FREE: Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell

The listing, Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell has ended.

This is a used paperback. The spine is creased and the outer portion of the book is showing some wear. There is a large crease on the back cover.

It is two weeks before Christmas. Four days before nothing at all. I lie on my iron bed staring at my dirty bare feet and the white toilet missing its seat, and when cockroaches crawl across the floor I don't jump anymore. I watch them the same way they watch me.

I close my eyes and breathe slow.

I remember reaking hay in the heat of day and getting no pay compared to the way white folk live. I dream of roasting peanuts in a tin and when the tomatoes are in eating them like apples. I imagine driving the pickup truck, sweat shining on my face in that no-future place I swore I'd leave.

I can't use the john, blow my nose, or smoke without guards taking notes. There's no clock. I never know the weather. I open my eyes and see a blank wall going on forwever. What's a man supposed to feel when he's about to be gone?

Like a sad, sad sone. I don't know the words. I can't remember. They say it happened in September when the sky was like a robin's egg and leaves were on fire and falling to the ground. They say a beast got loose in the city. Now there's one less sound.

Killing me won't kill the beast. The dark is his friend, flesh and blood his feast. When you think it's safe to stop looking that's when you'd better start looking, brother.

One sin leads to another.