Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2023 13:26:08 -0400 From: James Karvonen Subject: The Song of the Lonesome Steel Rails: 42. Song of the Lonesome Steel Rails: 42. With Luke walking directly behind him holding the kerosene lantern, and his three boys on each side of him they left the barn and slowly trudged through the darkness towards the house. Somewhere in the woods or fields surrounding the house Bobby heard the sound of a couple of screech owls bickering back and forth. Legend said, that when one heard two screech owls bickering back and forth at night, that was considered a bad omen of things yet to come. Whether or not that legend was true, Bobby did not know. But right now things were looking very bleak for him. He thought about the possibly of making a break for it now, but that possibility was limited by the presence of Luke's three boys walking with him. If he made a break for it, he probably would not get very far. As sore and as tired as he was he didn't think he could run all that well anyway, say anything especially at night when he couldn't see anything. They reached the old wooden framed farmhouse a minute or so later. As they were heading towards the porch, Luke stop them. "You and Josh go into the house. Leroy come with me so that we get get our guest situated for the night. This way." He told Bobby. As Josh and Buster were heading into the house, Luke and Leroy took Bobby around to the side of the house to a double cellar door that led down into the basement. Opening up the double door, Luke pointed to the stairs that led into the darkness beneath the house. "Down there. " Luke ordered. So they were going to keep him locked up in the basement, Bobby thought. If they locked the cellar door once he was down there, there would be no way that he would be able to get out of the cellar. Yes, things were looking bleaker for him with every passing minute. Without saying a word he slowly walked down the stairs into the cellar. Luke, and Leroy followed. Once down in the cellar he was met by a blast of cool air. There was also a musty smell down in the cellar that could have been from a dead rat or something. Through the dim light from the lantern Bobby could that the basement cramped with boxes and old unused furniture. Back in the far corner of the basement was a coal furnace a small pile of coal in the coal in a wooden coal bin. The walls in the basement were made of stone. Off to the other side of the basement along the back wall, Bobby saw an old straw mattress lying on the floor. Near the mattress was a wooden pail. "You might as well go over to that mattress and make yourself comfortable, because that's where you'll be sleeping for as long as I decide to keep you here! " Luke directed. Knowing that he had no choice in the matter, Bobby reluctantly walked over to the mattress and plopped down on top of it. He stared momentarily at Luke and Leroy then turned his eyes away from them. " That's better. If you have to take a shit or a piss at night use that pail over there. If you get thirsty at night, you'll find a jug of water over there on that cabinet." " How long are you going to keep me here?" Bobby asked. f " That is a question that you don't even need to be worrying about now. Anyway, don't even think about trying to leave here tonight, because as soon as Leroy and I leave, I'm going to lock that cellar door so you won't be able to get out." Luke stated. Bobby figured that. He was going to be locked in the basement for the whole night. The chill in the basement caused Bobby to shiver. The only clothes he had on was the thin shirt he had worn coming here and his pants and shoes. His backpack and the rest of his clothes and personal belongings were still back at the motel or in the trunk of the Pervis's car. Anyway he doubted that he would ever see those personal belongings again. Pervis would either leave them at the motel when he left come morning or throw them away someplace. The only clothes that he had now were the ones that he was wearing. He shivered again realizing that it was going to be a long cold uncomfortable night sleeping in this dingy damp cellar on that thin mattress without a blanket to keep them warm. "Now that you're situated, I'll see you in the morning. Come on Leroy, let's get the hell out of here. " Luke said. Bobby watched as Luke and Leroy turned to leave. He would have no light down there in a cellar because Luke was taking the lantern with him. Luke seem to be doing whatever he could to make his life miserable. When he heard the cellar door slam shut, Bobby was plunged into a world of total darkness. It was so dark in the cellar that you could barely see his hand in front of his face. Until his eyes got adjusted to the darkness down here in the dingy basement there was nothing that he could do right now. He waited for about 10 minutes or so until he could see a little better. The first thing he wanted to do was to try to. open up the cellar door. Luke told him not to try to open the door because he was going to have it locked, but he was going to try anyway just for the hell of it. What book said could have been a ploy keep him in place. Bobby stood up and slowly made his way through the darkness to the narrow concrete stairs that led up to the cellar door. He reached the door then using both hands try to push it open. It budged about an inch or two but would not open all the way. He tried it again putting a little more effort into it but with no success. Sighing he turned and headed back down the stairs over to the mattress. There are nothing more that he can do right now other than to try and get some sleep and wait to see what would happen good morning. But it was going to be difficult for him to get any sleep because his back, chest and stomach were sore from the beating that Luke and the his three boys had given him after they had strung him up. Not only that but his asshole felt like it was on fire from being repeatedly raped by Luke and his three boys. Yes, Bobby thought, it was going to be a long, difficult night for him to get any sleep whatsoever. The big question that was now surging through his mind was come morning, what were they going to do with him? He laid there on top of the mattress, his body aching until exhaustion took. He finally drifted off into a restless sleep. He woke up when he heard the creaking of the two cellar doors opening. He set up with a start then rubbed his eyes and looked around. The first thing that he noticed was that there was daylight coming in through two small basement windows on the stone foundation above his head. He hadn't noticed these small windows before because it had been dark in the basement when they brought him down here last night. He tensed when he saw Luke coming down the basement stairs. He was carrying a tray of food for for him to eat. "Breakfast. " He he said, walking over to him. He placed the tray of food down on the floor besides the mattress. " Eat because you're going to need the energy to do some work this morning at the Still. On the tray was a bowl of oatmeal, a couple hunks of bread, and a glass of milk. After setting the tray on the floor besides him Luke turned and walked back up the stairs leaving him once again alone. Despite the bleak situation that he was in, Bobby was hungry. He sat up and went on ahead and ate the food that Luke had brought down for him. When he finished eating he had to take a piss so he stood up and went over to the pail that had been provided by Luke for just that purpose. After relieving his bladder he plopped back down on the mattress to wait for whatever would come next. Luke returned about an hour later. This time, Luke was carrying a shotgun and he had Leroy with him. "Okay get your ass up, it's time for you to go to work. " Luke growled. Bobby took his time standing up, then with some reluctance followed Luke up the cellar stairs and through the cellar doors to go outside. He saw Josh, Leroy and Buster standing besides an old oak tree waiting for them. It felt good to be out of that cold, damp dingy basement. The sunlight felt warm and invigorating compared to how it was last night sleeping on that thin uncomfortable mattress on the cellar floor. "Let's go. " Luke exclaimed. "Where we going?" Bobby asked. "We're going to the Still. And you best not try to run away from us boy, because me and my three boys will chase you down. You won't git very far because you don't know these woods down here like we do. And if you want to run you could rest assured that I'll hunt your ass down and either blow you away or let my boys have you. Once my boys get you they'll beat the hell out of you to the point where you would wish you were dead. Then after that I'll personally drag you back to the house and throw you downstairs into the cellar and lock you up by yourself. You won't be doing anything else but serving us as our little fuck boy whenever our need arises. Do you understand what I'm telling you? I ain't playing with you boy!" Luke shouted. "Yes sir. Bobby softly said. Luke's tone of voice told him that Luke meant every word that he just told him. He found himself trembling a little as he joined the others. "Now, let's git a move on. You stay ahead of me within my sight." Once they were all together, they headed into the woods walking along a narrow animal trail. The trail ended at a rustic open air shed. Inside the shed was the Still. The Still consisted of a 60 gallon brass boiler which brewed the mash used in making the alcohol over a fire pit. There was a pipe from the brass boiler that was connected to a thumper where the alcohol was vaporized. In turn the thumper was connected to the condenser where everything was put together to make the hootch. Stacked on shelves around the Still were several gallon jugs in which once brewed the whiskey was poured into. The hootch was then sold on the black market since alcoholic beverages during the depression were illegal. Besides the Still were the ingredients needed to brew up a good batch of homemade whiskey. Those ingredients included about eight 50 pound bags of malted barley and cans of yeast. Water was pumped from a nearby creek into the brass boiler of the Still to be made into whiskey. "Okay boys, you all know what to do. We need to brew up at least fifty gallons of hootch today that will can ship out on Friday. That's two days from now. Josh take Bobby over yonder and chop up some firewood. We need all the firewood that we can git to keep that fire going underneath the Still to git that order completed. Leroy, you and Buster help me out. We have to mix up the mash and start cooking it. " " Come on Bobby. " Josh said. Bobby turned and followed Josh over to a large wood pile. He handed Bobby an axe. Picking up the other axe they started chopping the wood. Getting the wood chopped that they needed was going to be a long tedious almost all day affair. As the sun rose that morning, so did the heat and humidity. Before long it had gotten so hot outside that Bobby and Josh had to take their shirts sweat drenched shirts off. It wasn't all that easy chopping the wood that needed to keep the fire under the Still going. About an hour after they started working, Bobby and Josh decided to take a break. They sat down together beneath the shade of a large oak tree about 10 ft away from the wood pile. "I, I want to apologize to you about last night. I didn't want to do those things that I did to you, but Pa made me do it. I didn't want to fuck you either but Pa wouldn't let me leave unless I fucked you. " Bobby sighed. " I know. So what's going to happen now? I'm not pissed off at you, so what are we going now? Are we going to be chopping wood all day? " " More than likely. " Josh answered. " Pa wants to get that order in and he's not going to let us stop chopping wood until we do so." From over at the still, Luke shouted, " Hey! What the fuck are you two doing lounging around like that. You got a whole pile of wood to chop now get back to work! He tossed some more wood into the fire underneath the 60 gallon drum. With some reluctance, Bobby and Josh went back to work. Sweating profusely, the palms of their hands blistered a little from the wooden axe handle they used, they worked hard and diligently throughout the rest of the morning into the early afternoon. As they worked together they talked. Bobby was able to find out a little bit more about Josh and his feelings about his father and two brothers. Josh told him that he was consistently bullied by his older brothers, and not only that they like to used him for sex. His Pa would use him for sex also whenever his need arose. Some of the things that his two brothers and father would do to him Josh was reluctant to talk about because they were so disturbing. Bobby could not help but to conclude that Josh hated the family situation that he was now in. If he could he would do something about it. And that was disturbing because that brought about another concern. Bobby finally built up enough courage to ask Josh that one question that had been on his mind ever since last night. "Were there other boys here before me that your Pa would lock down in the cellar at night then put to work during the day? " " There was another boy here not all that long ago. " Josh truthfully answered. " What, what happened to him? Did he manage get away or, or what?" Bobby stammered. Josh sighed. "I'm really not supposed to tell you this story but I'm going to tell it to you anyway because I like you, and I would hate to see you go through the same things that this other boy went the who became my friend. If Pa were to find out that I'm telling you this story, I really would be up shit creek. He would probably have my two brothers beat the the hell out of me first, then after that no telling what he would do to me. He probably would string me up beat and fuck me within an inch of life." Josh frowned. " You won't have to worry about me saying anything to anyone about that. Just tell me about him, okay? " Bobby promised. " Alright, I'll tell you, but we better get back to chopping wood cuz if pa saw us talking and not working he would get on our ass." Josh said. " You're right, we better get back to work. " Bobby agreed. They picked up the axe and once again started to chop wood. As they were chopping wood, Josh told Bobby the story. "His name was Joseph. Joseph Schlitz. He was 13 years old a runaway like you. Anyway I'm not sure how Pa found him. I believe he picked him up on the road just outside of Griffin, hitchhiking or something. Anyway Pa brought Joseph back to the house with him. He told us that Joseph was going to stay with us for a couple of days and to make him welcomed, which we done did. During those first couple of days Pa treated him like he was one of us. I became friends with him and we did a a lot of fun things together that we enjoyed doing. Joseph worked with us at the Still cause that's how Pa makes his living. Anyway after a while my two brothers and Pa started to getting sexual with him. He told me that he didn't like what they were doing to him but was afraid to tell them to stop. Pa wanted me to get involved sexually with him also but I don't like doing things like that against another person's will. That's the difference between, me, Pa and my two brothers. At least they didn't force me to fuck him like they forced me to fuck you last night. I believe that they forced me to fuck you because I refused do it with Joseph. Anyway after a couple of weeks of being physically and sexually abused by my father and two brothers, Joseph tried to run away. He took off running when we were going to the Still. Pa, Leroy and Buster wasted no time going after him. They chased him down for about a half mile or so before he could git to the main highway, then dragged him back to the house. The very first thing Pa did was to string Joseph up just like they strung you up last night. Pa then decided to humiliate Joseph for trying to run away. As Joseph was hanging there Pa shaved off what little pubic he had above his cock. Once he was bald like me, they laughed at him soon were beating him with the razor strap." Bobby noticed that there were tears welling up in Josh's eyes. Bobby could tell that Josh was having a hard time telling him the story. "After that they continued to fuck him over and over again while he was hanging there helpless to do anything about it. When finally they finished with him, Pa brought him back back down to the cellar where he was locked up. They kept him locked down in the cellar for about a week or so, feeding him only one meal a day. The only time they let him out of the cellar was when they wanted to have sex with him. They would bring him upstairs to their bedrooms and take turns raping him. I wanted them to stop but was too scared to do anything about it. When they finished having their way with him they locked him back up in the cellar for the rest of the night. Since I really didn't want to get involved with them when they hurt my friend, I stayed in my room while they did their thing with him. After several days of this, they finally broke Joseph's will power down to the point where that no matter what they told him to do, he would do it. He became their sex slave. They kept him locked up in the cellar during the day, then used him at night or whenever the need arose. This went on for at least two weeks. Eventually Pa felt that Joseph had been broke down enough by then that he felt that he was ready to go back to work at the Still. Joseph worked at the still with us for about two days or so, and then when Pa and my two brothers least expected it he took off running again into the woods. The first thing that concerned Pa about was that if Joseph were able to get far enough away from this place, he would go to the nearest town and tell the police about Pa's Moonshine Still. He even knew where the Still was, which made it all the more a problem, a problem that Pa did not want to deal with because his lively hood depended on it. If the feds found the Still and shut down, Pa would go to the chain gang losing everything. If Pa were to go to the chain gang we more then likely would end up in some youth home. So we had no other choice but to go after him and catch him one way or another so and bring them back here as soon as possible. It didn't take very long before we finally caught him. We found him on the road hitchhiking again. When Pa stopped to pick him up he took off like a jackrabbit running, but Leroy and Pa took off after him. They had no problems catching him. Once he was caught Pa tied him up so that he couldn't run again and brought him back to the house. As soon as they got him to the house they brought him back to the barn where they stripped him butt ass naked and strung him up again. They took turns beating him and raped him numerous times over and over again until he could barely stand. This time even though I didn't want to they forced me to do it. I felt so bad about it that I couldn't sleep for days on end after that. When they finish with him they would then lock him up back in the cellar. After a couple of days they got tired of him. I had to go with them when Pa and my two brothers took him into the woods. Pa had his shotgun with him so I knew right then and there what he was going to do. I didn't want him to do that, but what could I say? He was set on not letting Joseph ever leave this place alive. We brought him to the swamp and Pa told him to start running. He was naked so he knew that he would not get very far, especially in a swamp like the one we were at. So when Joseph took off running he was able to get about 25 feet away from us. It what's then that Pa lifted up the shotgun. He took aim at Joseph then pulled the trigger and blew half of its head away. I vomited when I saw the blood, bone and brain matter explode outwards at the back of his head. It was the most terrible thing that I had ever seen in all my life." Josh was crying now after he finished telling Bobby his story. " That's okay, you don't have to tell me anymore about that." Bobby said. He slipped his arm around Josh's sweaty heaving shoulders and drew him close. Bobby could tell that Josh had been sincere when he told him that story and that he didn't want to have anything to do with what his father and two brothers had done to Joseph. "Let's let's get back to work!" Luke shouted. They worked until about 4:00 that afternoon, before they finally headed back to the house. They still had some work to do to finish up filling that order, but they planned to finish it up the next day. Bobby was locked back down in the cellar as soon as they got back to the house. He was glad that the day was finally over because not only was he hot and sweaty but his muscles ate even more from chopping wood. About an hour later, Luke came down into the cellar to get him. This time Luke brought him into the house to eat dinner which surprised Bobby. Bobby felt sure that Luke would have brought his dinner down into the cellar for him to eat like he had done with his breakfast. The meal that Luke cooked up for them wasn't all that bad. It consisted of ham hocks, turnip greens, sweet potatoes and biscuits. After the meal Bobby helped them clean up the dishes and kitchen. Once everything was cleaned up to Luke's satisfaction, Bobby was locked back up down in the basement. As tired as he was having chopped wood all day the first thing Bobby did was to plop back down onto the mattress. After the restless night of sleep he had, and the grueling work chopping wood that he had been forced to do that day, as soon as he hit the he fell asleep. He didn't sleep very long because about two hours later the cellar door opened and Luke came down into the basement. He walked over and kicked him in the side waking him up. Sitting up the first thing Bobby said was, "What's, what going on?" "You're not done yet. " Luke said. " I've, I've worked all day I'm tired." Bobby complained. " Get up! " Luke ordered. Slowly Bobby sat up. He had no idea what it was that Luke wanted. "I said get up! " Luke bellowed. He grabbed Bobby under his armpit and yanked him to his feet. Turning him around pushed Bobby towards the cellar stairs. Luke led Bobby up the short flight of stairs. Once outside, Bobby noticed that the sun was now setting in the western horizon, leaving behind a fiery red and orange sunset. "Where are we going?" Bobby cried. "You'll find out in a few minutes." Luke replied. They passed through the cellar door then headed around the house to the front porch. Opening the front door Luke motioned Bobby into the house. Knowing that he had no other choice, Bobby entered the house. He felt that what Luke was doing with him right now was highly unusual unless, a sudden thought chilled his mind. He remembered all too clearly what Josh told him about what his Pa, Leroy and Buster would do with Joseph at night. It suddenly dawned on him what Luke was about to do with him. He felt beyond a shadow of doubt that Luke was going to force him to have sex with him and his three boys. Why else would Luke get him this early in the night? He stopped just short of entering the house. "Luke, let me go back to the cellar." Bobby pleaded. Ignoring Bobby's pleas Luke pushed him into the house then slammed the door shut behind him. He turned and faced Bobby. Looking directly into his eyes he said, "You're not going to go anywhere unless I decide otherwise!" From upstairs Bobby heard Leroy shout, "Pa, let me have him first! " "No, I want him first!" Buster shouted. And then he heard some bickering between Buster and Leroy. "Upstairs! " Luke directed. He shoved Bobby forwards to the staircase. His assumptions were right. He was about to be used as their sex slave just like Joseph had been used before he tried to escape, then later murdered in cold blood by Luke. There was no question in Bobby's mind about what was in store for him that night. And unfortunately there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it, other then to prepare himself for the worst.......