December 29th, 2009

The following is the opening from the book that comes out next year. I’m not quite sure what title the publisher will give the tome. This has been the most difficult writing assignment I’ve ever taken on. “He bled. The dirty socks filled with D-size batteries found the inmates’ head and the blow cut a deep swatch that sent blood gushing down his terrified face. Another sock stuffed with bars of soap busted his glasses and left bruises across his eye socket. Still another took out his dentures. The false teeth flew out of his mouth and were quickly stomped into shards of nothing. Welts and bleeding bulges riddled the prisoner’s face, head, and chest. He was still conscious when they jerked his pants off, bent him over a toilet in a back stall and raped him. He remembers seven, but thinks there might even had been eight men involved. More stood guard so the violent act could be played out. My brother awoke two days later with multiple contusions, impaired vision, a swollen mouth, and bloody gums. By the time I got to him, deep, protruding bruises had overtaken his once handsome face. Tears stood in his black-and-blue eyes. I sat down next to him and wept. He tried to speak, but I could barely understand him. After a few painstaking attempts I finally made out what he was trying to say. ‘Ask God to get here,’ he pleaded.”