Victor
by Kevin Lopez
Creative Works… 203
Reaching into the truck bed, he grabs the first dog by its hind legs, and in a singular motion, swings the poor thing above his head until it slams against the earth with a terrible dull thud. As the first dog is whimpering and writhing in the dirt, he grabs the second with both hands and cocks his right leg back. He lets the little creature fall from his hands and meet his tibia and metatarsals, sending it into the fading twilight until he, too, welcomes the earth with a sickening smack. Stop it. Stop it. Stop! ¡Pinche perros! I hold back my father as he chases those broken creatures into an empty field. Twilight races onward, chasing the night, and what only can be heard are the painful howls of those now destitute dogs and the heavy breathing of wrath personified. • Fields of green, vast vistas of lush grass, and trees of towering heights open themselves up to the cloudless radiant blue sky. Great tracks of tobacco, corn, and cotton quiver under the wind’s gentle advances. The land of the south is serene, and waits patiently for the sun to take its slow but faithful walk across the expanse. The rolling hills disappear behind the horizon as we travel down a long stretch of gravel road. Before us is five acres of land, my father’s land. Here, I will spend a summer in Alabama, with my father and his family. My father is a sturdy man with walnut-colored skin that is marked with many scars. His hair is bespeckled with white, his unkempt brows are jet black, he wears a
