My eyes have always been sensitive to bright light and I have worn sunglasses since my teens. As Barb stands before me with her cross on her shoulder I am relieved I wear them. No one can see the tears well in my eyes as I gaze on her sweat soaked body glistening in the sun. Proudly she says “I did it, Tree, and I didn’t fall!”
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“You did good Barb” I affirm. “Are you ready?”
“No but let’s get this done” she says. Bull and Gunner take the cross and set it on three short sawhorses. Barb walks over and bravely and calmly straddles the stipe. She bends her knees, sits on the cross, and then lays back on it spreading her arms to offer them to be nailed.
“I did it, Tree, and I didn’t fall” I say hoping my voice doesn’t quiver. I am soaked in sweat both from my exertion carrying the cross and the hot, humid, and sunny day. Tree tells me I did well and asks me if I am ready.
“No but let’s get done” I say as walk to the cross that Bull and Gunner have set on sawhorses. It takes deliberate concentration to keep my knees from buckling as I walk. I step over the stipe and quickly sit on it before my legs give out. My head is spinning with fear. I lay back and spread my arms out over the crossbeam to steady myself. Hoping to hide that I am near panic I say “Tree get your thumb out of your ass and get me nailed to this damn thing or I am going to go home!”
Bull grabs my ankles while Gunner holds my right wrist to the cross. Tree tucks a towel between my thighs and covers my pubis before kneeling by my left wrist. I watch him pick up the first spike and say “Aren’t you a bit late worrying about my modesty?”
“I’m not worried about your modesty. That’s to keep you from pissing on Bull” he says as he centers my wrist over the wood. He presses the point of the spike between the bones of my wrist and tells me to close eyes. I do and say “Go ahead; I am rea…”
“I am rea…” Barb says but never finishes the sentence as my hammer drives the spike through her wrist and into the cross with the first blow. Two more hits and the spike is set to my satisfaction. As I move to her right wrist Barb is whining ‘oh shit, oh shit’. Again with the first blow her arm is pinned to the cross.
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Gunner gets up and pulls the urine-soaked towel from Barb’s loins as Bull lets go of her ankles. As I finish driving the spike Barb starts screaming “Stop! Stop! Oh, please stop!”
Christ I can’t believe the pain! Oh shit they can’t be doing this to me! I look side to side at the thick nails that are driven through my wrists and fixing my arms to the cross. I see the spikes but really can’t comprehend what has happened to me. I wonder where Tree… “SSSSSSSHHHHIIITTT.”
The pain has clouded Barb’s mind she doesn’t notice Gunner and Bull stack one foot over the other and place them over the stipe. The first blow drives the spike through both feet and into the cross. The spike torn muscles, tendons, ligaments, and pushed bones aside as it passed through her top foot. Her bottom foot has similar damage plus two shattered bones.
I look down my heaving body and watch Tree swing the hammer towards the spike.
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The RR Entertainment drone looks down as Tree nails Barb to the cross.
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The nailing is done. I don’t know how long it took but I now lay nailed to the cross that I will die hanging from. Tree circles around as if to admire what he has done to me. I ask “Is it going to hold me?”
“That you can be assured of” he says as he lights a cigarette and take a long slug from a Seagram’s bottle.
“Are you on a union break” I ask.
“No, you get raised at 1 o’clock. You have a bit more than 5 minutes to catch your breath. I suggest you use it well.”
Don’t get me wrong; my feet and wrists hurt like hell but it is nothing compared to when the spikes were being driven through them. I look at Tree and say “I think one of feet is really fucked up.”
“I wouldn’t bet against that.”
“What’s so special about one o’clock? Do you think the governor might call and grant me a reprieve?”
“That’s as likely as it snowing here this afternoon. No Barb, it’s for the television network.”
I fall silent and ponder that I wait lying nailed to a cross to satisfy so network.
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The minutes drag yet all too soon it is time. Tree positions himself at the base of the cross. Two goons in hoods raise the cross to their shoulder height. One of them asks “Tree what do we do now?”
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Tree huffs “You get the fuck out of the way! Bull, Gunner; take over!”
There is a bit of jostling as they do but a moment later I see the horizon swing up before as the cross nears vertical. Tree tells me to clinch my teeth as I feel the cross start to drop into the hole…
“Fuck me to tears” I whisper as I come around. I am crucified! My shoulder ache like they never have before and the spikes torture my wrists and feet. I can feel my heart pounding in my stretched chest and breathing is real work! I look over my body assessing the damage done then Tree walks up. I groan “Tree, does this cross make my breasts look small?”
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“No Barb you look beautiful!”
“You’re just saying that to make me feel good…”
Barb Moore –crucified
Tree