The road has twisted too many times for me to even try to imagine the direction I’m being taken.  Time and distance have melted into the blackness of the thick sack over my head.  My breaths are deep out of my nose because of the solid tape across my mouth.  The automobile slows as gravel spits up into the wheel wells.  Panic has turned to terror. 

“Almost there.”

They chuckle.  My guts tighten out of fear and the instinct to fight.  I’ve given up trying to break free of my duct tape bonds.  The vehicle stops and its doors open.  I can hear the gentle purr of another engine as they roughly manoeuvre me out of the back.

“Are you ready for this?”

Bodies move around me, but I can’t see.  I feel surrounded.  Alone I curl into myself as much as I can.

“Stand up boy!”

Knuckles, ribs, pain.  I curl over even more.

“Make him stand.”

From behind I’m pulled up by my bound arms.  The brute force erects my feeble frame.

“Now let’s make him cry.  Keep him on his feet.”

I feel one hit to the face, square on my nose causing my eyes to tear.  I can’t focus on the other pain, but I know it’s there, blunt and powerful.  My knees fold, and I’m on the ground.  Cool sand caresses my face.

“Is that enough?  No, I don’t think it is yet.”

I open my eyes, and I can see.  The stars are out, and the moon hangs bright in the sky.  Around me silhouettes dance and stand around the headlights of vehicles.  The light is too bright for me to see anything but blurry figures of hate.  I’m in the stage-light, as a breaking man.

“Do you think he’s the answer?  Do you think that man’s going to change the world?  Do you think he’s the one?”

I can’t speak.  Even if it was possible I wouldn’t open my mouth.

“Is he your hero, boy?  He’s not even from this country.  He’s no Christian.  He’s no more than a goddamn ape.  He shouldn’t have power.  We’re the ones that run this country.  We’re the ones with the money, with the power.  Your president has nothing.  You wait till he builds his mosque.  You think what’s happening to you now is a nightmare, you wait until we find all of you people.”

With a rip my lips are free.  Thick blood mixed with saliva oozes out of my mouth.

“Now stand up straight.”

I attempt, but in the failing try I’m pulled up.

“Any requests boys?”

“Star Spangled Banner!”

“Now sing it with pride!”

My mind races as I fumble for the words.  I try to remember back to grade school.

“Oh, say can you see…”  I spit and sputter as I fight back tears of hatred.

“Louder!”

“That’s not right!”

“Start over!”

They laugh as I sing to them; the crowd of proud Americans.  With each wrong word, skipped beat, voice crack, and forgotten lyric I’m pummelled.  My body can’t take any more.  I feel the sweet ground against me cheek again.

“He’s ready.”

Before I know what’s going on I’m naked.  My clothes have been cut away and hang as rags over my wrists and ankles. 

“You stay quiet.  You ever open your mouth, step out of line, raise your fist, or anything, you’re a dead man.”

With those words I feel the thick fingers of tar as it pours down my face, neck, back, chest, everywhere.  I’m enveloped in dark black neohatred torture.  I hear the ripping of fabric from behind as gentle feathers shower me.  In their slow flight is a calming beauty that makes me think I may wake up from this nightmare. 

“This look is perfect for you; white on the outside, but black underneath.”

They howl at the joke as I keep my mind on the soft tranquil feathers.  

Doors slam consecutively, and I’m no longer on stage.  The show is over.  The final act, and the curtain has been dropped.  As I lift my head and open my eyes I can only see stripes in the moonlight.  My hands and legs are free, and as I fight for my freedom I realize that I’ve been draped with the American flag. 

My knees shake as I try to stand.  The cool night chills me to the bone.  My heart pounds in confused palpitations, and my eyes water.  I grab the flag to try to wipe my face off, but the tar is too thick, and too evil.  My clothes are nothing more than rags on the ground so I wrap Old Glory around me as I stumble along the tire tracks in the sand.