There was Danny, and there was Fuller, about three months before Black Friday, about twelve years after they were born again. They were born as twin brothers, but they weren't identical; Danny was bigger than Fuller. They sat in silence at the kitchen table while Mother Bible Face prepared supper; they were being punnished. Later on, Father Workhorse would give them a caning on their bare ends.
It was a shithole of an existance, this farm life. Kansas was a desolate, flat land which only bread crops and young boys who dreamed of escaping it. And since the depression was about to roll around, the only chance these boys would have to get out of there would be the army. And what a prime time to join the army, as in another decade, there would be another great war to fight. But until these times, the boys would sweat out the hard work and sleep to dream. But it was soon enough that they would find an entirley new fascination: Nanny.
This thirteen-year-old girl from down the way was just what these lonely Kansas boys needed besides a good Coca-Cola kick. Oh sure, they had many other good kicks. Smokin' PawPaw's pipe - that was a good kick. They felt real big and all when they did that. And cleanin' the chickens - that was another good kick. Fuller loved to chop off ther heads and watch the birds run around until Danny finished the job with his foot. They found a lot of good times with the farm animals. Bestiality - that was another good kick. Oh, the boys wouldn't ever admit to it, but they sure enjoyed havin' their way with one of the billy goats they called Zelda. But since Nanny came along, the boys had all forgotten about their crazy kicks. Because now, she was their one and only kick.
They met three times a week. She would ride her horse Jane down the old road and toss a pebble at their window. The boys would sneak out and meet her in the hayloft, where they would make kicks in the candle light. But tonight Nanny didn't seem so eager to have the fun ther boys were hoping for...
"I'm afraid I have some bad news." Nanny told the boys, "I think I might be pregnant."
The news spread around the county fairly fast that Nanny's belly was showing. And soon enough, she was forced to tell her parent's who the father was, as the police were suspecting abuse.
"Now Nanny girl," The Sheriff eased in, "You tell me now who did this to you, or I'm goanna have to be suspectin' it was yo PawPaw."
And this is why the boys had their pants caught around their ankles, enduring some savage caning from Father Workhorse, all the while the Sheriff watching and asking the boys...
"Now you boys better tell me. One of you did it."
Fuller screamed underneath his sobs, "We don't know!"
Thwack!
"You don't speak to the Sheriff like that!" Father Workhorse yelled.
"We don't know, sir." Danny continued for Fuller, "Because we both... we both..."
"Both-a-yas?" The Sheriff strained, and looked at Father Workhorse. Emberrassed, Workhorse only took out his anger on the boys' ends. With that cane. That damn cane.
The boys hated that cane. It seemed that all their lives they'd been afraid of that cane. Just the sight of it made them think of pain.
Thwack!
It was solid wood. An old man's walking cane; the cane of their late grandfather. It was made to be used as a crutch, but Father Workhorse had found a new utility for it. Smashing little boy's behinds in.
"All right Carl," the Sheriff laid a hand on Father Workhorse's shoulder, "that'll be enough. I suppose there's not much the law can do here."
The Sheriff left and father put the cane in it's spot - the umbrella receptacle by the front door. For dinner the boys sat on some cushions that mother had laid down for them. She was nice, but let's not get carried away, she was also a bitch for letting the boys get beat so savagely in the first place. Not to mention she would later indoctrinate the boys with some bible tales before they went to bed and tell them how the only way they could redeem themselves was to become a whore to Christianity.
Mother turns the lights out, leaving the boys to their own thoughts. They were in such severe pain from the beatings. Danny could hear Fuller weep in his bed...
"Hey Fuller, you ok?" Danny whispered.
Fuller sniffles, "I think I'm bleeding."
Danny is angry. He doesn't like to see anybody mess with his brother, even if it's his Father.
"I'm goanna fix that goddamn cane."
Danny and Fuller stand as silently as possible in the foyer, looking at the cane. It sits in the shadows. It's just a piece of wood. It plays innocent, like a gun. But they know that getting rid of that cane would make them feel good, so they pick it up and head out to the barn.
Danny sticks the sceptre in the ground and Fuller pours some gasoline over the top of it. They light a match and set it aflame. The cane lights up the barn, it burns like a column of fire, the flame reaching twice their height. The boys wait and watch it burn like this.
In the warm, red light, the boys' bad memories seem to melt away, and their pain subsides and fades. The flame abruptly extinguishes. They feel new.
But they were expecting ashes. Instead they saw a black cane, as dark as coal, a silhouette of it's predecessor, standing up straight, ready to strike again.
"Why did it stop?"
But then,
The boys hear a snap from behind them. They turn around; it's Nanny.
"What are you doing?" She asks.
"What are you doing?" asks Fuller.
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." Nanny can see some blood stains on the seat of Fuller's underwear, "I didn't know that he would hurt you so."
"Well apparently you havn't met our father." Fuller snaps.
"And his cane." Adds Danny.
"Is that what that is?" Asks Nanny.
The boys nod. The cane stands there on it's own, like it's floating. It has a power. The boys hands are drawn to it. They touch it.
"It's cold." says Fuller.
"Really cold." adds Danny.
Fuller smiles, "Let's break it in half."
Danny nods, "Good idea."
They break the cane in half, and a sound that was all too familiar to the boys was heard - like the loudest thwack! in the history of man...
CRACK!
The cane split in two and a dark black orb pulsated between the two sides of the cane. The boys couldn't move, they could only speculate what the hell was going on. The orb sucked in some haystacks - father was going to be pissed. But then the orb started to grow and soon, it engulfed Danny and Fuller.
The orb subsided and the cane became one again. It fell to the floor, clattering. Danny and Fuller were missing. Nanny covered her mouth with a cold pale hand. She took the cane and left.
