Fire in the Hole

Tattoo, fascinated by the hole being dug under his scrotum. Became worried. Fear grips him. He looks into the steel grey eyes of Kisten and could not read him. &quote;What are you digging the hole for?&quote; in a drawl Kisten spoke. &quote;I asked you a question, mister. You refused to answer. You said that I cannot make you talk. I say I can make you sing. What I am going to do to you now has never been done by anybody else. Never been in the newspapers and never in the books I have read. This is torture in the first degree. Invented by me.&quote; Kisten sets light to the tinder. Sees the blue flames. &quote;You will never be a whole man again.&quote;