Nine Minutes by Beth Flynn Read Free Book Online

walked
over to the pit and got a beer from the cooler before sitting down. He popped
the top and took a big swig. Then, one-handed, he took a pack of cigarettes out
of his jacket and lit one up. He downed the rest of his beer in less than
thirty seconds, belched loudly, then stood. “Forgot, I
got another present for Grizz . Well, for Grizz’s hounds actually.”
          “You don’t got
another chick hidden on your bike somewhere, do ya ?”
someone asked. There was a round of laughter.
          He didn’t answer
as he walked back over to where he had parked his bike. He
had everyone’s curiosity , so all eyes followed him .
He opened one of his saddlebags, reached in and pulled something out. It was
hard to tell what it was since it was almost dark, but it was small, and he
carried it with one hand.
          He got back over
to his lawn chair, and we still couldn’t tell what he had. He plopped down and
with his cigarette dangling from his mouth, he held up the prize.
          It was a tiny
black kitten. A kitten? Would Grizz want a kitten?
Then I remembered he said it was for Grizz’s hounds.
Was he going to give the kitten over to the dogs to be mauled to death? Oh no.
I didn’t think I could handle that.
          Someone, I think
it was Blue, said, “What the hell is Grizz gonna want with that?”
          “I thought he
might wanna feed it to his hell hounds,” Monster
laughed. He still had it by the scruff of its neck and the poor little thing
just hung there without making a sound.
          “I’ll tell you
right now, you’re wrong. Get rid of it before he comes out here,” Blue warned.
          “Why would I wanna get rid of a perfectly good squawk box like this?”
Monster asked.
          “What do you mean
by squawk box?” Grunt asked.
          Without
answering, before anyone could have stopped him if they’d wanted to, Monster
took the lit cigarette and pressed it to the kitten’s side. It howled in pain
and tried to wrestle free. He just laughed.
          “See, squawk box!
Hell, anyone wanna know if
its eye will make a sizzle sound like when you fry bacon or something?” More laughter from him.
          No one was
joining in his laughter at this horrible display, but I was too upset to
notice. I jumped up and started running to the room. Grunt was on my heels, but
I fought him off.
          “Just leave me
alone! Leave me alone!” I was screaming at the top of my lungs. “You’re all
sick. Something’s wrong with all of you if you think this is fun.”
          Grunt was trying
to stop me from reaching the room, and he was saying something I didn’t hear. I
was too hysterical.
          Just then, the
door of Grizz’s room opened and he came out. “What
the hell is going on out here?”
          “What’s going on?
I’ll tell you what’s going on. Your sick friend Monster is getting his kicks
out of torturing a poor, helpless animal, that’s what. You’re all sick. I can’t
believe this is happening. I can’t believe people get off on this kind of crap.
I’ve gotta get outta here!”
          By then, Grunt
was behind me, using both hands to hold my arms at my side. I was waiting for
the blow from Grizz . I’d seen him get mad for lesser
things. This would surely warrant at least a slap in the face. But it didn’t
come. He looked past me and Grunt toward the pit and
said, “Take her in. Stay with her.”
          “What, so you can
go join the fun?” I taunted. “Is that what you’re gonna do? Big, tough guy, huh? Gonna terrorize a kitten. Gee, how brave!”
          While I was yelling Grizz was moving toward the pit so I didn’t know how
much he heard, thank God. Grunt kept telling me to shut up. Then with a
strength I didn’t know he had, he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.
He took me in the room and shut the door before letting me down on my feet.
          He’d knocked the
wind out of