Continued from Part Nine

Snyder sat on a bench in the back of the prison van with Mama Borden. “Mama, you shouldn’t have come. Dread has no thought that isn’t evil.”

“Anny, listen to me. I ain’t just some old lady. I may be pushin’ sixty—”

“Mama, you’re sixty-seven.”

“I can handle myself. I got your brothers and sisters out of worse spots.”

Snyder whispered, “They were micro-scopic embryos. You can’t inject me into your uterus unless you have a shrinking ray, which only exists in the movies.”

 “I told you, Mama will take care of it, and when I say that, I mean it.”

The van stopped.

Dread opened the back door and escorted them towards the jail. “Mrs. Borden, I hope you enjoyed your trip.”

Mama sneered. “It was a pleasure cruise.”

“I see where he gets it. Here’s a visitor badge.” Dread pressed buttons on a keypad at the jail door, which slid up.

Dread handed Snyder his jail clothes. “Go and change. These clothes look lovely on you.”

Snyder snarled. “Maybe I’ll arrange to get you a set someday.”

In a changing room, he traded his dress khakis for the gray prison uniform. He came back out.

Dread smiled. “Very good. Come this way, everyone.”

The guard led Dread, Snyder, and Mama Borden towards the cell blocks.

They passed the cell block.

Oh no. They couldn’t make mama watch this.

Snyder turned to Dread. “If you’ve got any decency, you’ll send her outside.”

Dread laughed. “Unfortunately for her, I haven’t any.”

They brought Snyder into the examination room with Mama Borden behind him.

Sergeant Hewitt stood by the whipping post. “You didn’t think I couldn’t be fair. But I promise, I treat you just like everybody else.”

Hewitt strapped Snyder to the post and powered up the shock fork.

Mama Borden shrieked, totally unlike her, “What are you doing?”

Dread waved at Snyder. “An examination, an approved method of questioning to find out additional info about the terrorist’s crimes.”

 “What do you hope to find out?”

 “A little of this, a little of that. You never know what you’ll find unless you look.”

Hewitt raised the shock fork.

Snyder braced himself and shut his eyes. His mother’s shrill cries rang through them.

Did Mary feel like Mama does right now?

Continued Next Thursday

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