear down almost to his knees.
The chain swung out once toward the edge of the bridge and the rotten railing, and Leonard tried to hook a leg around an upright board there, but that proved wasted. The weight of the car just pulled his knee out of joint and jerked the board out of place with a screech of nails and lumber.
Leonard picked up speed and the chain rattled over the edge of the bridge, into the water and out of sight, pulling its connection after it like a pull toy. The last sight of Leonard was the soles of his bare feet, white as the bellies of fish.
"It's deep there," Vinnie said. "I caught an old channel cat there once, remember? Big sucker. I bet it's over fifty feet deep down there."
They got in the truck and Vinnie cranked it.
"I think we did them boys a favor," Pork said. "Them running around with niggers and what they did to that dog and all. They weren't worth a thing."
"I know it," Vinnie said. "We should have filmed this, Pork, it would have been good. Where the car and that nigger-lover went off in the water was choice."
"Nah, there wasn't any women."
"Point," Vinnie said, and he backed around and drove onto the trail that wound its way out of the bottoms.
"The Pit," first published in The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction, 1987.
"Not From Detroit," first published in Midnight Graffiti, Fall, 1988.
"Booty and the Beast," first published in Archon Gaming, 1995.
"Steppin' Out, Summer, '68," first published in Night Visions, 8, 1991.
"Incident On and Off a Mountain Road," first published in Night Visions, 8, 1991.
"My Dead Dog, Bobby," first published in The Horror Show, Sum. '87.
"Trains Not Taken," first published in RE: AL, Spring 1987.
"Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back," first published in Nukes, 1986.
"Dog, Cat, and Baby," first published in Masques #2, 1987.
"Mister Weed-Eater," first published by Cahill Press, 1993.
"By Bizarre Hands," first published in Hardboiled #9, 1988.
"The Fat Man and the Elephant," first published in By Bizarre Hands, 1989.
"The Phone Woman," first published in Night Visions, 8, 1991.
"Letter from the South, Two Moons West of Nacogdoches," first published in Last Wave, #5, 1986.
"By the Hair of the Head," first published in Shadows, #6, 1983.
"The Job," first published in Razored Saddles, 1989.
"Godzilla's Twelve Step Program," first published in Writer of the Purple Rage, 1994.
"Drive-In Date," first published in Night Visions, 8, 1991.
"Bob the Dinosaur Goes to Disneyland," first published in Midnight Graffiti, Fall 1989.
"The Steel Valentine," first published in By Bizarre Hands, 1989.
"Night They Missed the Horror Show," first published in Silver Scream, 1988.
JOE R. LANSDALE has written over twenty books and over two hundred short stories, comprising an eclectic mixture of horror, crime, suspense, humor, science fiction, and Western. His champion Mojo storytelling has won him the British Fantasy Award, the American Mystery Award, five Bram Stoker Awards from the Horror Writers of America, the International Crime Writer's Award, the Booklist Editor's Award, and a New York Times Notable Book Award.
In addition to his writing, Lansdale is a student of the martial arts, and founder of Shen Chuan, and divides his time each day between the typewriter and his martial-arts studio, where he teaches.
Lansdale recently completed another novel, Freezer Burn, which is available in hardback, paperback or eBook form. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with is wife Karen, writer and editor.
Four thousand copies of this book have been printed by the Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group, Binghamton, NY, for Golden Gryphon Press, Urbana, IL. The typeset is Elante, printed on 55# Sebago. The binding cloth is Arrestox B. Typesetting by The Composing Room, Inc., Kimberly, WI.