***
No one saw anything before about ten to midnight, but just after, just as Tom and Mary pulled their Buick sedan to a stop at the blinking light on Main Street, they saw it.
At first Mary wasn't really even paying attention, she was more dozing with her eyes open; just staring out the passenger side window up at the stars in the clear sky. It wasn't until her husband said "What's that?" that Mary focused on it.
As John drove up to Main Street he first thought about Big Heart Day. The celebration day in Barnsdall; kind of like a carnival to celebrate the town's former name of "Big Heart"; that is before it got blown away by a tornado way back when and then later sprang back up to be "Barnsdall", named after the fella that opened the wax plant.
He thought about Big Heart Day because folks often hang banners and balloons and such from the wire that holds the blinking street light up. That's why he thought maybe someone had hung ? well what looked like ? what looked like a couple of pi?atas.
Tom would have left his thought at that: just a couple of pi?atas, but they were hanging down pretty low and he wondered if he might hit them as he tried to drive under the street light. As he squinted to focus his eyes he noticed something falling off of them ? or more runnin' off of them really. It didn't immediately click in his mind though.
"What's that?" Tom said to Mary with bewilderment in his voice.
"Hmm?" Mary replied looking over at her husband. She looked straight from her window to her husband, without focusing in on what was ahead of them. By this time Tom had come to a complete stop at the corner of Highway 11 and Main Street and put the car in park.
John didn't look at Mary, he didn't take his eyes off of it; he couldn't take his eyes off of it. Instead he just stared at it and pointed out the front window, saying: "Mary ? what is that?" Tom sounded curious ? he didn't really sound alarmed at all ? yet.
Mary turned her head to let her eyes follow the path of Tom's finger point. What she saw was somethin' hanging on the wire that Barnsdall's only stoplight hangs from; two something's actually. She immediately noticed that, what ever they were, they were high up there, but hung down low enough to surely hit a car or truck that ran under them.
"What is that?" Tom repeated as he started to realize what he was seeing but didn't want to admit it to himself. His tone of voice began to signal alarm with every blinking signal of the stop light.
"I'm not sure ? is that ?" Mary paused as she heard the doors unlock.
"I'm gonna go take a look," said Tom as he reached for the door handle.
"Tom wait a minute ? be careful ? watch for traffic," Mary really just didn't want her husband to get out of the car and get close to what she thought she was seeing.
Hearing Mary say "watch for traffic", Tom looked at her with a duh look; as he looked in all directions and saw not one car and didn't even hear a car running. It was dead silent except for a soft hissing sound coming from the plant back down the road.
"Ok Mary ? I'll watch for traffic," Tom replied with a nervous laugh. He was only kidding himself that there was anything humorous in his immediate future.
As Tom got out of the car and slowly approached it, Mary noticed a little shoe lying in the road, and something was running, dripping ? no running on the road; something coming from them. "What are those," said Mary to herself. "Oh goodness!"
"Tom ? Tom! What is it? What's ?" Mary broke off as it registered with her. She knew what she was seeing all along really ? just couldn't face it. It was too awful. It took her husband turning around with a horrified look on his face, speechless, to make her come to terms with it. She began to shake violently with fear.
Tom began to back away from the scene, placing his hand over his mouth; he felt nauseous. He stepped back to the car and leaned one hand on the hood while he knelt down to one knee and looked up at the star filled sky. Taking in a deep breath he began to get his bearings. Turning to look at Mary didn't help his nervousness, as his wife was nearly in hysterics now.
"Tom ? T ? T ? Tom ? oh my God ? oh my Jesus!" Mary continued to shake.
Tom went around to the passenger side and reached for the door handle, but Mary had locked the doors, and the windows were up.
"Mary unlock the doors honey," Tom said softly; just loud enough to be heard through the glass.
"Wha?" Mary wasn't fully in the here and now.
"Mary honey ? unlocked the doors," Tom repeated as he tapped on the passenger window. Mary snapped her head towards him and seemed to come out of her stupor; somewhat.
"What ? oh ? oh," Mary said as she reached down to unlock the doors but hit the window button instead; partially lowering the pane before she managed to get the right button.
"Good," said Tom as he opened the passenger side door and took his wife in his arms. "It's ok Mary ? it's ok ? everything's gonna be fine." Tom tried to calm his wife and mask his own feelings of pure horror.
As Tom held Mary in his arms he glanced over and looked up at the scene again. He had to face the fact that it was real; that what he saw really was happening.
Tom slowly came to terms with the fact that there were two children, appeared to be a girl and a boy, hanging from their feet right here on Main Street. Two children dangling from the only stoplight wire in Barnsdall, OK. He quickly thought about the recent killings in town and felt his stomach churn.
It was only later that Tom and Mary Scroggins were to find out the children's names: Suzy and Sam Ingles. At the crime scene it was virtually impossible to identify the children because ? well their faces were so disfigured. The children's tongues and lips, and most of their mouths were cut out, and they were bleeding like stuck pigs to the ground.
Tom's mind raced. His first thoughts were to find a way to get them down and help them; help these ? these ? children. Tom pulled away from Mary.
"Where'r you going?" Mary tried to hold tight to her husband.
"Mary ? I have to see if they're alive," Tom took Mary's hands in his.
"Uh ? Oh ? could they be?" Mary was confused, she really didn't want her husband to go near the scene, but then if they were alive she wanted him to hurry up and get right in there ? to help. Her voice seemed express both thoughts.
"I doubt it honey, but I have to find out." Tom began to make his way slowly toward the children.
The two children were hanging down low enough that he could easily eyeball their injuries and reach to check for a pulse on their necks. There's blood everywhere, thought Tom as he approached the girl first. Blood was running to the ground but Tom didn't even pay attention that he was walking through it and then standing right in it. It was pooling right under his feet.
"Tom ? what are you goin' ta' do?" Mary remained with the car.
"I don't see any breathing Mary ? but I've got to see if there's a pulse," Tom reached to the little girl's neck. He thought about how horrifically mutilated the children were and how they might be better off if they were ? well if they were ? dead. He hated himself for this thought, but was trying to be realistic. With the injuries they had sustained it would be almost impossible to fully recover. It might be a fate worse than death. Tom thought that it would be to him.
After a long moment Mary asked: "Tom ? Tom," she said in a loud whisper voice, "is there a pulse?" She didn't get out of the car; rather she spoke from out the car window.
Tom heard his wife's voice through the fog of his mind. His head was full of thoughts and emotions, from anger to remorse, from empathy to rage; his mind jumped around. Finally he pulled himself from his fog, like a puppy pawing its way through a wool blanket, and replied to Mary: "No ? no she has no pulse."
Tom quickly moved to the boy and verified no pulse there either. As Tom returned to the car he couldn't stop staring at the blood all over his hands. The blood was initially only on the hand he utilized to feel for a pulse, but as he worked to wipe the blood clean he simply managed to cover both hands in blood. He didn't even notice
the foot prints of blood that followed him back to his vehicle.
Tom leaned on the car for several minutes gathering himself, listening to Mary sob from inside the car, before he made the short trek to the police station just over a half a block away.
When Tom arrived at the police station he found Jenni Bresh watching late night TV and manning the radio. Jenni was startled when she saw the blood on Tom Scroggins' hands; but more startled by the look in his eyes.
"Call Big John please," said Tom in a zombie voice. In fact he looked like a zombie to Jenni; devoid of all emotion.
"What happened?" Jenni sounded professional and calm, but her facial expression conveyed alarm.
"I think this is somethin' to show Chief Long honey, please just call him to the stop light right out there." Tom pointed back towards the terrible scene.
"Ok," said Jenni as she called Chief of Police John Long.
By Day or By Night Page 6