Hillbilly Switchin' (MMM/ffff) - a bit long

[goodgulf]

Warning: the below contains an attempt at dialectal. Parts of it were inspired by the reality TV show Moonshiners and isn't meant to be offensive to anyone - at least anyone who isn't a corrupt official or a backwoods moonshiner.

Hillbilly Switchin'

Lynn looked at the trail. At least she hoped it was trail. It might be deer run but Lynn hoped it was trail made by people walking to where her group thought it was heading. If it wasn't a trail then they were lost and they didn't even have a good map or real compass with them.

"Are you sure that this is the way to the stones?" Monica asked.

"Of course it." Peggy assured the group. "I've got the GPS numbers set in my phone. They're over that way so we have to get to them this way."

"Why do they call it 'Misty Holler'?" Janet asked.

"Well duh." Amber said. "It's obviously a reference to MZB. You know, Marion Zimmer Bradley? The stones must look like something out of Darkover. Or Mists of Avalon."

"I'm not sure about that." Lynn said. "Someone said that the name's been there for a century."

"MZB was around for a while." Amber said confidently.

Lynn nodded, still hoping they were a trail. GPS might tell you where something was but it useless to guide you in the woods. There was no friendly voice to say "Take the right after the tree with the green moss" or even "recalculating". You knew if your target was north or south of you and anything more than that was a guess. Lynn just wished she knew for sure if they were really on a trail or not. It was nice out, being early fall, but Lynn didn't want get lost in the hills. At least not without an expert and none of the other girls knew much about camping. She wished that there was someone, anyone, who could tell them for sure where they were.

"Whatcha y'all doing there?"

Lynn took back that wish. There in the middle of the trail was a boy in his mid teens. He looked like a backwoods type, complete with a hunting gun slung over one shoulder. The other girls seemed taken back at the sight of the gun but Lynn would have been surprised if the boy wasn't carrying one.

"Um, we're looking for Misty?" Peggy suggested, looking at the shotgun.

"Don't know no Misty. If'n I did she'll wouldn't've been here."

"Um, you don't understand." Janet said.

"Sure I do. Misty ain't here."

The boy paused to spit. Lynn wondered if the boy was chewing chaw or if he just felt like spitting. Either way he reminded her of certain relatives she rarely saw. Enough to wonder if he was part of the "bath a week" crowd, the "bath a month" faction, or "it rained on me a few months ago - that should count" types that she always tried to stay upwind of.

"What's happen o'er there?"

The voice was male and older than the boy. Another figure stepped on to the trail and Lynn wanted to shrink down into her hiking boots. She hadn't recognised the boy but the rifling toting man was only too familiar to her.

"These there girls is snooping round."

"Shit boy, don't y'all recognise y'all own kin? That there's Lynn, your Uncle Frank's daughter Jane's middle one."

"You mean Tall Frank or Red Frank's?"

"Tod, y'all know I mean Limping Frank. She's as much a McIntire as y'all."

The other girls were looking at Lynn as if she had grown a third head. Lynn now regretted not sharing some information with them, but who want folks to know that they had relatives that lived in the backwoods? Or as those relatives would put it, had "backwoods kin". Everyone at her college mocked those hillbilly mountain men backwoods types and mocking like that didn't encourage sharing.

"Hey Cousin Lynn."

"Hey Cousin Henry." Lynn answered.

"This here's y'all Cousin Ray." Henry introduced. "Whatcha y'all doing here?"

"Um, some girls from school wanted to see the stones in Misty Holler so um well..."

"That all? Ray, show these here gals to the holler." Henry turned from Ray to stare at Lynn. "And whatcha y'all think y'all doing trampling through these hills with not saying nothing to y'all kin?"

"Um, well..."

Lynn didn't want to say that she was embarrassed by her distant relatives or mention the other reason: she kind of feared them a bit. She had only met Henry a handful of times each time he had stared her down. Most of those times he had suggested that she needed a good switching to set her right. Once he had said that right after administering a switching to another cousin; he had pointed out that he could cut another switch and put it to good use on another bared bum. The way he had looked at her when he said that haunted her dreams for weeks. Thankfully her Aunt Martha had spoken up, saying that Lynn's family were city folk and Lynn's family would handle things there way. That city folk and hill folk were different and that was all it was to it. Not that Martha was really an aunt; when the family got together women of certain age got called aunt while those a generation old were called mother.

Of course that wasn't the first time she heard someone saying that city folk and hill folk were different. She first heard it during a trip to a swimming hole where she discovered that hill folk didn't know what a swimming suit was. It had only been girls there because they were too old to swim with the boys, but some of her cousins talked about the times when they were younger and they had swam with their boy cousins like it was no big deal.

And some of those girl cousins had had marks on their bottoms. Bruises or scabs or welts. At one point during a swim the other girls had even compared how they got those marks. Whether a strap or a switch left worse marks and whose folks did it harder. Lynn had stayed away from the conversation, not having anything to contribute to a conversation about sore bottoms and not wanting to rub that fact in their faces. Especially not in the faces of some of her older girl cousins who sometimes spanked their younger siblings.


Now she was being stared down Cousin Henry again and feeling like a guilty little girl again.

"Um, I didn't feel like bothering anyone." Lynn offered. "I mean it's been so long since I've been back here and..."

"Ain't been that long." Henry countered. "And y'all be kin to us."

"Um, sir? Why do you carry a gun?" Monica asked.

"Y'all see snakes in these here hills." Henry explained. "Snakes, squirrel, coons. Some y'all need ta shoot err they bit y'all and some y'all can eat. Ain't no one feel safe without a gun here. Why? Y'all don't have one? Ray, lend them y'all's gun."

"No, that's fine." Peggy said. "I don't believe in guns."

Henry and Ray looked at her.

"Um, they real." Ray said, swinging his rifle off his shoulder. "See? Y'all can touch it iffing y'all wants."

"Ain't what she means boy." Henry said. "Any other questions y'all have?"

"I have one." Janet said, raising her hand. "Why do they call it Misty Holler? Is it after a girl?"

"Nah, cause of the stream." Henry answered. "Ice cold mountain water flowin' through the holler. Colder than the air is, except when it be warmer than the winter air, so there always mist there. Real foggy like. Summer, winter, spring, fall, it always misty there. And it a holler. What else y'all call it?"

"It's not after Misty Bradley?" Amber asked.

"Who? Don't know no Bradleys on the mountains. Might be some that live in town."

"See?" Janet challenged.

"Whatever." Amber said.

"Y'all fixin' to spend the night?" Henry asked, looking at the one man tents they were backpacking in. "Then y'all best be walkin'. Y'all don't look like y'all can set a tent after dark. And y'all be watchin' ya self Lynn. Y'all ain't too old for a switchin'."


The five girls were mostly silent on their trip out. Having a guide really sped things up, getting them straight to where Peggy's GPS said they should go. Ray led them straight to the rocks then disappeared into the mist before they could thank him.

"You didn't say you, no, 'y'all had kin up here in these hills'." Peggy said, faking a mountain drawl for the last bit.

"It never came up." Lynn muttered. "And it's a couple of generation backs. The guy they were calling 'Limbing Frank' is a banker. But you know these types. If they call you kin once they always call you kin."

"And what was that talk about switching?" Amber teased.

"There's always a lot of talk about that." Lynn said dismissively. "If half, no, a if a quarter of the promised switching happened then the mountain would be bare. Every branch off of every tree would have been used for switching."

"I've got an aunt like that." Monica agreed. "Always threatening, never doing. All talk and no swats. Never. Not even with her own kids."

"Anyway, we're here now." Amber said. "Let's set up the tents, get the camp stove going, and get ready for the night."

"And get naked?" Monica asked eagerly looking at the stones in the mist.

"That comes later." Peggy said primly. "After moonrise."

"But if we want to..." Amber began.

"Do you think Ray will be by to check on us?" Peggy asked. "Or that Henry might come around?"

"He might." Lynn admitted. "Just to check on us and make sure we've settled in for the night."

"That would happen around sunset and moonrise is after that so don't get naked early." Peggy said. "Not unless you want to risking giving some of Lynn's backwoods kinfolk a show."

"That Ray guy was cute." Janet said.

"But too young for you." Monica pointed out.

"What, there's an age limit on cougars?" Janet laughed. "You got to be 30 or 40 before you get your claws?"

"No, but these are the hills." Peggy pointed out. He might want to marry you afterwards."

"Oo, that's just gross." Janet pouted.

"That looks like a good place for the tents." Peggy said. "We can set the folding stoves over there and when we're done eating we can string the food up that tree. Now who wants to help dig a latrine behind those bushes?"

There was a bit of grumbling but the camp slowly took shape. Lynn's relief at Peggy's camping skills vanished when she saw the woman was working from a checklist, but Lynn no longer worried about getting lost on the mountain. Not with members of her extended family knowing she was there.


Nightfall came without any sign of Lynn's kin.

The six stones stood at odd angles. Some said they were Indian stones, others thought that they had been left by geological forces that had carved the holler (which was what most people would call a small valley), and then there were the old stories of witch folk who had once gathered here. Lynn wasn't sure which story was true but the stones lacked markings and didn't seem to have been worked by human hands. Peggy was sure that they had some occult significance and just the thing for a September night.

At moonrise the girls stripped off and danced around the stones in a way Peggy assured them was pleasing to the Great Mother. They mostly followed Peggy's lead but Amber made it more of a pole dance than a sacred one.

Afterwards, some of them dressed for bed, but most of them just climbed into their one man tents and curled snugly into their sleeping bags. Part of Lynn wanted to join the more adventurous ones but she feared that some of her kin might drop by to wake them in the morning. If that happened she wanted to wearing more than a smile when she greeted them. As for Janet, she talked a good talk but she was a bit shy at times so dressed as well.


Lynn was dragged from a dream as rough hands pulled her sleeping bag from her tent.

"What the fuck?" Lynn demanded.

A ring of torches surrounded their campsite, burning bright against the ever present mist. Along with the ring were a dozen men, all wearing black hoods.

"This here one's nakked too!" A hooded man said as he pulled Amber from her sleeping bag.

"Let me go." Lynn demanded.

"Ah, this one gots clothes on."

"For now."

They all had a good laugh about that, laughing loud enough to be heard over the screams. "What the fuck" was a popular one. So was "Let me go", "Who are you", "Help", and even screams for the police who were miles and miles away.

"Let me explain things out to you witch sluts. Hey, quiet them down!" Ordered a man whose black hood had a red stripe across.

Hands were jammed over mouths, reducing the screams to desperate mutters.

"Thank you." The leader called. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, before we give you witch sluts a reason to scream we'll explain it out to y'all. Y'all are witches, doing some witch work near those stones, and we don't like that sort of thing round these parts. Just so y'all know what to expect, first comes the switchin', then the fuckin', then we tar and feather y'all, then we ride you back to town on rails. Y'all may not think so now, but that ride is goin' to be the worse part y'all's night. Worst than the hot tar."

Lynn's mind went black with horror. She had heard some tales of nightriders but thought they were from another age. Pre-civil rights at the latest. Those self appointed guardians of public morals went masked and used fear and intimidation to keep folk in line. That and violence. The only limit to what they would do to those they judged were the limits they imposed on themselves. Judging from what their leader had said they planned to leave the girls with their lives and little else.

Trying to distract herself, Lynn looked at the changes in the clearing around the stones. The men had brought things with them. There were long wooden rails, three lying there while one was balanced on makeshift posts. A foul smelling pot was heating over a propane burner. All of the men were wearing pistols, but they were safely holstered. Some bags were scattered around place; Lynn couldn't guess at their contents.

"Let's get one of the nakked ones first."

At their leader's orders, two men stretched Monica over the rail. They held the screaming girl there while another man stood to her side and rear. The switch descended with a wicked sounding thwack.

"Fuck! Stop! Let me up!" Monica screamed. "OOOW! We aren't witches! AHHH! We're only doing this for a compar AHHH a comparative religion course! OOWWW! We don't fucking believe this shit AHHH!"

The remaining girls waited, held in place, as Monica was switched and switched hard. The switch travelled all up and down her thighs and criss-crossed her bottom with lines and welts. Monica was reduced to incoherent wails before the switch wore out. Pushed off of the rails, Amber curled into a ball on the ground and wept.

"Now for the ring leader."

As Peggy was dragged to the rail, Lynn tried to figure out how they knew that Peggy was the leader. The woman wasn't that much older than the rest of them. And for that matter, how had the nightriders known where to find them? They were miles and miles away from the nearest road. No one could have spotted their lights or heard them, not down in this holler. Maybe if they had been on the mountain side, but to just happen to see their lights in the holler and track them down? That just wasn't possible. It dawned on Lynn that someone must have told the nightriders about them.

Lynn felt a sense of betrayal. Was her Cousin Henry under one of those hoods? Was Ray? No one else knew where they were so it had to be one of them.

As Peggy was switched she screamed at their captors, threatening them with the law, with the might of the university, with everything she could think of. Nothing stayed that switch; her threats were as ineffective as Monica's pleas had been.

When there were two girls curled up weeping on the ground, it was Amber's turn to be hauled to the rail.

"No! Don't do this!" Amber begged. "I'll suck your cocks! I'll fuck you! I'll let you fuck me up the ass!"

"Y'all hear that boys?" The leader called with a laugh. "The little whore's listin' her services off. Don't worry Honey, y'all do all that and more. Once we switch you raw!"

"No!" Amber screamed as the switch descended.

Lynn was eyeing Janet, wondering which of them would be next. Wondering if it was better to get it over with or wait until last, when a shot rang out over Amber's screams.


The switching stopped. The nightriders turned towards where the shot had been fired.

Lynn might not brag about her hillbilly relations, but the sight of her Cousin Henry walking into the torchlight was one she would never forget. As always when Lynn saw him in the woods Henry had his trusty rifle slug over his shoulder.

"Get lost!" The man in the striped hood ordered. "We don't need y'all's help here."

Henry ignored him and faced Lynn.

"Hey Cousin Lynn, y'all all right there?" Henry asked, ignoring the rest of the people in the clearing.

The man holding Lynn released her, muttering "Cousin?" as he did.

"Y'all didn't think there be someone stayin' here who ain't kin nor kith to us?" Henry laughed.

It wasn't a kind laugh.

"Y'all still gots y'all's clothes on Cousin Lynn. Y'all okay?"

One of the men in hoods stirred nervously.

"We didn't strip them none. We found then nakked like that."

"Was I talking to y'all? Is y'all my Cousin Lynn? Then y'all can shut it. Well Cousin Lynn?"

"Um, they didn't hurt me." Lynn said.

The leader just snorted.

"Look, I don't know why y'all's calling her cousin, but I'm going to see to slut witch."

"A Whitaker see to a McIntire on McIntire Mountain?" Henry laughed. "That'll be the day."

The nightrider's leader just shook his head, not noticing how some of his men were backing away from the girls.

"She ain't from here. And who y'all calling a Whitaker?"

"Y'all might have a mask on but I knows Young John Whitaker's voice when I hears it." Henry said calmly. "Now us McIntires don't go causin' trouble in town. Why y'all up here causin' trouble?"

"Fine." John Whitaker said, taking his hood off. "It's me. But I'm here solvin' trouble, not makin' it. These here are witch sluts doing witch slut stuff."

"Now I knows I didn't just hear y'all say that." Henry drawled as he unslung his rifle. "Y'all didn't just insult mah kin on McIntire Mountain. Now when y'all gets off this mountain y'all tell ya daddy how lucky y'all is that I didn't hears that."

"Put that gun away." John Whitaker ordered. "We gots y'all outnumbered."

"Y'all think?" Henry said, raising his gun to the sky.

He fired off round.

Voices came from the mists. Three different voices from three different parts of the holler.

"Y'all okay there Henry?"

"What's the ruckus Young Henry?"

"Y'all find what the screamin' was?"

The man holding Janet released her.

"Shit! I didn't come here for some war with the McIntires."

Another of the nightriders spoke up:

"Y'all didn't tell us they was kin and kith of the McIntires."

Henry just smiled.

"Lots more men walked up this mountain than e'er came down." Henry drawled. "This Sunday, remember to say special thanks that y'all didn't start with me kin."

"It's a bluff." John Whitaker called, drawing his pistol.

The hooded man standing beside shook his head, saying: "John, y'all don't want to do that."

"How's she kin to y'all?" John Whitaker demanded. "Answer me that."

"Why she's Limping Frank's daughter Jane's middle one." Henry drawled. "That makes her kin to me."

"And if'n some shoots her?" John Whitaker asked, pointing his gun.

Which wasn't a popular act among the nightriders.

"Shit."

"Y'all don't want to do that John."

"Think it through John."

"I didn't come here for a murder."

Henry just looked in John Whitaker's eyes.

"Then no one not kin to McIntires is goin' home tonight."

"There only four of y'all." John Whitaker noted.

The hood man beside him reached over and wrestled the gun from John Whitaker's hand.

"Sorry about this John. And sorry Henry. We didn't know. We just be leaving now."

"Y'all backing down from four men?" John Whitaker demanded.

Other shapes formed in the mist. All had rifles and there were a great many of them. One of them called over in a voice shaky with age:

"Thank's y'all for back lightin' y'all. Makes nice good targets y'all do. Next shot means none y'all is leaving."

The man who had wrestled the gun from his leader dropped it and started backing with his hands up in front of his chest.

"Hey there Ole Jasper, We didn't know any of them was kin to y'all. Honest we didn't. If John here wants to stay he can but he'll be stay alone."

As the old voice spoke again, Lynn vaguely recognised it as her great uncle Jasper's. It wasn't easy to recognise it, not with the tone he was using.

"Git." Ole Jasper ordered.

The nightriders got. John Whitaker trailed the pack, but he wasn't staying alone. Lacking his gun and the men backing him, John Whitaker lacked the courage to switch a single woman let alone confront five backed by kinfolk with guns.


The danger passed, Lynn gave into hysterics. Janet, who had more cause, joined her. Lynn might be safe Janet knew that she wasn't a McIntire and what if the McIntires didn't trust her to stay silent about what could have been a mass murder of nightriders?

"Damn silly wimim folk." Ole Jasper cursed. "Boys, some y'all see them boys off. Tod, y'all run ta git Mother Annabelle. She know what ta do. Henry, y'all got y'all them calming hoods?"

Henry called it a calming hood, but none of the girls felt calm with the sacks over their heads. Monica's tears were slowing, or had been before they hooded her and dragged her away. As she was carried off, Janet had presence of mind to worry about a shallow grave.

Then an old woman was saying.

"Hey. Y'all born stupid or y'all mule kicked in the head? Git them hoods of. Y'all, git blankets! That there be someone's daughter. Y'all ain't got no cause ta look at her with her all nakked."

The hoods came off. The girls could now see that they were some sort of cave. A nice dry one, well lit by oil lamps, but a cave none the less. And there was one of the oldest looking women that Lynn had ever seen. The woman was puttering around some jars, mixing things into them. Lynn didn't recognise her, but thought the woman bore a family resemblance to some of her mountain kin.

"Y'all poor thing." Mother Annabelle muttered, picking up a jar. "Y'all drink this here medicine all up now. Drink and I'll see ta y'all's friends."

Lynn eagerly accepted the jar of folk medicine, then choked on the liquid in it.

"That be the liquorice and pepper powder." Mother Annabelle said. "Y'all drink her down now."

Each of the girls drank a jar of medicine to drink and Mother Annabelle started to rub some salve on the switched girls' abused backsides.

Lynn forced herself to choke down her medicine. As it burnt in her belly, Lynn felt her cares drifting away. She also felt more than a little drunk.

"Hey, what's this is made of?" Lynn slurred.

"Oh, don't y'all mind none." Mother Annabelle said. "It just some medicine. Y'all sleep now, hear?"


The girls woke slowly. All with a pounding headache, three of them sore at both ends. They found themselves wearing old cotton nightgowns (but only those nightgowns) and sleeping together in one large bed.

"Was that a dream?" Janet sleepily.

"My ass is killing me." Amber moaned. "That was no dream."

"How did we get here?" Peggy moaned.

"Where is here?" Monica asked, one hand rubbing at her head and the other her backside.

A voice called from outside the room.

"Y'all awake yet? If not, then wake the hell up." Henry ordered.

The girls discovered that they were in a large wooden farmhouse. Henry and breakfast was waiting for them in the kitchen. To their great relief, so were their packs.

"Sit if y'all want to, stand y'all have to. Eat if y'all hungry. But we all gots to talk about last night." Henry told.

"Where's everyone else?" Janet asked.

"Workin'." Henry said. "We let y'all sleep late on account of the medicine."

"Am I correct in assuming that it had a corn whiskey base?" Peggy asked, standing to eat.

"Was medicine, mixed up right." Henry told her. "And y'all needed sleep ta recover so y'all slept. I take it y'all the leader of this little group?"

"I am." Peggy acknowledged. "I'm the grad student leading this little expedition."

"So y'all can tell why y'all put my kin in danger?" Henry asked.

"I didn't! We weren't breaking any laws. Those men..."

"Those men could have killed y'all." Henry stated. "I didn't know y'all would be there. How did they?"

"They... They shouldn't have." Peggy said, talking slowly. "We didn't talk to anyone in town. We didn't even gas up there. No one should have known."

"They did." Henry pointed out. "And Ray and me didn't see anyone who weren't family after we met y'all. So who y'all tell?"

"Fuck that." Monica explained.

"Language." Henry scolded.

"We have to call the cops! Get the sheriff on their case. Send them to jail." Monica continued.

"Ain't got no phone here." Henry remarked.

"Well I've got one in my bag." Monica told him.

"Ain't got no reception this high on the mountain." Henry said.

"So we drive into town and tell the police." Monica insisted.

"Tell him what?" Henry asked. "That y'all was in the woods playin' with switches and went too far?"

"No, about the men in the hoods!" Monica said.

"Yeah, you said you knew one of them." Amber insisted.

"Me?" Henry laughed. "I ain't even in this state. I'm out in Oregon. Ask anyone."

"Um, Ray then." Amber suggested.

"He's two counties over." Henry agreed. "Ask anyone."

"Ole Jasper? Mother Annabelle?" Peggy asked, seeing where it was going.

"Ain't no one seen them in years." Henry said. "Most folks expect they ded. Long ded."

"Well we'll tell the police ourselves." Monica insisted.

"Y'all going to go in front of Sheriff Whitaker with a story like that?" Henry laughed. "Or maybe y'all will tell town prosecutor Whitaker? Or County Commissioner Whitaker? Those Whitakers, they be big in town but they stay off the mountain. They know better. Usually. No, ain't no Whitaker gonna take y'all word for nothing."

"But why won't you testify?" Amber demanded.

"Because it involves Misty Holler." Peggy suggested. "A place where it's always misty. The perfect cover for any smoke given off by a still. Am I right?"

"I didn't see any still." Janet insisted.

"See? That's one smart girl." Henry nodded. "If they won't believe y'all about being switched nakked, why would they listen to any talk about no still that y'all never saw?"

"I've got a question." Lynn said. "They said that riding the rail would be the worst part. With what they said they'd do why would that be worst than..."

"Cause you don't know what mean." Henry said. "If y'all want, I coulds show you. But just for a minute. Any more could do you an injury."

"Well..."

Henry rose from his seat.

"Well come on. Ain't got all day."

Henry paused in the porch to pick up a few things.

"Leather ties." Henry said. "We keep them here for game. Deer mostly."

"Where are our shoes?" Monica asked.

"Shouldn't we dress before we go outside?" Janet asked.

"Ain't no one there to see y'all." Henry assured them. "Reckon we find y'alls shoes later."

Janet hoped they would. Henry seemed to want an agreement about no one going to the police or saying anything about a still and Janet for one would be glad to agree to his plan. Not having access to her shoes had Janet thinking about shallow graves again.

Henry led the way to fence, then helped Lynn sit on it. After securing her wrist to it he shifted her position so her legs were either side of the fence. With her crotch resting against the rail, spreading itself around the wood.

"I get it, I get it." Lynn said as her feet were secured.

"Not yet y'all don't." Henry said.

Then he gave the rail a good thump. Lynn felt that jar through the core of her body.

"That how it feel ta move. Now I'll let y'all off." Henry said, undoing Lynn's hands first.

"Can't you do the feet first?" Lynn asked.

"Nope. I do that, y'all will fall off and wretch y'all shoulders. I seen it happen." Henry told her.

Some of the girls wanted to ask when he had seen it, but they all had enough sense not to. Just in case he decided to show them how it felt.


As Lynn fought the urge to rub the soreness out, Janet had to ask.

"What happens now? To us?"

"Well, I reckon y'all get dressed sometime and head back y'all school." Henry drawled.

"College." Amber corrected.

"University." Peggy added.

"First, we all gots to understand. Nothing happened. Nothing y'all can report ta the state police, cause the Whitakers can block them and y'all ain't got no witnesses." Henry told them. "And fore that happens, y'all will think about who y'all told about comin' out here. I got to know if'n anyone knew that Lynn was coming, cause iffing someone tried to hurt my kin then someone's goina pay. And they goina fore I get back from my trip to Oregon."

Five girls exchanged looks.

"Well I only found out I was going on the trip two days ago." Lynn said. "And I didn't tell anyone."

"Then while y'all think, Lynn and me goin' talk." Henry declared.

"What about?" Lynn asked.

"Girl, y'all almost got a lot of folks killed just so y'all could dance nekked by some stones." Henry said. "If that don't call for a switchin' then nothin' do."

"But... But I'm not a little girl." Lynn protested.

"Y'all think any of them is?" Henry demanded, waving his hand at three of the girls. "Cause I seen them nekked and I know they ain't. So get."

"But..."

"Iffing I has to drag y'all, then I will." Henry stated.

Not threatened or blustered but stated as fact.


Lynn believed that fact. So much so that she followed him bare foot in only an old cotton nightgown as her cousin led her behind the barn.

"Y'all can bend o'er that rail." Henry stated. "And hank up that dress. If y'all folks had done this years ago then maybe y'all wouldn't be dancin' nekked. Or maybe y'all would."

"What?" Lynn said.

Henry just shrugged.

"When a girl gets to be y'all's age then she dance anyway she wants." Henry said. "If'n it's okay with her man. Or for her man. Now get y'all ass over that while I cut the switch."

Lynn bent. She felt the impact before she heard it, but when she heard it the sound wasn't as meaty as the switchings the nightriders had given sounded.

"This ain't as cruel as y'all's kith got it." Henry confirmed. "Cause I'm correctin', not beatin', y'all. There be a difference."

The next blow landed on her left thigh, wrapping around her leg. Lynn yelped, but stayed in position. Blow after blow landed, provoking tears and sobs, squirms and kicks, but Lynn forced herself to stay bent over. After what had happened to Peggy, Monica, and Amber she felt that taking this almost juvenile punishment was the least she could do.


The others were still debating when a tearful Lynn returned. Janet couldn't help noticing that she was the only one of the five whose bottom hadn't been switched. A bottom that was currently covered only by the worn layer of cotton of her borrowed nightgown.

"I only told you girls." Peggy insisted. "The people on the grant committed didn't know where were going."

"We got a grant?" Amber asked.

"Just to cover the gas money, fuel for the stoves, and the food." Peggy revealed. "It less than $100. More petty cash gas money than a grant. And it was approved just two hours before I talked to you four."

"I didn't tell anyone about going dancing in the mountains by old stones." Monica said. "I couldn't. My dad's Baptist."

"I didn't know where we going until I saw a familiar road." Lynn sniffed.

"I didn't tell anyone." Janet added.

"Well, I knew where we were going but I didn't tell anyone." Amber said. "Um, just Double Double, but that was because I couldn't go to her party this weekend."

"Double Double?" Monica prompted. "What sized cup does she take?"

"It's her nickname, isn't it?" Peggy said slowly. "Because her initials are WW."

"That's it." Amber said with a smile. "You know her?"

"She was the eighth girl to sign up for this trip." Peggy said. "And she really wanted to go. Her first name is Wanda. I'm not sure what her last name is, but she wasn't happy when I told her that only the top four on the list could go."

"That would be Wanda Whitaker." Henry said with a nod. "She's away at school. Her brother John ain't."

"Wait, you mean... Because she was late signing up she called her brother and he..." Peggy said, putting the pieces together.

"And he did nothin'." Henry said. "The sooner y'all agree to that the sooner y'all can dress and go."

"We don't have any proof." Janet blurted out. "It's his word against ours. And how did we get free if we weren't rescued by people who are on the other side of the country?"

"So we do nothing?" Monica demanded. "We let them get away with it?"

"Get away with what? Nothing happened." Henry told them. "At least not last night."

Janet was the most eager, Monica the most reluctant, but eventually they all agreed that nothing happened. After that, they were allowed to dress and Henry drove them back to where Peggy had left her SUV, the girls having decided not to risk spending Saturday night in Misty Holler. Henry even stayed to help them stow their gear.

"Janet, you drive." Peggy instructed.

"Why me?" Janet asked.

"Because you're the only who can sit comfortably." Peggy said bluntly. "My ass is still throbbing and Lynn just went through hell and you're the only who can sit without squirming."

"Um, fair enough." Janet agreed.


What should have been a routine gas stop reminded them how far away from the real world they still were. As Janet was getting back into the SUV there was the sound of breaking glass. Glancing back she saw a man in sheriff's uniform walking slowly up the length of the SUV.

"Well, well missy. Looks like y'all need a new taillight. I'm goina have to write y'all up for that."

"Did that just happen?" Janet asked.

"Who knows? Now y'all not from around here. How do I know that y'all will pay that this here ticket?"

"Could we pay it now?" Peggy called from the car.

"Now did I just hear someone offering me a bribe? Because it sounds as if someone just offered a bribe. That would be a criminal offence it would."

"Um, I have relatives in the area." Lynn said. "Does that count?"

Her claim was met with a sneer.

"And just do you happen to be kin to?"

"The McIntires of McIntire Mountain." Lynn answered.

"The... are you sure bout that? How you kin to them?"

"On the mountain they call my grandfather Limping Frank." Lynn revealed. "My mother's his daughter Jane and..."

"Well we'll just make it a warning then."

Switching books, he started writing something else.

"Now this here's an official warning, dated today. If y'all get pulled over again y'all just show them this. Y'all got 14 days to get that fixed. Carry on."

With that the sheriff left and drove away.

"What the fuck was that?" Monica demanded,

"I think that was Sheriff Whitaker." Peggy answered slowly. "Who didn't get the message that Lynn here had some dangerous kin on a mountain around here."

"What would happened if Lynn hadn't been here." Amber asked.

"We would have ended up in a country jail." Peggy answered.

"Um, I've heard bad stories about county lockup." Lynn said. "We don't want anything to do with it."

"Did he really just brake Peggy's taillight?" Monica asked.

"Just drive off." Peggy said, squirming painfully in her seat. "The sooner we get home the sooner we can get back to the twenty-first century."


By Monday a rumour was going through campus. A juicy one about a wild lesbian S&M weekend in the woods paid for with grant money.

The five of them met for lunch in Tuesday.

"Is she that jealous about missing out on that trip?" Monica asked, finally able to sit comfortably.

"It was worth five bonus marks." Janet pointed out. "Maybe she really needed them for her GPA?"

"I pulled her marks." Peggy said. "She doesn't need them. And that taillight is still causing me problems. Every time I drive someone pulls me over and I have to show that notice. And when I hit the highway it's embarrassing."

"Embarrassing to have a broken..." Lynn began.

"No." Peggy blushed. "Every state trooper wants to know what I did to get off with a warning. Two of them even offered me mints, in case I still had a bad taste in my mouth from blowing the sheriff."

"What?" Amber demanded.

"I didn't look rich enough to slip him four figures so they assumed that I blew him." Peggy explained. "That's his racket. A ticket in that county is ten Benjamins, a BJ, or a weekend in jail."

"Is that legal?" Amber asked.

"Of course not!"

"Duh!"

"Get real."

"So what do we do?" Monica asked. "If this rumour gets back to my dad he'll kill me. Can you talk to her? Play up the shared background? You've got family there, she's got family there, smooth things out that way?"

"Um, I could try." Lynn offered.


The offer was turned down. Wanda (who bore a noticeable resemblance to her brother John) just laughed Lynn off.

"I wouldn't brag about that if I was you." Wanda laughed. "There's backwoods then there's mountain and Honey, nothing good ever came off mountain. Except for the shine. Your ape relatives make some mighty good shine but they're still inbred throwbacks. Now get away from me you predatory lesbian type. I don't want people to think I'm a hillbilly rug cruncher like you."


The following Tuesday brought another meeting of the survivors of Misty Holler.

"It's worse." Peggy said. "I've been approached to join PFLAG and speak at a power exchange meeting. All those years of working at keeping the concepts of wicca and lesbianism separate and now this!"

"Did you see the pictures on that site?" Monica moaned. "The guys in the hoods are all cropped out and you can see everything. Everything! My legs are open and you can see my everything just gapping wide open."

"We're all up there naked." Amber moaned. "Except for Janet and Lynn."

"You don't understand! You don't understand!" Monica howled. "My dad could see them! He surfs porn all the time."

"I thought you said he was Baptist?" Janet said.

"He is!" Monica exclaimed. "But he's a man and men surf porn. The Baptist ones just don't talk about it."

"But where did she get them? Lynn asked. "She wasn't there."

"Her brother was. He took them. Or someone with him." Monica said.

"No, it would have to be John." Janet said. "You were all lying there moaning but I saw the men. Once they knew who Lynn was they were scared. Only that John guy wanted to take on Lynn's family."

"Your family!" Monica said. "That's it! Reach out to the hillbilly mafia. Get Henry on the phone! Get them to shut Wanda done. Do it!"

"I can't." Lynn said. "Henry doesn't have phone. And he's not officially here."

"But you have to try!" Monica begged.

"You could try." Peggy suggested. "It's the only thing that might possibly work. I don't have the juice to do anything to her through college channels."

"But I don't even know them." Lynn protested. "I haven't seen any of them in years. They're just a haze of names and faces I used to see at family gathering."

"But you could try." Amber urged. "If I'm going to do porn then it's going to be my choice. Not that I want to, but if I did it wouldn't be this shit."

"But..." Lynn muttered.

"You could try." Janet said. Three girls stared at her. "Hey, you can see my face in some of those photos. It affects me too."

"Okay, maybe I could call someone and try to get some numbers." Lynn said. "But I can't mention porn."

"Why not?" Monica said.

Lynn blushed.

"Because the only one who might know those contact numbers is my mom." Lynn admitted. "And I'm not going to talk about porn with my mom. Not over this."

"So call already!" Monica urged.


The phone call brought a twenty minute lecture on the evils of moonshine. How it was illegal, usually poison, and she should stick to store brought liquor. It ended with:

"But if you really want to, I've got some numbers you can call. Tell them you're my daughter and they'll give you the good stuff at a nice price. But don't drink too much! It's much higher proof than anything you're used to."

Lynn called those numbers and those people out her through to others. And others. When a burner cell phone showed up at Lynn's dorm room, Lynn started wondering just how high tech her county kin were.

Wednesday brought a welcome return call and on Thursday a dusty old truck pulled up outside a college café.

"Hey Cousin Lynn." Henry said.

"Hey Cousin Henry." Lynn called, waving him to their table. "How was Oregon?"

"It was fine. Just got back. Y'all wanted to talk?"

Henry listened with wide ears.

"Y'all hold on. Y'all talked to this Wanda and nothin' happened? And that sheriff busted your taillight? That's a shame. A damn shame. And we McIntires, we don't handle shame well."

"So can you help us?" Peggy asked.

"Tell y'all what. Y'all drive to the Whitaker repair shop. Corner of Jefferson and Davis. I'll send y'all the numbers for that global shit system y'all collage folks use. Be there at 2:00 tomorrow. Not 1:55, not 2:05, 2:00. What model number's that truck? I'll call and make sure they got the parts."

"What's their estimate?" Peggy asked.

"For y'all? Free. Least they can do." Henry assured them.

"But..."

"Don't y'all worry. I'll handle things. The Whitaker might be big in town but sometimes us McIntires come down from the mountain." Henry said with a smile. "But if y'all excuse me, I got some jugs to deliver to frat house."

"What?" Lynn asked.

"Y'all think I'd waste a trip here?" Henry laughed. "Never kill one bird when y'all can kill a dozen. That's the trick; numbers matter."

Once he left, the girls discussed what to do The resulting debate wasn't a long. A morbid curiosity infected the group. They all wanted to know what Henry's plan was.

"And if he's right, if I can get it done for free, then I need it done for free." Peggy said. "It's under my deductible and I can't afford what the garage wants to charge for it."

"But we'll miss class." Janet said.

"Like you've never blown off Friday classes before." Monica laughed.

"Look, Lynn has to go because it's her family." Amber said. "Peggy has to go because it's her SUV, I'm going, Monica going, you have to go too. Do you want to see how this ends?"

"I do, I guess." Janet acquiesced. "Okay, I'm in. But this better not end in tears."


Using her GPS, Peggy arrived as close to 2:00 as she could. Driving into the Whitaker repair shop, the girls couldn't help noticing that it was opposite the county buildings. The county courthouse, sheriff's office, the county commissioner's office, the county hall of records - if it was county business then it was in that complex.

"What now?" Amber asked.

That was when a pick up trucked rolled up. Half a dozen men were sitting in the back of the truck, each of them looking as if he had just left the mountain. Then more trucks arrived. Soon there were more than forty men standing around, all of whom just happened to be toting rifles.

"Who are those people?" Monica asked nervously.

"I think they might be my relatives." Lynn offered.

"What are they doing here?" Peggy asked.

"Um, I think they're here to negotiate you getting a free repair job." Lynn said nervously.

"Oh shit, are they going to start shooting people?" Janet asked.

"Um, I hope not." Lynn said. "But they didn't tell me anything."

"I'm shutting my eyes." Janet announced. "If anything happens then I'm not seeing it."

"What do you mean?" Amber asked.

"I mean they decide there's not going to be any witnesses I'm not a witness." Janet said, holding her hands over her eyes.

"Oh fuck." Monica muttered. "Fuck. Oh fuck."

Various people started coming out of the county building. Within minutes there was a crowd of deputies on the courthouse steps. Most trucks arrived. More rifle toting men came with them. More heads poked out from the county building. Then Henry walked up the SUV and tapped on Lynn's window.

Lynn rolled it down.

"Hey Cousin Lynn." Henry said. "Y'all just sit a spell. Some men have talkin' ta do."

"Um, sure. Okay. We just wait here? Good." Lynn stammered.

With that, Henry sauntered over to the county building as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Um, is going to come back?" Amber asked.

"If he doesn't, we leave, right?" Janet suggested.


Most times the room was used by lawyers meeting with their clients, but today it had a more important function. County Commissioner Whitaker, Sheriff Whitaker, and old Jack Whitaker said on one side of the table. Henry relaxed on the other.

"D'y'all think we'll counting the number of guns y'all got out there?" Sheriff Whitaker asked. "One call from me and the state police will flood the town."

"Guns?" Henry snorted. "Them's just huntin' rifles. Y'all gots nothing against huntin' d'y'all? Countin' men with guns went out with the old days. Like the days of G-men disappearing in the woods, they went out with the nightriders."

Sheriff Whitaker flinched at that.

"If they ain't men with guns, what are they?" Commissioner Whitaker asked.

"Them? Why they voters." Henry revealed. "Every last one of them. And that's the difference between the McIntire and the Whitakers. Y'all gots three things to worry about but us, we only gots two. The important things, them business and kin, but y'all gots to worry about business, kin, and voters. And them ain't happy voters. No sir they ain't."

"Business and kin, that's what's important." Commissioner Whitaker agreed. "Do we have a problem here?"

"I don't know, do we?" Henry asked. "Cause folks are worried. Very worried. Y'all does like shippin' our shine, don't y'all? Cause some folk are wonderin' and the wonderin' has turned to talkin'."

"Cut the bullshit." Jack Whitaker said, who hadn't held any elected office in more than 20 years; he didn't need the support of the voters to call the shots. "I ain't getting no younger here. What y'all talkin' about? Who's all talkin'? Y'all have heard of phones ain't y'all?"

"Ole Jasper's one of them talkin'. Folk his type. Limping Frank's concerned here."

The old man snorted.

"Frank? What's his problem?" Jack Whitaker demanded.

"He wants to know if he's expectin' y'alls cash this month. If'n not, he's goin' have to shift stuff to cover it not bein' there." Henry revealed.

"Why would Limping Frank be worryin' about that?" Jack Whitaker demanded.

"Well the girl's his granddaughter, ain't she?"

Sheriff Whitaker looked away.

"Is that it? One of our boys sniffing round one of y'alls girls?" Jack Whitaker asked. "Shit, that's nothing. If'n she's in the family way and don't wants marryin' our doctor will see things right. Nice and safe with no records. None."

"Y'all sayin' y'all didn't know about the nightriders going on McIntire Mountain, trying to see to Limping Frank's daughter's girl?" Henry asked.

"What?" Jack Whitaker asked. Turning to the sheriff, he asked: "Y'all gots something to tell me boy?"

"Um, that is..."

"We got 50, 60 McIntires down off the mountain and talkin' bout voting for someone else and y'all knew this shit was comin'?" Jack Whitaker demanded. "We got Limping Frank worrying bout still being our banker and y'all didn't think to mention this? How long y'all been keepin' this secret?"

Jack Whitaker turned his head back to Henry.

"How long?" Jack Whitaker demanded.

"Two week ago tonight, somethin' happened on the mountain." Henry said. "It weren't nothing much. We thought it ended there, but y'alls kin ain't letting it drop. Shit, I even said I didn't heard one y'alls calling a McIntire girl a slut just so could end right. But y'alls kin won't it let go. Even though they know it's our kin they messin' with. And there too much business tween us to let idiots go on bein' idiots."

"Couldn't have said it better me self." Jack Whitaker nodded. "Which idiots did what?"

"Limping Frank's girl's girl was doin' somethin' weird for her college shit. Whatever. Who cares? She's young and stupid." Henry revealed. "Y'alls Young John led some nightriders to see to them. Now then, Young John didn't know the girl was our kin and he started with the others first so no real harm done. We told them to go, they left, and I gave my Cousin Lynn a switchin' for her bit in startin' the trouble. Everyone, from Ole Jasper to Limping Frank, thought it done with. Not worth mentionin'. Nothing to say at the monthly parley."

"I heard parts of that." Commissioner Whitaker said. "Nothing worth talking business about. You saying that bit isn't over and done?"

"We thought it was. Even got the other girls to forget bout the switchin' some of them took." Henry said. "Then, on their way back to school, someone busted the taillight on their truck."

"It was an SUV." Sheriff Whitaker said in a heavy voice. "And God as my witness I didn't know she was kin of y'alls. Young John forgot to mention that part. I let them off with a warnin'. For free."

"Then when my kin got back, y'alls kin started spreading rumours." Henry continued. "Sayin' they was up the mountain playin' girl on girl games. Now I don't care much if'n my cousin munches more rug than a bedbug in a carpet store. Long as she marries up a good man and raises her a bunch of babies she can have the girl fun she wants if'n she wantin' that. And I don't know if'n she even likes girls and won't bother askin', but to sit by while one of y'alls slanders one of mine? Ain't right."

"Who's doing the talking?" Jack Whitaker demanded.

"Young John's sister Wanda." Henry said.

"Now that I didn't know." Sheriff Whitaker said.

"This part is news to me." Commissioner Whitaker agreed.

"She the one who set Young John on them." Henry told them. "But she didn't know my kin was involved, not then. But my kinfolk went to her and introduced herself. And this is after Young John knew."

"And the girl didn't back off?" Sheriff Whitaker asked.

"She upped things. Went and made them worse."

"Maybe she didn't believe y'alls girl?" Commissioner Whitaker suggested.

"Then she don't believe her brother neither." Henry said. "Cause he gave her some photos he took and she put them on some computer site thing. Now my kin's nekked ass ain't there, but her kith's are. And Young John, I told him she was kin, told him me self to his face, so he know that."

"I see." Jack Whitaker said. "Where we at?"

"Here's the get: we make shine, y'all move shine." Henry began. "Y'all want votes, we vote for y'all. Lots of business here to get caught up in a catfight. From us, we promise business as always. No trouble from my kin for y'alls kin. We smooth the rug and forget it all. Sound good?"

"And we give?" Jack Whitaker asked.

"First, that truck's over there waitin' for a new light. A free one." Henry said.

"I'll pay for it me self." Sheriff nodded.

"Second, Young John gets a talk." Henry listed. "One from y'alls folk, not mine. We don't need stupid shits messin' with real business."

"Agreed." Commission Whitaker said. "I know just the boys. They didn't like hearing they almost saw to a McIntire and on McIntire Mountain no less. They'll be too happy to explain things to him. Let him know that fun isn't as important as business."

"Keep it gentle." Sheriff Whitaker instructed.

"Nothing to the face, no broken bones, maybe some cracked ribs." Commission Whitaker said, looking to Henry. "Will that settle things?"

"For Young John, sure." Henry nodded. "We don't want him thinkin' bout us every time he misses a tooth or the rain gets to his old break actin' up. As long as y'all get his attention and remind the boy who made the shine that paid for his new car."

"Where we at now?" Jack Whitaker asked.

"Y'all needs to see y'alls girl." Henry said.

"That's it?" Jack Whitaker demanded.

"We took our cat out of the fight, y'all do the same and we count this up ta young folks bein' stupid." Henry said. "Nothin' to hurt our business."

"Nothin' to hurt the business." Jack Whitaker said. "Agreed."

"One last thing." Henry said, rising. "What y'all said before? Bout one y'alls marrying up one of ours? Not while we got huntin' rifles. No McIntire is goina marry Whitaker scum. Not this year, not ever. Just so we clear on that."

"Why you little..." Sheriff Whitaker began.

"Enough!" Jack Whitaker thundered. "Last time, when one of theirs started that mess, we were the ones who said the marryin' speech then. This time our kin started so they say it. We ain't marryin' them, they ain't marryin' us, and this BS is settled. Get that truck fixed and end this shit."

Janet exhaled as she watched the men loading up and leave. Henry dropped by to let them know that the matter was settled and that he would see them again for coffee, same time and place on Monday. Less than an hour later they drove away with new taillight and free tank of gas in their tank.


Wanda Whitaker was worried, but not too worried. The phone call said that her brother was fine, that he was in the hospital more a precaution than any real reason. The sheriff had sent her a couple of deputies drive her over to see him, but that wasn't a big deal. Wanda considered most of the deputies to her personal chauffeurs; she had spent more in the back of these cars than the town drunks did. Especially on Friday nights when her dad wanted the boys to remember that if you messed with a Whitaker girl there was a county jail cell with your name on.

"So what did John want to talk to me about?" Wanda asked. "Why didn't he just text me?"

"I believe his hands were banged up a might."

"A bit." Wanda corrected. "Not a might, a bit."

The deputies laughed a bit at that.

"A bit then. Now y'all don't worry none. We be takin' y'all where y'all need to go."

"First, there's only one of me so I'm not an 'all'." Wanda began. "And nothing sounds more ignorant than dropping your g's. Do I need to talk to the sheriff about remedial speech training for his deputies?"

The two men laughed again.

"No miss, y'all don't need to be worryin' bout us gettin' trained."

"It sounds as if I might." Wanda warned them.

The deputies laughed again. Which was annoying. Wanda wasn't used to people laughing when she wasn't telling a joke. Not people who worked for Sheriff Whitaker or any other Whitaker. Or anyone who knew what being Whitaker meant in some parts of the state. They might be the poorer, less important parts of the state, but these deputies were from that part of the state. They should be respecting her, not humouring her.

"What happen to John anyway?" Wanda asked.

"Him? Oh, fell down the jailhouse steps."

"Steps?" Wanda asked.

"Yeah, he fell a couple of times."

"Maybe three or four."

"But the ..." Wanda began to say.

Something clicked in Wanda's mind. The men were laughing at her. Her brother had 'fallen' down the jailhouse steps. But the jailhouse didn't have any steps. That was something the deputies said when someone showed up at court covered with bruises.

"Um, maybe we should stop at the next rest stop?" Wanda suggested. "I kind of have to go."

The deputies laughed.

"Hold it. Or don't. Won't be the first one pissin' back there."

"You're shitheads, you know?" Wanda told them. "When the sheriff hears about this you are going to be in so much trouble."

"Y'all just calm down. The sheriff was there when the orders got given. He nodded along. All the Whitakers did."

Wanda screamed and started to pound on the windows. The deputies just laughed at her antics.


The ride ended at a torch lit clearing on a backwoods road. The deputies remotely triggered the locks on the rear doors.

"I do believe this is y'alls stop. Have fun."

"No!" Wanda cried. "No, you can't leave me here."

Then a moment of relief. Her Cousin Glen walking towards. Wanda scrambled out the door.

"Glen! Thanks God! Glen there's been a huge mistake! Something's wrong. Really wrong." Wanda cried.

"Sure as shit it is." Glen said with a grin. "D'y'all hear about the hundred angry mountain men who showed up in town today? All them carrying guns."

"What? Was anyone killed? Why didn't that make the news?" Wanda demanded.

"Because important people decided that talking was more important than settling things the old way." Glen told her. "Some of the boys had a talk to John about things. Important things. Like how the family business works."

"They said he was hurt." Wanda blurted out.

"Well it was that type of talk." Glen said with a smile. "And if we hadn't done then maybe he'd have him a hunting accident and that would have caused real trouble so we put him in the hospital for his own good. Just to keep peace with the McIntires."

"But... But the McIntires are scum!" Wanda protested. "Mountain scum."

"Now it's time for you to learn a bit about the family business. See, that scum sells us their shine and we resell it at a profit. We hate them, they hate us, but we make money together. Lots and lots of money. Enough money that we work with people we hate." Glen explained. "And a pair schoolgirls having a catfight, that ain't going to threaten our business. Do y'all understand?"

"But she's a slut and she's after my girlfriend." Wanda protested. "I mean she's a no good piece of mountain trash. She probably started doing her own cousins when she was 12. She's not worth nothing."

"No, she ain't." Glen said with a smile. "She ain't worth threatening millions in business over. Oh, I need all of your account names and passwords."

"What are you talking about?"

"Those photos you posted. They're coming down tonight. Oh, I know, that won't mean anything. Once they are on the net they stay on the net, but you know the old folk. They think this will matter."

"But..."

"All it will mean is that it's not coming from your account anymore. So, those account details?"

"No fucking way." Wanda said.

"So you'll me afterwards. No big deal." Glen said with a smile.

"After what?"

"See, it's time someone had a talk with you." Glen said. "I hate to see this happen, especially to kin, but the nightriders seem to have your name."

"What? But there aren't any nightriders. Not real ones." Wanda said, backing away from her cousin. "That's just something John threw together."

That was when the police car drove away, leaving her stranded there.

"What goes around comes around." Glen said. "See, y'all almost got these here men shot on that mountain and they want to thank you for that. Don't worry, it's just the switching. And maybe some time on the rail, but only if you don't give me the details now. Wait for them to start switching you and it's too late."

"No, you've got to be joking!" Wanda screamed, turning and running blindly into the night.


They easily caught her and dragged her back to the clearing. They were laughing as they pulled her dress and slip off. They left her bra on, but chuckled as they removed her designer panties and stockings.

"No! You can't do this me!" Wanda screamed. "I'm Whitaker! A fucking Whitaker! I own you! You fuckers work for me!"

"Wanda, Wanda, Wanda." Glen chided. "Why are y'all making their job so much easier? I'm sure that some of them would have been reluctant to do this but then y'all had to make it easy for them."

"I'll get you all for this!" Wanda screamed as they lashed her over the makeshift rail.

"No, y'all wouldn't." Glen said. "See, that's why they wear masks. Y'all won't know who did what."

"Let me up!" Wanda insisted. "You! I know you! Glen, I'll get you for this!"

"Hold up a spell boys." Glen said. "It's important that she hears this. Wanda, stop shouting and put your listening ears on. Calm down. Now calm down. Y'all calm down and just listen."

Wanda calmed as much as she could and prepared for her release.

"Good, now listen. Do you like working tables? Scrubbing floors? Doing shit work?" Glen asked. "Because if y'all come after me for just doing what the old men said to do then that's what's going to happen. They'll pull y'alls college money. They'll show y'all the door and cut y'all off from every penny. They'll see y'all go on food stamps just to teach y'all a lesson. Y'all and every other girl y'all's age."

"You're joking. They can't cut me off. They can't." Wanda insisted.

"Y'all don't understand how much money was at stake." Glen told her. "Weren't y'all listening? I said millions. Not one million, millions! That's the money that pays for your schooling and lots of other things. Y'all forgot where y'all come from. Now y'all is getting a reminder."

"But she's mountain scum! Just scum and..."

"Okay, y'all can start now."

"But AHHH! You fucking can't do OOHHH let me up you fucking AHHH stop!" Wanda screamed.

They were treating her more gently than they had the girls at Misty Holler, but not by much. They checked the switches for thorns and didn't lean into it as much, but they weren't trying to make it painless. No, they were mostly worried about scarring. Permanent marks on a bunch of strange girls was nothing to worry about but scarring a Whitaker's pretty little tail could be a bad life move.

"Hold a moment." Glen said.

Wanda gasped, her head swimming, as the switch stop falling.

"Wanda, y'all ready to tell me about y'alls accounts?" Glen asked.

"Go to hell!"

The boys didn't need to be told to start switching again. The next blow came down on her thighs and Wanda's screams reached a new volume.

Glen had to ask twice more, and each refusal brought three more blows from the switch, before Wanda gave up the details.

"Let me check. Y'all wouldn't think we got coverage here, but we do." Glen said, accessing the net. "Nope, that's the wrong password."

"Wait, no!" Wanda wailed. "It's OOOHH! Stop!"

The next time, a sobbing Wanda gave her cousin the correct passwords, volunteering her yahoo and gmail information unasked.

"That checks out." Glen said. "Okay, y'all can start again. And don't worry about stopping till y'all done."

"What! But I gave you the passwords!" Wanda sobbed.

Glen held up a hand to stall things for a moment.

"Wanda, Wanda, Wanda." Glen chided. "Y'all never did listen well. Y'all here to be taught a lesson. Getting the account details, they is just icing on the cake."

Wanda screamed when the switching started again. She sobbed and begged and wailed, but all her antics did was to entertain her tormentors. After a look at Glen and getting a nod, one of the men reached down and teased finger inside the quaking girl.

"Kind of wet, but she ain't a dripping. Maybe she ain't into this?"

"I didn't think she was." Glen said. "Get a couple new switches. Just tap at her to keep her attention as we wait."

"Tap or swat?"

"Whichever." Glen answered. "Just don't let her get bored."

And they didn't. They kept up a gentle, steady switching until a stretch limo pulled into the clearing.


A pair of well dressed ladies sprang out of the car, then stopped and stared gawk-eyed at the scene before them. Other women, ones dressed in trashy clothes, soon followed.

"Look's like someone got herself taught a lesson."

"Good for her."

"Them boys look worked up."

"Looks like someone got herself a whuppin'."

"Just so y'all know I charge extra for that."


"Claire, Kate?" Glen said, going up to the well dressed woman.

"What is this?" Claire asked.

"Is this some sort of joke?" Kate asked.

"I don't do non-consensual stuff." Claire clarified.

"Ah, you weren't filled in on the script." Glen said. "Sorry about that. Okay, here's the deal. That's Wanda Whitaker, one of Sheriff Whitaker's favourite relatives."

"Oh my God, does he know?" Claire gasped.

"He planned the entire night here. See, the girl needs to be taught a lesson." Glen explained. "Now there's two choices here. Y'all can play the roles y'all were hired for and collect y'alls money or we use local talent and y'all can spend six months in county lockup."

"The sheriff can't do that, can he?" Kate asked.

"In this county the Whitakers can do what they want." Claire told her. "And if that's a Whitaker girl then we need to watch out. They run the county. They have since the Chambers lost it back in 1920s."

"Ah, the Chambers." Glen nodded. "That family actually supported Prohibition. A shame about most of them ending dead that way. Now, y'all going to earn that $5000 fee and the film bonus or are y'all heading to jail for hooking?"


It wasn't a hard choice. The hooded men shuffled off to be entertained by the local talent (supplied by a cat house that the Whitakers had an interest in) while the call girls removed their dresses (revealing lingerie and stockings) and got into their roles. Claire overcame her morals enough to join Kate in switching Wanda a bit then lovingly lifted her from the rail.

"We got one more thing to do." Glen said. "Okay, get her on the rail. Not too long. We don't need to damage her plumping."

"Rail?" Claire asked.

"If y'all want to try it out then we can do that." Glen told her. "Course you'll be up there longer than my cousin."

"No, that's okay." Claire said, flashing a charming smile. "I've done it before."

"Y'all have?" Glen asked.

"During a re-enactment I did the whole bit." Claire revealed. "Time in the stocks, a strapping at a whipping pole, tarring and feathering, then I rode the rail for an hour as they carried me around town. It was $30,000 for the day and completely consensual."

"What y'all is saying y'all knows how to earn y'alls money." Glen said.

"No, please..." Wanda moaned as they put her on the rail.

"To earn my money and do it with safewords and everyone wanting to be there." Claire replied. "That's how I work."

"What was the re-enactment?" Glen asked.

"Noo!" Wanda howled, feeling her lips wrap around the rail. "Put me down!"

"I was Northern sympathiser in the Old South." Claire revealed. "Which was much more politically correct than punishing a slave girl. Yes, they told us the as they talked about doing that but decided using a white girl would cause less of a fuss."

"Please! It hurts" Wanda whined, her weight resting on the rail. "I told you the passwords. I told you!"

"Can we book you for something like that?" Glen asked with a smile.

"To be honest, after this, no. I told you I work with safewords. If I had said the safewords I would have been let go but only paid $5,000, not the $30,000 for the day." Claire said. "And I have the feeling that if I were to use the safeword at one of your events I'd be moaning 'but I told you the password' and maybe if my name wasn't Whitaker I'd be ending the day in the county jail."

"Smart girl." Glen chuckled.

"Please! It's splitting me." Wanda sobbed. "It's splitting me in two."

"But the password thing, that was an offer." Glen told the call girls. "If she told us where some embarrassing porn was stashed before we started switching then she wouldn't have to ride the rail. She didn't so she does."

"For how long?" Kate asked.

"A few more minutes." Glen said. "When a girl is a favourite relative of Sheriff Whitaker and she's still being put through this then it's important that she learns her lesson now. Otherwise, well she doesn't want to know what a second lesson would involve."


Wanda was torn, her emotions mixing. On one hand there was the throbbing pain from her switching mixed with the agony of her weight coming down on the rail, but there was where the weight was resting. The way it was rubbing her. Rubbing her as they carried the rail and she bounced along on it.

Then a miracle happened. They lowered her to the ground and let her off. Unlike Lynn, Wanda tried to rub the soreness out.

Then the call girls descended on Wanda, lovingly rubbing a cream onto her switched backside. Kissing and stroking her and muttering comforting words. Wanda tried to pull away, but Kate held a jar of corn whiskey to Wanda's mouth and fed it to her. Wanda choked a bit, but she gulped down the whiskey. She wanted the numbness that the drink would bring. She wanted it enough to accept the strangers' hands on her. In her. She nuzzled them back, her lips finding Claire's breast. With Wanda groping at Kate's panties, Claire had to rethink Wanda's involvement. Maybe the girl was up for the switching, maybe she wasn't, but Claire found Wanda eager for the mock sex afterwards.

Eager enough that it stopped being playacting.

Glen shrugged. A scene like that might bother some people, but he didn't care what his cousin did or who she did it with. Maybe it would help her accept what was coming, maybe it wouldn't, but Glen didn't care. He was doing his job for the family and that was that mattered.


Monday found Henry pulling into the café again.

"Hey Cousin Lynn." Henry called again.

"Hey Cousin Henry." Lynn called back, pointing out an empty seat at the table.

"The man of the hour." Janet said.

"I've got my rep back." Peggy said with a smile. "Well, some it."

"You got the porn of me off the net before my dad saw it." Monica smiled.

"And Double Double got it worse that we did." Amber smiled.

"So, y'all happy with how thing worked out?" Henry asked.

"You mean Wanda doing a lizzie porn video?" Lynn asked. "Or her getting switched?"

"Both." Henry said. "It's only fittin'. Y'all got switched over it, she got switched, the scale balanced out. She called y'all a lesbian and then she did that video. Balance."

"And her butt's taking longer to heal than my did." Amber said with a smile.

"How do you know?" Monica asked.

"Because I've been spreading cream on it." Amber answered.

The table fell silent.

"Um, Amber?" Lynn started. "Is Wanda your girlfriend?"

"Not really." Amber answered. "Just at times. We aren't exclusive or anything."

"So this whole thing..." Janet began.

"Was made worse by that, maybe, but I think Wanda was mostly upset that I excluded her from the trip." Peggy said. "If this was about Amber then Amber wouldn't have been switched on that trip."

"Whatever." Henry said. "It done with. Fore I forget, I got one last thing to even the scales. A jug for each y'all."

"A jug of what?" Monica asked.

"Just a jug of somethin' smooth." Henry said with a wink.

"It's still not fair." Monica pouted. "We were attacked all we can do is drown our sorrows. Just because the Whitakers own that county."

"They don't own it." Henry laughed. "No more than the Chambers owned it. Now the Chambers, they used to run the town back when but they forgot who owns the mountains. Then they stopped runnin' things and the Whitakers took o'er. And if'n the Whitakers forget, then someone else takes o'er. Maybe by votes, maybe not."

"The Chambers?" Amber asked. "Who are they?"

"They ran the county back a while ago. Then the McIntires decided they had to go and the Whitakers stepped up." Henry told. "Now let's head to the truck so y'all can get y'alls jugs."

As they fetched the jugs, Lynn couldn't help wondering what sort of games Amber and Wanda got up to. To wonder if maybe they sometimes involved switches or belts or paddles or rules or any of the countless ways a girl's bottom could turn red. Everyone said that college was a time to experiment and maybe, just maybe she would use the moonshine as an excuse to do some experimenting of her own.

Even if she just gargled with it, if she smelled and acted drunk then no one could hold anything she did against her, could they?

Lynn carried her clear plastic jug back to her room and thought long and hard about that question.