Billy (46 page)

"The
Lord is my
shepherd,
I
shall
not
want,"
Wilson
Wag
ner begins.

Bill y
screams with all
the l ife he has
when
he
sees
the
big dark chair sitting empty
in
front of
the red brick wall.

David Pasko watches
as
the
guards drag
the
screaming boy
to the
waiting chair.

Wallace Hale, the
executioner,
nods
and says
through the
screams,
"Hurry it up, just
sit
him
on
the
edge and
hold him.''

Harvey Jakes
writes down everythi ng he
hears.

Billy
screams and jerks when he feels his
body
touch the
big wood
chair.

"Damn
it, hold him
still," Wallace Hale
hisses
as he
kneels to
get
the leg
strap around
Billy's leg.

"Hurry it up," Warden Casey
Herman
comes forward and whispers.

Billy jerks
and
twist.
"Damn
it,
hold
him
still.''

"He maketh me
to lie
down in green pastures . . . ." "Keep him still,
keep him
on the edge
t here.''
Wallace

Hale is
tightening
the leg
straps. "Naw,
lets me
be. Mama,
Mama.''

"Get
his
arm
down, hold it, hold
it right
there, that's
it."'
The two
guards and
the
executioner fight with
Billy until they
get
his
arms
and legs
strapped
i n the
high-backed chair.
Billy's
feet don't reach
the floor
and
his legs have to
be

B I L L Y /
211

strapped
at the knees
,
his feet stick straight out towards the spectators.
Now the
guards
try to push him
back and strap his chest,
but leave enough
slack
in the
straps so
the
executioner can stretch
the
electric
headpiece
down to
Billy's head
and
have enough
room
to
adjust it.

"Just
hold him there, that
's
it, hold him there," Wallace
Hale
shouts
as he tries to
put
the
metal
cap
on
top
of
Bill
y's
head, but Billy keeps
jerking his head away.

"God
damn it, hold his
damn head."

"Can't ya get
it fastened?"
Guard Ed Welle asks at a whisper.

"No, damn it, slide him up."

"Thy
rod and
thy staff
they
comfort
me
. . . .
" "I got
it now, I
got it," Wallace Hale whispers.

Guards Ed Welte and
Joe
Ellis
step
back, but Wallace
Hale keeps
working quickly, fastening
straps, connec
ting
wires
and
clamps. Now
he
stands
and moves to the side be fore
he puts
the
death
mask over Billy's face and pushes the gag
in his mouth. He
waits for the warden.

Billy lunges and
strains against the
straps
that
hold
him
in
the chair, his legs at the knees
are
s
trapped, hi
s
arms are strapped,
his
chest straps are
high
and
come
und
er
his arm pits,
pulling
and stretching the
trunk
of his body against the
plane of the
chair so that his
head
can be close enough for
the headset.
But
Billy
can still scream.

Quickly,
Warden Casey
H
er
man
moves and stands before
Billy, he reaches
into his pocket and pulls out a fold ed
document.

Spectators and official witnesses
stir
nervously
in
th
e
ir seats,
but Red
Pasko
sits
still and
erect
with
his
eyes on
Billy.

"Billy Le
e
Turner,"
Warden Casey
H
e
rman
begins,
"having

2
12 I
Alf1nt
Frl' nch

been found
guilty
by the
Sta
t
e of
Mississippi
of
the mu rder of Lori Pasko on A ugust the twenty-first
of
the year nineteen
hundr
ed
and thirty-seven,
you
are hereby
ordered
lo be put to death for that
crime.
ls there anything
you
would like lo
say
before
sentence
is
carried
out?"

Billy's screams are trapped in his
squelched chest,
loud gasps
come
from
his
mouth. He can not get his breath to make words, but he
still
tries to call.

"Mama.
Mama. Mama . . ."

Warden Casey Herman steps back quickly and nods to Wallace Hale,
then
says over Billy's
cries, "Proceed."

Wilson Wagner prays his words and looks for Billy's
eyes
as
he
says over his
cries,
"Yea, though I
walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil . . .
"

Wallace Hale moves up behind Billy and
s
trap
s
the death mask over his face, then fidgets with
its
buckles to get it fastened.

Billy shakes his head as much as he
can, and
Wilson Wag
ner
stops his prayers momentarily to hear Billy's
cries,
"Mama . . . Mama . . . Jesus . . . Jesus
gits
me . . .
"

Wallace Hale reaches in his
pocket and pulls
a wad
of co
t ton
out, reaches up under Billy's death mask,
and
tries to
get
th
e
gag into Billy's mouth. Billy
clenches
his teeth.

"Open
up," the
executioner
whispers
into
Billy's
ear,
then
jams the
cotton through his clenched teeth.

Billy gags and gasps for
air.

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence
of
mine enemi
.
es
. . . .
"

Wallace Hale steps back quickly
and looks at
Warden Casey Herman.

Warden Casey Herman nods his head
and
the
executioner
goes
into th
e
generati ng room.

B I L L
y
I 213

" and mercy shall follow me all the days
of
my life."

Wilson Wagner has closed his Bible and
stands
with his head bowed, but keeps praying, "Jesus is Christ, Saviour of Man, please accept the child into Your heavenly kingdom. . . ."

Billy chokes and gasps in the dark of his death mask. Then his mind bursts open, his thoughts spark and catch fire, he shakes and flies into the air and jolts
when
the straps jerk him back. The loose-fitting death mask flies from his face. David Pasko turns away.

Ely Hampton bows his head when he sees tears fling away from the twisted face.

Billy sits limp in the
chair,
his
eyes
popped open and pro truding from his face.

The electric generator whines and the
static
crackling
sound
pierces the room again. Billy's body jol ts upwards again, shakes and quivers in the air, then falls back to its seat and stills.

Warden Casey Herman waits a moment, then walks up to Billy and looks down
into
his face. He nods and a man comes up to Billy's side, puts his hand on Billy's neck, leans over him and places a stethoscope on his
chest,
listens a moment before he turns to the warden and says, "I pronounce this boy legally dead."

Billy lays limp in the
chair,
his face and head still smoking from the fires that burned his body and
soul.

Harvey Jakes' nostrils begin
to
twitch, the stench of burnt flesh
seeps
into his
smell,
he turns from Billy's bulgi ng
eyes
and tries to get away from the pungent odor. He retches and the dinner he had
with
Helen Marks
comes
up on his
shirt
and tie.

Red
Pasko
sits still
and
stares
at the body, but
sees
Lori laying dead in his bed,
sees
her running
and
laughing, then

214
I
Albert
Ji're11clr

sees h
e
r dead aga in, and keeps his eyes on
the
limp bod
y s
agging in the chair
.

Wilbur Braxton
s
tands up and walks to the back of th
e
room and takes the hand kerchief from hi
s
pocket and wipes the t
e
ar
s
from his ey
es
.

Guards Ed Welte and Jo
e
Ellis b
e
gin to unstrap Billy from th
e c
hair as
two
other guards bring in the prison coffin box
.
Wilson Wagner ha
s
kept his head bow
e
d, but still pra
y
s
,

silently.

Sighs and heav
y
breathin
g
still fill th
e
room
.
David Pa
s
k
o
nudges his father and whisp
e
rs
, "
It's over now.
"
R
ed
Pa
s
ko does not move.

Billy is lifted from the chair and dropp
e
d in the box. Time crept awa
y,
the midnight hour
g
r
ew
cold.

Cinder had watch
e
d t
he
ni
g
ht,
sat a
nd
s
ta
re
d
o
u t int
o
it
from
h
e
r
window. Ther
e
w
e
r
e
no words sh
e co
ul
d s
a
y
,
s
h
e
just k
ep
t her
e
yes on Billy
, s
e
e
n hi
s
fa
ce
a m
i
lli
o
n t
i
m
es,
kept lo
o
kin
g
for it and rea
c
hin
g
for it until
s
h
e sc
r
e
am
e
d out
i
nt
o
th
e
ni
g
ht. P
a
t
c
h d
ogs
b
a
rk
e
d
a
nd h
ow
l
e
d
,
R
eve
r
e
nd
S
im
s
p
rayed
to
'
hi
s G
od,
as
k H im t
o co
m
e
t
o
thi
s c
hil
d,
r
eac
h Hi
s
h
a
nd
s
around h
e
r, and
ease
h
e
r p
a
in. H
e
'd
ca
ll
ed
a
ll th
e
w
o
rd
s
h
e
kn
e
w
, sa
id, "D
e
ar G
o
d
,
tak
e
t h
e
p
a
in fr
o
m t hi
s
wom
a
n
's so
u
l.
Dear God
,
ha
ve
m
e
r
cy
in t hi
s
ni
g
ht
g
i
ve eyes
t
o
th
e
d
a
rk, l
et
it
see
it
s
ev
il wa
ys,
l
e
t it
see
h
ow
it h
as go
n
e
as
t
ray."