{"id":14835,"date":"2023-10-20T05:37:26","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T10:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/?p=14835"},"modified":"2025-10-25T18:41:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T23:41:39","slug":"snappers-the-man-on-the-mattress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/2023\/10\/20\/snappers-the-man-on-the-mattress\/","title":{"rendered":"Snappers\/The Man on the Mattress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-social-links is-content-justification-right is-layout-flex wp-container-core-social-links-is-layout-765c4724 wp-block-social-links-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"wp-social-link wp-social-link-facebook  wp-block-social-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61556140010887\" class=\"wp-block-social-link-anchor\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M12 2C6.5 2 2 6.5 2 12c0 5 3.7 9.1 8.4 9.9v-7H7.9V12h2.5V9.8c0-2.5 1.5-3.9 3.8-3.9 1.1 0 2.2.2 2.2.2v2.5h-1.3c-1.2 0-1.6.8-1.6 1.6V12h2.8l-.4 2.9h-2.3v7C18.3 21.1 22 17 22 12c0-5.5-4.5-10-10-10z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"wp-block-social-link-label screen-reader-text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n<li class=\"wp-social-link wp-social-link-instagram  wp-block-social-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/boudin_mcneese\/\" class=\"wp-block-social-link-anchor\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M12,4.622c2.403,0,2.688,0.009,3.637,0.052c0.877,0.04,1.354,0.187,1.671,0.31c0.42,0.163,0.72,0.358,1.035,0.673 c0.315,0.315,0.51,0.615,0.673,1.035c0.123,0.317,0.27,0.794,0.31,1.671c0.043,0.949,0.052,1.234,0.052,3.637 s-0.009,2.688-0.052,3.637c-0.04,0.877-0.187,1.354-0.31,1.671c-0.163,0.42-0.358,0.72-0.673,1.035 c-0.315,0.315-0.615,0.51-1.035,0.673c-0.317,0.123-0.794,0.27-1.671,0.31c-0.949,0.043-1.233,0.052-3.637,0.052 s-2.688-0.009-3.637-0.052c-0.877-0.04-1.354-0.187-1.671-0.31c-0.42-0.163-0.72-0.358-1.035-0.673 c-0.315-0.315-0.51-0.615-0.673-1.035c-0.123-0.317-0.27-0.794-0.31-1.671C4.631,14.688,4.622,14.403,4.622,12 s0.009-2.688,0.052-3.637c0.04-0.877,0.187-1.354,0.31-1.671c0.163-0.42,0.358-0.72,0.673-1.035 c0.315-0.315,0.615-0.51,1.035-0.673c0.317-0.123,0.794-0.27,1.671-0.31C9.312,4.631,9.597,4.622,12,4.622 M12,3 C9.556,3,9.249,3.01,8.289,3.054C7.331,3.098,6.677,3.25,6.105,3.472C5.513,3.702,5.011,4.01,4.511,4.511 c-0.5,0.5-0.808,1.002-1.038,1.594C3.25,6.677,3.098,7.331,3.054,8.289C3.01,9.249,3,9.556,3,12c0,2.444,0.01,2.751,0.054,3.711 c0.044,0.958,0.196,1.612,0.418,2.185c0.23,0.592,0.538,1.094,1.038,1.594c0.5,0.5,1.002,0.808,1.594,1.038 c0.572,0.222,1.227,0.375,2.185,0.418C9.249,20.99,9.556,21,12,21s2.751-0.01,3.711-0.054c0.958-0.044,1.612-0.196,2.185-0.418 c0.592-0.23,1.094-0.538,1.594-1.038c0.5-0.5,0.808-1.002,1.038-1.594c0.222-0.572,0.375-1.227,0.418-2.185 C20.99,14.751,21,14.444,21,12s-0.01-2.751-0.054-3.711c-0.044-0.958-0.196-1.612-0.418-2.185c-0.23-0.592-0.538-1.094-1.038-1.594 c-0.5-0.5-1.002-0.808-1.594-1.038c-0.572-0.222-1.227-0.375-2.185-0.418C14.751,3.01,14.444,3,12,3L12,3z M12,7.378 c-2.552,0-4.622,2.069-4.622,4.622S9.448,16.622,12,16.622s4.622-2.069,4.622-4.622S14.552,7.378,12,7.378z M12,15 c-1.657,0-3-1.343-3-3s1.343-3,3-3s3,1.343,3,3S13.657,15,12,15z M16.804,6.116c-0.596,0-1.08,0.484-1.08,1.08 s0.484,1.08,1.08,1.08c0.596,0,1.08-0.484,1.08-1.08S17.401,6.116,16.804,6.116z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"wp-block-social-link-label screen-reader-text\">Instagram<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Snappers\/The Man on the Mattress<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Robb T. White<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>__________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYou\u2019re probably wondering what\u2019s going on, right?\u201d&nbsp; Asking yourself, \u2018What happened\u2019? \u2018Where the hell am I?\u2019 Can\u2019t say I blame you,\u201d he said, watching his eyes focus as he tried to turn his head one way and then the other. They still had a drug shimmer, although it was hard to tell from the semidarkness inside the Quonset hut he\u2019d built from a DIY kit had no windows because he covered them over with roofing paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He hoped he got the dosage right. A Reddit thread on GHB suggested a 1.5 ml for a man weighing one-hundred-eighty pounds with about fifteen percent body fat. He used himself as a guinea pig, figuring he weighed twenty pounds more and had a muscular, lean physique from daily workout sessions with the iron. He started with half a teaspoon and worked his way up to a point where redosing would have been necessary, noting it all down in his journal, where he kept all his \u201cproject\u201d notes. The man on the mattress was nude, already showing signs of going to fat at thirty, which was a good thing, muscle tissue denser than fat tissue and harder to get your teeth into. His first busload of snappers was already on the road from downtown Albuquerque, and he needed the man on the mattress to be fully alert when they arrived.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He looked at the man squirming harder against the restraints and decided he was back to himself enough to take off the mouth gag, a red plastic ball with leather straps he\u2019d bought in an adult store two blocks from the Greyhound bus station where he did some of his recruiting. The leather buckles also came from there; he pulled out the fur-like fleecing inside. The package said the gag was perfect for beginners and designed to keep \u201cthe corners of your moth comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cFirst, I\u2019m going to remove the gag,\u201d he said in a pleasant, calm voice to the squirming man bucking up and down as though that would free him. He knew knots. The man on the mattress wasn\u2019t going anywhere. \u201cDoing that will only abrade the skin of your wrists and ankles and will delay my explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Mumbling sounds, then bellowing into the silicone ball\u2014another waste of time. He was screaming so hard into the ball that all it produced were Y-shaped veins emerging from the center of his forehead. The twin stems of the Y reaching into his hairline were blood engorged, like fat worms appearing beneath his skin like in a horror movie.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019ve only got a limited amount of time to talk, you see,\u201d he said to the man thumping up and down on the mattress on this backside. \u201cYou can keep screaming, no one can hear you. We\u2019re miles outside town. Nothing but the Chihuahuan Desert between us and the Sandias. No people around, however. I have a cyclone fence around a couple acres out here in case somebody comes out here hunting coyotes or rattlesnakes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cGood,\u201d he said. \u201cNow, then. The gag first.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He stepped behind the prone man and released the Velcro strap. He swung the silicone ball away from his face and set it behind his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYOU PSYCHO SON OF A BITCH!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cTut-tut, I warned you, didn\u2019t I?\u201d He lifted the ball by the strap and jerked it toward the man\u2019s mouth. He swiveled his head away from the gag and clenched his teeth. After a few attempts, the man gave up and set the ball gag on the mattress again. He went to a corner and selected a crowbar from a variety of tools he kept there while he built the hut.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The man stepped over to his victim and straddled him by sitting on his chest with his full body weight, expelling a <em>whoof <\/em>of air from his lungs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cSee this crowbar? Feel it,\u201d he said and played the beveled edge of the crowbar around the man\u2019s mouth and over the tender skin of his lips. He pushed the lips apart gently with it and tapped the man\u2019s front tooth. \u201cYou either open your mouth for the gag or I will ram the end of this bar through your bottom teeth and pry up your jaw. The end result will be the same. What\u2019s it going to be?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The man stilled himself, settled back onto the mattress; his chest went up and down from exertion. His eyes were big with fright and rage boring into the man\u2019s face. He opened his mouth. The man, still straddling his chest, replaced the ball gag and cinched it tight. He got up and stepped behind the man on the earthen floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThere\u2019s a cot behind you. You can\u2019t see it but I\u2019m sitting on it. You\u2019ll have questions. Ask them when I finish. Keep that crowbar in mind . . . You remember the gray-haired gentleman in the business suit you met at the restaurant yesterday evening? Nod if you do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A long pause followed by an abrupt nod from the man on the mattress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cHe\u2019s an ex-con who got out of the penitentiary in Santa Fe a few months ago. I paid him to impersonate a businessman. He\u2019s the one who contacted your office and set up the meeting in the restaurant. He did time for check-kiting, cheating old people out of their pensions, various fraud charges. He had the right skill set for his limited task because here you are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He wanted to observe the man\u2019s reactions fresh without the man interposing a filter between his reactions and the words he was hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cGood,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re paying attention. There was no proposal\u2014not a legitimate one, anyhow. Do you remember feeling groggy after a couple drinks while he spoke about acquiring property and land your company wants to sell?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Nod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cMy gray-haired associate was told to lead you out of the bar as soon as you began slurring words. &nbsp;If he couldn\u2019t get you to agree to leave with him, he was to call me in my Jeep out front and I would enter the restaurant, drop a few twenties on the bar, and the two of us would escort you out the door and into my vehicle. If any waiters or Good Samaritans dining nearby got overly curious, I had a line of patter ready to drop on them about \u2018my friend having too much to drink\u2019 as we led you out the door. . . . But you came out yourself and waved off his offer to put you in an Uber, remember?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">No nod, a stillness but the glassy stare was pure hatred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cDo you recall my helping you into the Jeep? No? I didn\u2019t think so. Your arms were limp noodles when I strapped you into those eyebolts I welded into the frame. Voil\u00e0, here we are. I dragged you in\u2014sorry if ruined your suit\u2014and fastened you here. I imagine your sleep was falling into a black hole with an anvil in your arms. That\u2019s how it felt to me. You said something. Let me remove the gag again so you can speak. You will remember the crowbar, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The ball was sopping with spit. The man gasped and panted for a few seconds. He squeezed his eyes shut. Then he groaned and tried to speak. The words came out in a gargled rush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cSorry,\u201d the man said. \u201cTry that again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWhy . . . are you . . . doing . . . this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cIt\u2019s not a long story,\u201d the man said. \u201cI\u2019ll leave out all the descriptive terms in the interest of time\u2014\u201d He checked his watch again. \u201cBut there\u2019s a certain amount of pathos to it a real storyteller might linger over. In essence, you harmed my life in significant ways and I want revenge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI DON\u2019T EVEN FUCKIN\u2019 KNOW YOU! YOU MOTHERFUCKING\u2014Wait! Wait! Not that plastic ball in my mouth again! Okay, Okay. I\u2019m calm. Don\u2019t, please, not again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The man looked at him, set the ball gag down again and went over to an ice chest. He took a plastic water bottle out and opened it in front of the man on the mattress. He lowered himself beside him and set the mouth of the bottle against the man\u2019s lips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cEasy . . . easy. Don\u2019t choke. There. Better now?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cOh God, I was dying of thirst. My head aches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cGHB works on men as well as women, \u201c the man said. \u201cBut it does have side effects like memory loss and headaches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWhy . . . did you\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019m coming to that,\u201d he said. \u201cYou recall that hit-and-run accident you were in five years ago?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The man on the mattress was slow to nod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThat was my father you killed. He was coming home from his late-night shift at Walmart. You were coming home from an all-night, binge-drinking session with your date at an after-hours club.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWAIT! NO! That . . . that was an ACCIDENT. The court ruled it was, said I wasn\u2019t to blame. That old man . . . that man, he . . . your father SWERVED into me. They did a\u2014what-do-you-call-it\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cAccident reconstruction,\u201d the man unemotionally said from his cot, checking his watch again. He\u2019d need to leave if he wanted to avoid rush-hour traffic in Albuquerque.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYES! YES! That\u2019s it! The highway patrol reconstructed that accident and proved I was innocent. I\u2019m sorry your father was tired, sleepy from work, whatever, but he crossed the centerline and hit me!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI spent thirteen thousand dollars on a private investigator. Eight thousand alone went to him for his work, all duly written out with line items for each expense. Five thousand went for bribes and payoffs to witnesses in the courthouse, the highway patrol barracks, and your date at the time. By the way, she hates your guts and she wants money for the abortion she had because you lied about wearing a condom that night. Or, should I say, that morning when you finally got home after the cops finished with you. You spent the day having sex. Rough sex, too, from what she told me. No worries about that old man you plowed into back there in his shitty economy car going up against your big-ass Humvee, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI tried to help him, I really did, but the door was jammed on the driver\u2019s side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cNot what she said,\u201d the man on the cot replied. \u201cHer exact words to me, after the air bags inflated and his car began burning and he screamed for help were these, \u2018Fuck him, serves him right. Let him burn.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cNo, no! That bitch is a lying slut!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cLet . . . him . . . burn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I didn\u2019t . . . look, we can come to an agreement here, right? Water under the bridge, over the dam, whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYou left her at the scene to talk tot eh cops and drove home to sober up\u2014only you didn\u2019t sober up. You called your greasy lawyer, the one who got you out of every scrape you\u2019ve been in since you were killing family pets in your garage and forcing girls to have sex with you in your bedroom as a teenager. He told you to drink booze, didn\u2019t he? So the cops couldn\u2019t accuse you of driving drunk. You told them you were so shaken up that you drove for help and you drank when you got home. . . . Oh, you\u2019re thinking about lawyer-client confidentiality, right? Well, you put the barrel of a Colt revolver into a man\u2019s crotch he\u2019ll piss his pants but he will admit the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cHe made that up . . . Listen, he made that up! Okay, fuck it, I\u2019ll give you twenty-five thousand dollars. Cut me loose. I\u2019ll walk out of here back to town. I won\u2019t say one goddamned word about this to anyone, not the cops, nobody. I\u2019ll go to the bank, withdraw the money. You call me. You tell me where to meet you with the money, and I\u2019m there. Even-steven.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI don\u2019t think so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThirty thousand, man! That\u2019s all I have! I\u2019m in hock up to my ears. I\u2019ve got a mortgage, car payments\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI know,\u201d the man replied. \u201cMy investigator did a deep financial dive on you. A Ferrari, a Lamborghini Countach, a resort house in Taos. You spend it as fast as you make it, don\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He stood up, brushed away flecks of the yellow grit from the desert off his pants. \u201cI have to go into town now or I\u2019ll be too late. Those ladies won\u2019t wait. I believe you know some of them, in fact. More than a few at the The Rare Cherry told me about you\u2014for a fee, of course. I\u2019m always happy to pay for good information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThose lying skanks! I\u2019ve never been to that shithole!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019ll be back soon. We\u2019ll talk some more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The man on the mattress heard the Jeep take off. He thrashed against his restraints, screaming at the top of his lungs for help. For minutes, he exhausted himself bellowing for someone to come help him. He wept. He watched an orb weaver in the periphery of his vision capture a cabbage moth and roll it into a mini-burrito of cottony web for a later meal.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He kept telling himself he had to get free, but he had no idea how to do it. His wrists and ankles were raw from rubbing against the buckled straps that\u2019s secured him. If he looked down his chest to his outspread legs he could see the steel bars they were secured to and cemented into the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">His mind wanted out of there. He wasn\u2019t sure how much time had passed before he heard the sounds of a vehicle pulling up. Voices, women\u2019s voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><em>Thank God, I\u2019m saved . . .<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cBack sooner than I thought,\u201d the familiar voice of the man said. An unhurried, masculine voice with no trace of Hispanic or one of the many Pueblo accents heard around town. He remembered the man he hit looked dark, like a Mexican. At the time, he hoped the man was Mexican. His family knew a judge who\u2019d have given him a certificate of merit if his case had gone before him. As it was, strings were pulled, an old boy network went to work. He got probation and a suspended license for one year. The family was bought off with paid funeral expenses from his father\u2019s lawyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The man was speaking quietly but in a commanding voice to the women out of his line of sight. The metallic hut he was in smelled of dirt and desert heat until that moment. The aromas of citrusy perfume began wafting about. Another smell, more pungent, overlaid it: the rancid smell of unwashed bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Something else nagged at the corner of his mind . . . something about the old man\u2019s family. He couldn\u2019t bring it into focus and his heart was racing with fear. <em>What were these women doing here?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019m going to tell you a story first,\u201d the man said standing above him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI don\u2019t want to hear a story,\u201d the man on the mattress said. \u201cI want out of here, you freak! Forty thousand, my final offer!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">This time the ball gag was stuffed into his mouth with rough hands wearing thick gloves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The man resumed his story as though nothing had happened. He heard giggling where the women were standing together. If he could see them, he might be able to negotiate with them. Turn them to his side with promises of money and influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The man began talking again, some story about an ancient Chinese emperor and his new goldsmith. The other fifty goldsmiths in the guild were so envious they plotted to kill the emperor\u2019s favorite so they had to do it so no one of them was blamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He tuned the maniac out. He\u2019d bring him around the way he always did people he wanted to manipulate. And when he had him where he wanted him, he\u2019d use all his connections and wealth to see this bastard rotting in the foulest prison in the state. He\u2019d pay to have the other cons make his life a constant, never-ending torment\u2014<em>what was that about biting?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThe goldsmiths bit him to death, each man had to show his bloody teeth to the others . . .\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">His mind couldn\u2019t wrap itself around the sheer lunacy of the man\u2019s words. The women were talking, talking about something, doing something for him, getting into . . . a line for him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cGirls, ladies, listen to me now. This is the man who has been preying on little girls <em>for years<\/em>. Some of your own relatives, your sisters, nieces, your next-door neighbors. Sweet little girls who never had a chance. The law has been protecting him. No more. Today you will bring justice to all those families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><em>What is this bullshit? He never hurt a little girl in his life\u2014Okay, teenaged girls, yeah, but those dumb bunnies asked for it, and he paid them off, some of them anyway, so what\u2019s the big deal?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201c . . . one at a time, show me your mouth if you want to get paid. No blood, no money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><em>What was this bullshit?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A girl in a neon-orange thong stepped into view and smiled down at him. <em>I know you<\/em>, he tried to say behind the gag. <em>You\u2019re Raina. You gave me lap dances at <\/em>. . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He begged her with his eyes: <em>Lift the gag. I\u2019ll pay you<\/em>\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Before he could finish his thought or prayer, she dropped to her knees\u2014mumbled something obscene, and bit him in the stomach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He screamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">His eyes watered with tears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The next girl in line came forward. She didn\u2019t smile. Her face was a mask of hatred. She spat a gob of phlegm into his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><em>Wait! Wait! I didn\u2019t do anything\u2014Oh merciful God<\/em>, the pain was searing, intense, like having a live wire jabbed into his flesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">She stood up; then she smiled\u2014with a top row of bloody teeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He thought his navel had been ripped out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The third girl came. She looked like a teenager, pink streaks in her hair, nose, and lip rings. One of those runaways he saw all over downtown Albuquerque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">When she, too, fell to her knees, he knew what his fate was and waited for the tearing of his flesh. She gripped the flesh near his ribs and sunk her teeth into him. She wagged her head back and forth like a terrier with a barn rat in its teeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">From some red vortex of pain, he heard the man\u2019s words: \u201cShow me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The next biter was an older woman, a drug fiend, filthy. She had a thousand wrinkles in her face and greasy dirt caked into the ridges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">She apologized to him before biting him on the triceps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The girls and women kept coming. He didn\u2019t know for how long because he kept passing out. He would come to and see a face leering or mocking him. He heard their excuses: \u201cI need it for my child\u2019s operation\u201d . . .\u201cI need to get my boyfriend out of jail\u201d . . . \u201cYou\u2019re rapist scum, you deserve it . . .\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He tried to send his mind away from the scorching pain, but he didn\u2019t know how to escape the hellfire he was cast into. Thei faces blurred into one wobbly, nightmare face with jagged, bloody teeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">At some point, he knew it was dark\u2014but the line of biters kept coming. His mind jumbled and kept changing scenes on him. He was at the beach, he was at the blackjack tables in Vegas. Then he came roaring back to that filthy, hot metal prison. He passed out again and stayed gone for a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">When he woke again, his body was dotted with rosettes of open wounds, gashes, jagged flesh from bites up and down the length of &nbsp;his body. His penis and testicles were still intact, <em>thank God<\/em>, but many biters had gouged out small, red-rimmed craters near his crotch. Their teeth marks and saliva stains were a helter-skelter of horrible tattoos in indigo bruising and crusted flesh.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The ball gag was ripped from his mouth. He heard the man\u2019s voice above him. \u201cI\u2019m taking these ladies back to town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><em>Over, it\u2019s over<\/em> . . . If sepsis didn\u2019t kill him, if he got medical help and antibiotics in time, he\u2019d make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cTake me . . . doctor . . . pay you . . .\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cOh no, sorry, I really can\u2019t do that,\u201d the man\u2019s even voice explained. \u201cThis is only the first entr\u00e9e, so to speak. I have more ladies coming out for the feast. Word travels fast in their circle, you see. Word on the street is, you\u2019re the best meal ticket in town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>__________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Robb T. White<\/strong> is a Midwest writer of genre fiction, mainly crime and horror. He has two series private eyes: <em>Tom Haftmann<\/em> and <em>Raimo Jarvi<\/em>. His collection of revenge tales, <em>Betray Me Not<\/em>, was selected by the Independent Fiction Alliance as\u00a0 a Truly Best Indie Book in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"438\" height=\"211\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15484\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1.jpg 438w, https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1-300x145.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 438px) 100vw, 438px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-large-font-size\">&lt;&lt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/2023\/10\/20\/tooth-appointment\/\">Back<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/2023\/10\/20\/the-dentist-the-bootlegger\/\">Next<\/a> &gt;&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">To learn more about submitting your work to <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/boudin-submissions\/\">Boudin<\/a><\/em> or applying to McNeese State University&#8217;s Creative Writing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/mfa-application-submissions\/\">MFA program<\/a>, please visit Submissions for details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Snappers\/The Man on the Mattress Robb T. White __________ \u201cYou\u2019re probably wondering what\u2019s going on, right?\u201d&nbsp; Asking yourself, \u2018What happened\u2019? \u2018Where the hell am I?\u2019 Can\u2019t say I blame you,\u201d he said, watching his eyes focus as he tried to turn his head one way and then the other. They still had a drug shimmer,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[240],"tags":[75,147,26],"class_list":["post-14835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boodin-bite-of-the-uncanny-oct-23","tag-boudin","tag-halloween","tag-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14835"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21038,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14835\/revisions\/21038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}