"Ooh,cool,,where'd you get that?" Mike asked avidly while I stared at the old black fellow in the dark green coat jacket.

I glanced at Mike who was staring at the machete thing still held blade up in my left hand and back at the old man a few times untill Mike,,finally removing his eyes from the now lowered blade and looking toward where I kept looking,,stared that way for a minute before turning a blankish questioning face to me and said,"Whut?"

The old man seemed to be getting a real kick out of this.His eyes began to twinkle a bit and his smile got bigger and wider,,literally.Little 'mirthful seeming' flashes of light began appearing in his eyes and his smile seemed to stretch beyond the facial dimensions for a normal human being.

After that process set in and Mike took as little notice of it as he did the mans presence,,yet was plainly aware of my own confusion,he asked,,"What do you see,man?" at which time the old fella said,,in a voice like rustling leaves and masons sand being poured,,"My pieces,please." while Mike took the knife from my distracted hand causing me to tear my gaze away from the old man to look at him now looking at the knife in his hands.

Right before I asked him,,'you can't see him?' I looked back toward the place where the guy had been yet now wasn't,,shut my mouth,,then reopened it so say,,,"I thought I heard a four wheel drive truck."

We both looked up at Dale as he came trotting up,,Johns car leaving framed in the pepper tree tunnels entrance behind him.His arm stuck out to waggle it's hand as the horn bleeted once and the beater headed off south up the hill.

Stopping a few feet away he said,,in a tired tone,,"Man,,I have to dump her,ya'll.She didn't see you nor your car,man.She seemed really zonked out and kept wanting me to get her some 'reeses pieces' she left in the van.Did you get it tied off?"

Mike,,not responding to a thing Dale said held up the machete thing,,which got Dales attention and prompted him to say,,"Wow.Where'd that come from?" then take the handle Mike held out to him.

While this went on,,"He found it on the dirt I guess." , "It looks pretty old." , "Yeah,,the handle looks like ivory,,don't it?" , "Sorta,,maybe.",,I stepped back around the car to look at where the man had been,,puzzled and no longer feeling rushed since Amanda was now gone I stepped to stand next to the spot,,and like my nagger pointed out,,'uselessly look for ghost foot prints.' before walking around the vans front end in order to check things out before pulling it.

After peeking under the front end in case there may have been a similar root problem I pushed through the bushes to emerge on the passenger side of the van where I seen what someone had most likely said,,'ewww' about earlier.

Laying there in front of the vans open cargo door was a pair of dirty goo covered pink panties partially covering a shriveled looking dark tubular object ending in what appeared to be a withered wrinkled lump covered with tight curly black hairs.

Something else was covered allmost totally up by the soiled underwear.Using the tip of my Puma I nudged the fabric aside to reveal what was obviously a skeletal hand with bones showing clearly from where pieces of the mummified looking dark brown skin was missing.

As the other objects end was also revealed it became obvious from the puckered end of the tubular part that the owner of it had not been subjected to circumcision during his life.

Literally shivering with revulsion I stepped back to put my hand on the van and lean for a minute fighting the urge to start retching before reaching into Dales van.Then,,grabbing a plastic shopping bag with a little trash in it,,which I shook empty,,I used a scrub brush also from the floor boards to quickly scootch the parts away from the panties then into the bag and realized I didn't know what to do with it.

After a moment of thought,,in which nothing came to me,,except complete understanding of what 'my pieces,please.' had meant,,I laid the macabre package at the base of a tree a few feet away thinking that at least the fellows parts wouldn't leave the woods.

Mike and Dale,,who had seen me lay the bundle down,,didn't say a word as I told Dale,,"Get in to steer it." and headed for my open car door.

Approaching it,,I looked over to where the man had appeared previously and was greeted with nothing but a view of pepper tree leaves.Saying lowly,,yet aloud,,"I don't know what to do." while looking that way I then sat behind the wheel and cranked my engine.

The handle of the machete type blade poked into the window immediately after I pulled the door closed and Mikes voice said,,"Here man." which prompted me to just stick my left hand up and grab it while looking forward out the tunnel of pepper trees.

As my hand came into contact with the knifes handle the form of the old black guy became visible moving,,walking around the front of my car to my left.

Not smiling now,,but instead showing an exagerated look of 'morose resignation',,he moved slowly along heading behind Mike to go in the direction of where I laid his package of 'pieces' as Mike was asking questions and saying stuff that I answered and responded to yet had no conscious recollection of what they were after he turned to walk through a part of the old guy and stand a few feet away to watch me pull out Dales van.

Watching him saying something to Dale,,and the old,,dead guy while I stuck the knife under my seat,,the dissapearence of the old guy as I laid it down and took my hand off brought an exclamation from my nagger followed by,,"D',,huh,Where did he go?" prompted me to quickly return my fingers to the smooth handles surface.

The back of the guy reappeared as he turned a little,stepped through a bit of leafy branches to stop about 3 feet from his package then turn to face me.That same morose look plastered on his face he became as stock still as a photo cut out standing in the bushes,,eyes boring into mine and his voice echoed out the words,,'puttem back,please.'.

Pulling my hand off the handle and adjusting my side mirror to see the van better,,I put him out of my mind.Telling my nagger,"I ain't going no where near that grave.",I put Sky in low and pulled tight.

Looking at Mike,,who was watching the cord,van and Dale through the windows give me an 'okay' sign,,I glanced at my mirrors and gave it some gas.

I felt my tires grab a bit,a bumping thud,,then they slipped and started to spin.Remembering the way the van had come up a bit further when Amanda climbed out,,I realized Dales weight had probally lowered the van chassis just enough to hang up a tad again.

Looking at Mike,,I got the car to rocking a bit by pulling untill the bump thumped and letting off then,,on a final forward rock,,I stuck the accelerator much more firmly yet not really hard,,yet,,and felt the bumps thump turn into a small very short grindy slide.The release started a little movement which ended quickly due to the self spun holes the vans rear wheels were nestled in.

Hearing the sounds of sand and debris hitting the back of Dales van over the sound of Skys motor I added a scoshe of fuel then moved my steering wheel back and forth about 4 inches until a forward drift began and the rear of my car rose indicating the vans rear wheels were coming out of the holes they had spun themselves into.

Feeling them come completely free and the car begin accelerating forward,,I slacked off and let Dale stop our motion at a spot clear of the churned area my tires had just made.

After stopping completely and seeing Dale hop out,,I finished the process by backing up about a half foot before locking it down and turning off the engine.I stepped out,,walked to the back of my car to squat down and start undoing the cords while Dale started talking about how wild it was that I had used electrical extension cords to pull him out.

Mike walked over and offered me a lit joint.I paused in what I was doing to take a few good size hits before handing it back and urging Dale to help me unwrap the cords.

Not having to worry about noise now,,it didn't take long at all to get the two vehicles unhooked during which time we said,,"Dale,,what are you going to do about her?" , "I don't know,,but I can't keep messing with her,man." , "Where did you tell John to take her?" , "The house." , "Aww,Dale." , "What?She didn't want to go anywhere else and you said get her gone." , "Is that ouija board still there?" , "Yeah,,between my mattress and box spring.At least I think that's where it's at.Why?" , "Don't you remember?I wanna cut it up and burn it." , "Oh,yeah." , "Does she know where it's at?" , "Uh,,yeah,,she probaly does." , "Aww,,it's probally not gonna be under your mattress much longer then." , "ooh,yeah.I guess not."

Mike,,listening while he passed us the hooter occasionally,,chimed in with,,"If she has the board still,,what's to keep her from using it some more?" , "I guess,,no planchette right now,,but other than that,,nothing." , "Can she use a different one?" , "Yeah,,I think so."

Getting done we stood up to finish the spliff during which Mike asked me,,real serious like,,"Hey man,,if she found an occupied grave in the same woods as you found a big old knife,,do you think the two are connected?"

Knowing that they most definitly were connected somehow yet not really wanting to go into it right now,,I said,,"Well,,maybe,,you looked at it better than I did,,is there anything like blood stains or marks or anything like that on it?"

He said,,"There was stuff carved on both sides,,it looked allmost like a decoration,,real light,,then I made out some letters carved on one side of the handle,,it said 'r.e.z.'.,,almost like it was hidden untill I seen it,,lost in all the other.There were some dark spots on it,,but I can't say it was bloodstained." then asked,,"Where's it at?" , "Under my seat." I replied.He reached in,got it then went and sat in the open cargo door on the edge of the floor board looking intently at it while Dale and I wound up the cords and discussed whether or not they looked stretched or damaged in anyway.They didn't.

Dale told Mike to move so he could put the cords up and shut the door so he stood up and placed the knife handle first in the hand I stuck out.

Before I looked at it,,or anywhere besides at Dale,,I handed the cord I had to him then forced my eyes to look only at the handle,,not back into the pepper tree lined hole in the woods where I was sure I would see a pair of morose eyes gazing at me from beside a 'package of family jewels',,and a hand.

Looking at the handle I was surprised to see the actual amount of lines and marks barely carved into the yellowish white material of the handle."Wow,,I can't feel any of them." I remarked while trying to make out some of the markings.

Some had a darker aspect to them,,like something had goten into the imperceptible to my fingertips lines,,so they stood out better,,sort of,,or maybe,,at times.It was rather hard to focus on them somehow,,even though they were plain as day.I did find the 'r.e.z.' Mike mentioned,,but I could not define any other thing except that what ever was there was carved over around and through everything else that was there.

Musing while doing so,,I idly said the initials,,as initials,,then said it as a word,,'rez' which was shortly followed by that sandy leafy sounding voice echoing its own barely heard word,,'reez-reez-reez' around the pepper trees to slide into my ears.

"Reez." I repeated then realized that past the view of knife I was holding in my hands,,I could see those leather shoes at the bottom of those dark slacks that stretched up to the immaterial body and head of the owner of the 'reeces pieces' Amanda had wanted Dale to fetch from the van for her.

Standing between me and Mike he was holding his right arm out and pointing,,with a handless arm to the north.As I handed Mike the knife through Reez's torso I said,,"Put it back,please." and tried to ignore the allmost identical phrase coming from the 'shade,,duppy,,ghost,,apparition',,or as my nagger added to the list,,'old dead guy',,,'putt'em back,please.' A sound which was ended as abruptly as the view of the old mans weirding me out face did when Mike took the knife out of my hand.

Shivering from the idea of the 'invisible dude' standing there while Mike went to return the knife under the seat I turned to tell Dale,,who had just slid the cargo door closed,,"Hey,,ya forgot her panties,,she may want them back." with a smirk on my face.

Reflexively looking to where I pointed before stopping then looking at me with a stern look on his face he said,, "Tough.She took 'em off." To which I replied,,"Dude,,I was just poking at ya.I wouldn't want to touch them either." since my comment plainly had not touched his funny bone at all and then asked him,,"You can back out from here with no problem,,right?" which got,"Yeah,,I'm pretty sure I can.Thanks though,,Iappreciate it.A tow truck would have cost me more than I wanted to have to spend." from him.That gave me an idea so I said,,"Yeah,,you only have to pay for one case of beer,one three pound pack of hamburger and a bag of briquettes for dinner.I'll get the buns and fixins'.'kay.?" to which he replied,,"Yeah,,sure,,no problem,,good deal." and smiled brightly with an easily seen air of relief.

"Hey,,you are gonna take a shower ain't ya?" Mike said from near my cars trunk. "Only if we're gonna hose him off in the yard first,Mike.I don't want grave crud in the tub I shower in,,do you?" which got an "Ugg,,no." from him,,and knocked the smile right off Dales face.

Starting to pat him on the shoulder,,I stopped,dropped my hand and said to him,,consolingly,,"It's allright Dale,,If you stand over in the corner of the patio area,,no one can see you and we'll bring you your robe,,'kay?" Then started walking to my car while continuing with,,"But,,you aren't gonna wash that funk off in the shower even if I gotta hold ya down and scrub ya myself."

Jumping in,,I cranked her up and said to Mike when he jumped in the passenger side,,"Why not ride with Dale and smoke number 8 with him,,he could use a fogout."

Looking blank faced for a minute he asked,,"Don't ya mean number 7?" , "Naw,,sevens allways mine,,,you know that." which got a smile from him before he said,,"For a good fog,,I need to do nine too,,awright?" and started getting back out.

I just said,,"You're holding what you have on ya." put my car in gear and drove off as the door swung shut with out him touching it to pull out of the pepper tree lined trail then turned right in order to stop and back into a position across the trail entrance in order to watch Dale back his van out.

As he got near with no problem,,I seen a purple wrecker,,which meant it was one of Mike's Towings trucks,,coming up the hill from Old Dixie that started to slow down and veer to our side of the road as I pulled forward to get out of Dales way.

When it came to a stop level with me and partly off the road I realized it was Charlie,,a 'so-so' friend of mine,,he asked me,,"Hey,dude,,did you call for a wrecker?" , "No,Charlie,,we didn't?" , "I didn't think so since they said it was a,," he reached and came up with a clipboard and read,,"A green Power Wagon getting friendly with a tree,," put it back down and ended with,,"but they did say it was on a trail around here and you were coming out of one,,I figured I would ask,,then I seen it was you and thought I would stop and see if'n ya' wanted to burn one."

"You got one?" , "Havta roll one." Sticking number seven in my face I said,,"I got one twisted allready." while flipping my eyebrows up and down like Magnum then laughed at his quick,,"Cool."

Cutting his wrecker off he stepped out and came around to the passenger side as I leaned out and said to Mike and Dale who had pulled up between my car and the wrecker,,"I'll see you back at the house ya'll,,be sure and hose him down Mike."

Mike replied around and through the smoke pouring off the joint,,out of his nose and puffing from his mouth in time to his words,,"Okay dude,,banks fer da thuzz!" while patting his shirt pocket,,before he pointed north with the doob in his right hand hand,said in a loud English aristocrat voice,,'Home James." then winked at me as Dale complied.

Lighting seven with my Bic,,I took a big hit while Charlie said,,"They usually give an address or something beter than a vague,,in the woods on the Dixie side of Beachwood Estates south of Whispering Palms.Do you have any idea where that Dodge might be?"

Nodding my head while holding my hit and handing 'the bone' to him,,I waited untill a small rush started before emptying my lungs to reply with,," I know exactly where it's at,man." cough a bit then take the jernt from his hand which was jerking from the 'chh-chh'ing' he was doing while trying to hold the potent herbs aromatic smoke in his lungs.

Taking a hit while he let his out,,coughed slightly said,,"mmmm,,that's good bud." then asked me,,"Really?Where?How bad is it?Who is it and are there any women?"

While taking little shorts I replied in between them with,"Yeah,,really,,on the south end of a trail that starts a couple of streets south of here and comes out in Dixie Heights.Not bad,,jammed against a tree.I'm surprised he called a wrecker, though,,,it ought to be able to back off it.Some redneck.I didn't see any girls with him."

Then handed it back and blew the smoke out to say,,"You can getto it beter from Dixie heughts,,ya ever been back in there?" , "No.",he replied around the hog leg.,,"Well,," I began and tried to explain where it was.

After a few more passes of the doob it became obvious he wasn't getting it so I finally said,,"Keep that,,knock yourself out,,I'll lead you there,,okay?But only of we go now.I'll point it out to you but the dude smacked the tree chasing me because his girlfriend flashed me her bare heinie this morning at the Cumberland Farms so I ain't stopping or slowing down very much."

He started laughing before saying "Okay,man." and opened the door and went back to his truck.

It didn't take long to lead the wrecker out of Beachwood and to Dixie Heights and since seeing a group of guys standing around a big wheeled blue Ford at the head of my uncles street made me pullover a couple of streets short,,and wave him up next to me to say,,"That's probally them.I'll see ya dude." and do a u'ie it was just a few moments later that I was driving back north on Old Dixie thinking of what I should do about Reese when my nagger suggested,,"Call the cops and report a body.And it's Reez,,not Reese." which prompted me to fish the knife out with my right hand to look at it's handle a bit while tooling along enjoying my buzz.

Seeing a form in the passenger seat out of the corner of my eye,,I dropped the knife on the seat beside me and lit a Winston before picking it back up to turn and tell Reez,,"If I report your body they will take and bury it in a cemetary." which got a smile and the words,,'puttem back first,please'.

My nagger said to me,,'it looks like it's a good guess that he won't rest in peace without all the 'reezes pieces' being together'.Thinking that I probally wouldn't either,,I said to Reez,,"Okay,,okay,okay,,do you want the knife back too?Some cop will just keep if if I leave it with the body." Which got "keep it" from him before I dropped it back on the seat.

My nagger brought up a point quickly,,'will he stay with it?' which jolted me into picking it back up as I turned left off Dixie onto the street between the church and the cemetary making me swerve a bit before I got it straight and seen Reez striding across the graveyard,,walking through a line of headstones,,in the direction of the woods on the southern side.

Saying aloud to myself,,"Guess not." I dropped it back on the seat and after rolling the stop sign I soon got to the trail and backed in to the place where I had previously pulled Dale out of.

Picking the knife up,,I stepped out and said to Reez who was now visible by his package of pieces,,slid the blade in between my belt and Levis over my back left pocket to see if I would still be able to see him if I only had it on my person rather than fully touching my skin.Seeing him nodding,,I said,,"Don't forget,,I can't walk through stuff,,lead me around the thick parts,please." before picking the plastic bag up and saying,,"Lead on McDuff." to empty air.

Looking around,,I seen him off to the north and began repeatedly having to refind him since he didn't 'walk',,but appeared at different points only to disappear as I got to him.After a few minutes of this,,which was punctuated by me asking the wraith questions like,,"didn't I say lead me around the thick parts?" and "Did ya foget I can't walk through stuff." while I wondered why I hadn't allready put a bandana on my sweaty head,how in the world did Amanda find the grave in the first place and kept a tally of bloody streaks accumulated from the pointed snaggy pepper tree branches snagging my clothes and hair along with also jabbing,slicing and poking me as I struggled through them.

After I recoiled from a particularly deep rather painful one on my right arm stretching allmost from my elbow all the way to my wrist and stopped to watch the blood well out of it for a moment before seeking to find the 'will o' the whisp' I was following in broad daylight,,I seen him squatting down a few paces away,,in front of a hole scooped out of the sand which contained a jumbled yet sprawled pile of bones,,dried flaky dark brown skin mixed up with the remains of a dark pair of slacks and a dark green coat jacket that had a staring partially skin covered empty socketed skull with a dirt covered replica of the hat on the head of my incorporeal guide whose face was dragging on the ground,,literally,,from between the hand and stump he held up on both sides of his head.

Even though the sight alone,,not to mention the accumulated entirety of the events of the past night and half day,,was such that I was surprised I didn't snap and become a quivering,whimpering pile of insane humanity,,I realized that my fingerprints were all over the plastic bag containing 'Reezes Pieces'.

Trying to not look at the 'anguished spirit' now kneeling,,or maybe oozing into a puddle was a better description,,next to it's body,,I opened the bag up and squatted down to try to sort of shake out and lay the body parts on the chest of Reezes corpse as gently as I could.

Shaking them out,,I then stood,wadded up the bag real small,stuck it in the right front pocket of the blue plaid western cut shirt I was wearing unbuttoned,shirt tails flapping style with the sleeves rolled up allmostto my elbows,,and snikked the faux pearl snap closed.

Thinking it was definitely getting warm enough to remove it only added to the desire to strip it off because there was a bag that had just contained a mans package and a hand,,I then swept my hair back,,trying to not think about maybe having some of Reezes pieces on my hands,,pulled a bandana out of my back pocket and quickly folded,twisted and tied it on my head to catch the sweat running off my skull while Reez pulled himself together and stood up to gaze at me with an even happier than before looking cartoony smile stretching his face out of shape.

"Good,,you're happy now." I said with a big smile on my face which dropped as I seen the knife I thought was on my hip in his left hand and holding his bared dark brown right harm stretched out toward me with the hand it now had palm up.

Quickly reaching around and pulling the knife off my hip,,which showed me plainly that he didn't have it and prompted my nagger to ask,,'can he hurt you with a ghostknife?' and caused me to just stare wide eyed at the phantom who was now using the knife,,ghost knife,,to cut it's right forearm from close to the inside of the elbow all the way down into the palm while producing a sound that might have been words in a language I didn't understand and held his arm downward to let the streaming ghost blood puddle in his palm.

Looking at me,,he stepped down into the hole containing his pieces and motioned for me to join him.Totally puzzled,,but not overly concerned since it was a ghost knife in his hand,,I stepped right foot first down into the hole while watching carefully in order to not step on any piece of Reez.

As I brought my left foot down,,the left shin bone burst out of it's mouldering slack leg covering to stick itself under it,,mashing it firmly down under my weight.

Trying to jerk it off,,only produced a total lack of co-operation from my foot and leg.Looking up at Reez,,he was smiling and moving his left hand,,still holding the knife but by the thumb only with the fingers spread downward in a calming motion I took to mean leave my foot on his bone.

"Uh,,okay,dude." I said which was all I could really do seeing as how I couldn't move it anyway.He then pointed at my right arm and motioned for me to raise it like his right arm.

Becoming concerned that he might want me to cut myself like he cut his own arm,,I put my left hand which was holding the knife behind my back.He shook his head and pointed at my arm.

Raising it up,,I seen how a pepper tree had allready provided a similar set up of my own.The blood had ran down from the end of the gouge to cover my palm.

Smiling at me,,Reez held up his knife and slowly slid it along his gash,,smearing the blade with a thick coat then indicaed for me to do so as well.My nagger went off briefly with a round of stuff about becoming bloodbrothers with a ghost which I essentially negated with the idea that if he was a ghost,,hows our blood supposed to mix and if it doesn't,,what harm is there?And what would happen if he got irked because I refuse and he then haunts me or something?

So,,while I performed the same deed he intoned a string of the same sounds as before yet slightly different and with a surprise at the end.He said a name,,'Raphael Ezekiel Zechariah' which I assumed to be his since it matched the initials on the handle of the knife I held.

After that,,he looked at me and motioned at himself,,then his mouth,,then at me and finally at my mouth and waggled his fingers in a 'give it' manner.So I did.

His eyes got as wide as those little frozen pizzas you can buy and then a very obvious,,yes,,exaggerated even,,look of understanding worked across his features,,gradually replaced by a very much more happy,sort of glowing rosy,,smile along with a cheery nodding of his head.

I guess it threw him off somehow since he shook his head then repeated his first set of actions on his now unmarked right forearm,re-said the words I had allready heard followed by a string with my name at the end and reached out and shook my hand vigorously in a,sticky wet,strong,pumping fit fit of apparent happiness.

Stopping,,while retaining his grip on my hand,,he said,,in a very different voice that had none of the previous qualities similar to the sound of leaves and sand but rather a normal sounding,,kind of deep and very friendly voice,,"Merci,mon ami,,,er,,thank you my friend,,I appreciate your assistance."

He laughed out loud and with no trace of malice nor ill will at the sight of the stunned expression my face had plastered on it as I looked back and forth between his face and his hand held in mine.Looking at him,,all that came out of me was,,"Y'welcome.Your face quit stretching." which got him to laughing again,,a rich mellow sound that made me feel as comfortable as if I had known him for years,,many friendly years.

"I'm sort of not dead right now so I won't be looking like that no more for a short bit." I went to pull my hand outof the handshake and he tightened down surprisingly and said very quickly,,"NO,,not yet!This ends as soon as we finish it but we have to end it right or you can be seriously harmed.So listen.After you leave,,please have something done with my body.And,,and,,you have to watch out for that ridden woman,,she's a mount for very bad being and she got Shlomos Eye from where I had buried it before they killed me.If she uses it,,she won't be ridden anymore,,she be'll kicked out and anyone around her will be in very grave danger."

"Who killed you?" I asked."I'll give the cops there names when I call then abouty our body." , "They can't be found by men so don't worry about that,,just get Shlomos Eye out of her hands before she uses it!"

"What did she and Dale do out here?" , "Oh,,that poor man,,he really had nothing to say about it,,he was a puppet on a string,,tell him I excuse him,,she would be a temptation to any living man,,and to go get shriven,,he'll get over it just fine.Putting my pieces back thwarted her plans for them and negated all of what she did to my remains,,thank you.Now,,this has to end or you will be sick for days as the energy is sucked out of the fresh spilt and pulls from your spirit.So,,do as I do and remember,,as with your father,,whom I also owed a great debt to which I didn't live to repay,,I owe you a debt I can't repay."

Before that had a chance to sink in,,he said,,'Now,,one more thing,,",,he reached out with the blade,slicked some blood off my left forearm said ,"Hold it up." indicating the knife I held.I stuck the blade up and he shook his head then said,,"Handle." After I flipped it he said something in that language,,scraped most off onto it then said ,"blade now." Touching a spot to it he said another phrase then licked some off with a surprisingly pink tongue, swallowed and continued with ",,when they show up,,smear some your blood on one of them and I'll see what I can do to help.Now,,stick my,,er,,your knife,,in the ground at the same time as I do." while pulling me down into a squatting position to match his and raising his knife.Flipping the knife to catch the handle smeared with my blood I raised it in my hand,,I heard,,,along with more strange sounding words coming from Reez,,what sounded like a truck with off road tires come north on Old Dixie,,slow down and turn onto the road on the north side of the graveyard,,then Reez finished speaking,,nodded at me,,and I matched his downward motion as we plunged our knives between his corpses legs and into the bottom of his shallow sandy grave.

He blinked out of existance as his voice,,which began as a normal one and turned into the sandy leafy sounding one in mid syllable said,,"Thanks again,God bless." then faded away into the sound of the truck driving slowly up the hill to the west.

After standing and sliding the blade back into my belt where I had put it before,,,I looked down at Reezes body and decided to cover it up.I told my nagger,,who asked,"why bother if you want the cops to find it?",,that I just wanted to and started scooping sand sideways over the body with my feet.

Pausing briefly to puzzle out what that truck may be up to,,I tracked it's motors sound as it got nearer to where the trail came out and the road where it sounded like it stopped,,then revved a few times before it left to the south rather quickly.The engines rumble slacked,,then a clumping set of sounds could be heard,,and then the motor roared louder than before as the thumpings sounds continued.

They both faded into the distance,,down the sand trail from the way it had sounded so I resumed my scooping kicks untill I spied what looked like a natural shovel formed by a fairly thick branch that had a junction of 4 branches varying in length from about 8 inches to a foot,,within three or four inches of each other,,two on one side and two approximately opposite them on the other.Thinking that it was what Dale had most likely found and given to Amanda to uncover the poor old black victim of murder I greatfully picked it up and quickly scooped about 6 or 8 inches of sand dirt and debris over him while saying a few renditions of the lords prayer in my head,,,accompanied word for word by my nagger.

Tossing the stick away,,I began to hurridly pick a path back through the woods to my car trying to get there and be gone before that truck came back.I don't know who was in it,,but I got the distinct impression that Charlie may have spoken a little more openly than I had figured he would have figured that he should have.My nagger pointed out that Charlie had no idea if I was coming back here or not,,so they may have just came by on the chance,,not because he had said I was here.

Since it made sense,,I agreed and bulled my way through some brush beyond which I could see a clearer area that appeared to extend into the direction my car lay in.

It was a bit bigger than I thought and made for me clearing some distance a lot quicker than when I followed Reez to his grave.So much so that I actually said as I got to the other end and plunged into the tree line from where I could see the top of my car about 30 feet away that I actually cussed and said,, "Geez,Reez,, couldn'ya have brought me this way awallago?" and found myself flying to my left as all the air tried to rush out of my lungs all at once from the force of someone tackling me from my right.

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