Party By The Chattahoochee River

Party By The Chattahoochee River
© Surazeus
2018 05 11

Setting her beer bottle on the porch rail,
Tammy sways to the raunchy guitar twang
in song by Creedence Clearwater Revival
while people chatter in the purple dusk
at her house by the Chattahoochee River.

The carpenter boy with scruffy mustache,
who leans against his blue Chevrolet truck,
grins at her and says over the loud music,
"I am descended from King Aethelbertus,
first Christian monarch for Kingdom of Kent."

Tammy laughs in surprise at his weird statement,
then takes his hands to make him dance with her,
and giggles when his boots clomp in the dust,
"You must rescue this damsel in distress,
locked away in the gold Tower of Rapunzel."

Tipping straw cowboy hat back on his head,
Robert grins and watches her grind her hips
as she writhes with both arms above her head,
then moves close and grabs her butt with both hands,
and pushes her back against the oak tree.

Kissing her mouth with passionate desire,
Robert grinds lustfully against her crotch
and fumbles trembling to pull her jeans down,
but Tammy writhes to escape groping hands
and shouts, "Stop it now, you are hurting me!"

Grabbing tight his arms and neck with strong hands,
three men pull Robert off the frightened girl
and throw him stumbling backward in the dirt
while Tammy gasps for breath and wipes her mouth,
then glares at him with shock in her green eyes.

"You are a naughty tease, you stupid slut,"
Robert growls, leaping to his feet, and glares
when three men crouch, ready for his attack,
so he stomps away into insect cloud,
and the crowd chatters loud to release tension.

Snagging her beer bottle from the porch rail,
Tammy drinks long swig, gulping liquid down,
then wipes her mouth and laughs at the head buzz,
eyes gleaming as she looks around the porch
to party by the Chattahoochee River.

"Why do men think they own bodies of women
when we are agents of free will like them,
since every person in America
is free to pursue their own happiness,
doing what you want if you hurt nobody?"

Joshua gently holds her shoulders with care
when Tammy trips, staggering over her boots,
and she kisses his cheek and stands up straight,
breathing deep the cool night breeze of the river,
then shakes her head and looks up at the moon.

Gunshot cracks the bright mirror of the night
and Tammy looks to see Robert aim rifle
and shoot dead all three men who rescued her,
buckshot splattering their chests in blood spray,
and they stagger back as he howls in rage.

Aiming the shotgun at her frozen face,
Robert snarls, "You humiliated me,
leading me on and getting me aroused,
you ugly slut, then pushing me away,
so you had better pray to God, you whore."

"Now you owe me sex," Robert grabs her arm,
"so take it like the silly whore you are,
or I will kill you right after I bang you,
then I will kill everyone at your party,
and bury you all in the outhouse shit."

"No woman in this whole dang world owes you
nothing," Tammy struggles to break his grip,
"since millions of arrogant men like you,
poisoned by toxic masculinity,
force your fake privilege to take what you want."

Slamming her face against the splintered wall,
Robert presses shotgun against her head,
then tries to yank her jeans around her hips,
but two policemen holler, "Drop your weapon,"
so he swings the shotgun to shoot at them.

Firing bullets that hit his arms and legs,
the policemen duck when the shotgun blasts
empty air, then leap on the sagging porch
and slam Robert face down to kneel his neck,
handcuffing both his arms behind his back.

Glaring at the rapist face down in dirt,
Tammy shakes her head, "I want to thank you,
officers, for saving me from his rage,
but if this rapist and killer was a black man
you would have killed him in a hail of bullets."

Washing her face clean from the water hose,
Tammy drinks another swig of cold beer,
then watches paramedics in white suits
bear three dead men to flashing ambulance,
and she cries by the Chattahoochee River.