The reason I was looking jubilant was because I had survived my sophomore year at Good Ol' P.U.
They say that anyone who makes it though their sophomore year successfully has a better than average chance of graduating.
At any rate, it was the summer vacation and I was looking for a job.
What I wanted was something that required neither brains nor brawn and, as luck would have it,
there was this guy at the student union who said he could have something for me.

It turned out that this job wasn't for just anybody.
To begin with, the Asylum was a spooky looking place that you wouldn't want to visit any time after dark.
My would-be employer said that wasn't a bad attitude - most people wouldn't set foot inside the place in broad daylight!

The exterior was a piece of cake! Heck! I'd been working around the yard since I was ten ...
But the interior was something else again! That was where the real grunt work was.
We weren't expected to redecorate the place or anything - our assignment was just to get the place cleaned up before the new tenants moved in.
We certainly had our work cut out for us!

I had to learn my way around ...
A guy had to be damned careful not to get himself lost ...

There was just no way of knowing who or what you might find waiting for you in one of those abandoned rooms!

It wasn't all gouls and ghosts though by any means!
Heck! There was even a piano standing in the music room.
It stood there silently for the most part ...
Except for the times at night when I could swear that someone was up there in the Music Room playing Chopsticks around 4:00 AM!
But I've gotten ahead of myself ... That came way later ...

I found this antique stretcher in one of the rooms and the boss told me to keep it as he was certain that the "slab wagon",
as he called it, was sure to come in handy once the new operation was up and running ...

When I asked him what would anyone do with a thing like that stretcher, his answer was:

Didn't anybody tell you?

And when I assured him that nobody told me nothin' - I just work here ... He went on to explain:

This here Insane Asylum is gonna be the last stop for the wimmen that are brung here!

Last Stop? As in Penitentiary?

Last Stop as in Executed m'man!

Executed!? Isn't that illegal in this state?

I shouldn't wonder but that it is ... Thass why we're in this here out-of-the-way place of residence, y'see!

I asked him if we were expected to kill these women and his reaction was something like ...

Aw, Hell no! No such luck!
That's this guy's job!
He's the Executioner!
Fact is ... That's about all he does around here!
We're just the grunts here y'know!
But we get to stand around and watch while he does the killin'!
An' we get to dig the graves - or one big pit if there happens t'be a whole lot of 'em executed that day!

When I said that digging holes sounded like a lot of work, he hastened to add in words to the effect:

Oh, but don't take me wrong!
It ain't all bad by no means!
We get our share of good times too!
Y'see, nobody cares how long the bodies are above ground ...
Jus' as long as they don't hang around too long - if you ketch my drift!
So we get to play with 'em some!
An' then we build us a Body Pile!

I had neither built nor seen a pile of bodies of any kind as far as I knew ...
But then - this entire experience was new to me!

The Executioner was quite proud of the weapon he used.
It was a zip gun that he had made himself at some point earlier in his career.
I was led to believe that he loaded the bullets it used himself.
It was neither of a high caliber nor was it particularly accurate.
But it never failed to fire ...
And since I never saw him any more than six feet away from his victim when he shot her in the chest,
the limitations inherent in his choice of weapon didn't seem to matter to any great extent.

The day came when we were instructed to dig what amounted to a fair sized trench in the burying ground out back of the Asylum buildings.
The place had been unkept for years and the digging was hard work.
But as we went about our task my partner was quite cheerful and I asked him why ...

Because Amigo, the word is that our Executioner has no fewer than five Amazons t'gun down!
An' this'll be your first time t'see the man in action!
Ain't that a hoot?
Y'lucky dog - you!

Having seniority and in as much as he was the Head Body-Handler, the Executioner gave my partner the opportunity to choose the order of execution.

Let's plug the biggest one first ... And then the next biggest on down the line!

I made no comment but he seemed to feel that he owed me an explanation.

It's easier t'stack 'em up that way!
Saves your back!
Y'wouldn't want t'have t'heft this one on top 'a the heap, would you?
Not if y'got any sense, y'wouldn't!

At a range that was little more than point blank the Executioner raised his weapon and shot the woman in the chest.
The gun made surprizingly little noise even enclosed as we were in that basement room.
Even without a suppressor, the gun made so little noise that we could hear the thump the bullet made as it struck the Amazon on the sternum.
She stood her ground momentarily as an open-mouthed expression of astonishment crossed her face.

She cringed slightly as she apparently realized what had just happened to her ...
But she continued to stand her ground as though expecting to take a second slug.

It seemed to me that the Amazon was almost begging for another round ...
But then her knees began to buckle ...
I remember the Executioner saying that
I rarely give them more than one slug!
Anything more is just a waste!
Besides ... I have to reload my own shells!

By now the Amazon had toppled back and was all but down ...
And I heard my partner muttering beside me,
If only I had me a pike, I'd drive it through her navel!

And now the Amazon was down writhing about on the floor ...

It looks as though that's about all she wrote, I recall the Executioner saying.

You guys get yourselves busy and drag her out of here while I get my gun loaded for the next one!

Okay! Lay a-hold and let's go!

Take it easy!
Don't break your back!
Right here's good enough!

She ought'a make a good base for our body-pile!

C'mon! Let's get back!
We'll miss out on the next one if the man's trigger finger gets itchy!

I didn't really believe that the Executioner would start without us ...
There was no reason to rush ...
And I think he enjoyed an appreciative audience!

But we must have kept them waiting for a while ...
When we arrived back in the Execution Area, the next Amazon was already in position ...
And it seemed that the woman was offering up a prayer to whatever pagan gods she worshipped.

And then she squared her shoulders and looked the Executioner strainght in the eye!

The Amazon stood there sticking out her chest as though she dared the Executioner to shoot her there as he had his first victim ...

The Executioner took his time siting his gun ...
He was at it so long that I was beginning to feel a bit nervous!
Was this for real?
Or was it just part of an act the man was putting on for her beneift and ours?

When at last the zip gun fired, the Amazon wasn't the only startled individual in the room!

She now had what at first glance was a second red navel!

For there was a small neat red hole below her navel - precisely in the middle of her lower belly!

Though her knees were slowly buckling, the Amazon continued to offer her bosom - as though she were pleading to be shot there as well!

Somewhat to our suprize, the Executioner violated what had been one of his own cardinal rules ...
He fired a second round ...
And the pellet stuck the woman in her left breast - all but destroying the nipple that lay in its path!

The very fact that the woman could continue to stand under the impact of the Executioner's bullets
proved to me that the caliber and hence the stopping power of this home-made gun was quite low.

For a moment it appeared as though the Amazon herself were wondering why there wasn't more blood issuing from her wound!

But on some level she must have realized that her wound was mortal ...

She tried to clasp her wounded breast but couldn't for her strength failed her ...

And her arms fell away as she sagged toward the floor!

Whether her final arch was due to her pain or some desperate attempt at seduction we will never know ...

For she held that pose for only a moment ...

Before sagging back to lay dead on the floor.

You broke the Rules! I remember my partner playfully chiding the Executioner.

Hey! I was my rule to break! The man responded.

The way she was sticking her chest out at me - I just had to do her in the belly!

Besides! I ordinarily don't want to shoot them anywhere in the breasts!
It leaves you guys with that much less to play with!

Now make yourselves useful and drag this one out of here!
We've only just begun!

How do we want to place her?
I recall asking my partner as we hauled the second corpse into our play-room.
Swing 'er legs to your left an' over top of the other one! came the reply.

Okay now! Easy does it!

There we are! Nice as can be!

Easy playin' with her belly, fella!
I was admonished. Caught red-handed as it were ...
Get too much blood on your hands and it makes 'em slipperier than all get-out!

We had the basis of a fine body pile, there was no denying that!

There is something that I find to be irresistable about an arched female figure!

Full breasts are a fine attribute in and of themselves,
but they really aren't all that I admire ...

No ... Rather it is the entire arrangement of the upper torso
when it has been expanded to its fullest and properly arranged!

I was so long staading in admiration of the second addition to our body pile that my partner had gone back without me.
I hurried back to the Execution Area and found that I had arrived only just in time!
A slender black woman had assumed the Amazonic attitude of offering herself to the inevitable ...

I had hardly taken up my position and hadn't in fact yet caught my breath ...
When the Executioner's shot sounded and the Amazon howled as the slug struck her squarely in the chest!

I hope she can grunt for us! I recall my partner saying.

Man! But you ain't heard nothin' until y'hear the way these soul sistahs can grunt, gurgle an' carry-on!

I think it mus' be genetic! They got it in their blood!

More likely in their vocal chords, I calmly voiced ny opinion.
That and maybe singing gospel in their church choir ...

What the Hell are you talkin' about Mister?
These women is Amazons!
They ain't got no church!

Okay boys!
Let's cut the small talk and shake a leg and get her outta here!
We still got two more to go!

This one is gonna make a real nice contrast to the others we got here!
My partner offered something in words to that effect as we laid the latest addition atop our growing pile.

There! Does that satisfy you?
Is her chest stickin' out far enough to suit you? My partner egged me on.

Suit me? I should say it did!
I can well recall the time when a negro co-worker and I were sitting around gassing away to our heart's content during a coffee break.
There came a brief lull in our conversation and Clarence looked over at me and said,
It just don't make no difference to you, does it?
It was years before I had a clue as to what he meant, but now I do.
And the answer is,
No Clarence, it doesn't make the slightest bit of difference to me ... Never has and I hope it never will!
To my way of thinking, fine looking women come in virtually every size, shape, and color ...
And were a female alien to land somewhere and she were blue or green,
it might take me aback a bit at first, but it wouldn't put me off any at all!

I had to tear myself way from the display in our play room in order to get back to the Execution Area in time ...

A beautiful mulatto girl was in the process of offering up a last-minute prayer to her Goddess.

I have no idea whether or not her prayers were answered as the Executioner's bullet hit her solidly beneath her breast-bone ...

I had an idea that the girl must have been quite literally dead on her feet ...

But then, these Amazons could be almost unbelievably tough at times!

And I could see that the Executioner was really enjoying himself watching the girl go down ...

And I could understand why from his point of view that he used a gun of such a low caliber ...

The three of us continued to watch as with one last half-hearted arch, the young Amazon expired.

Don't get weary in well-doing now guys! The Executioner offered by way of encouragement.
There's only one more to go!

I heard you refer to this one as a mulatto back there! I remember my partner calling me to task.

It's a perfectly acceptable term, isn't it? I responded in my own defense.

To you an' me it is, yes.
To them it isn't.
It's become some kind of racial slur and they prefer "mixed race"!

I stood corrected.
Still and all it seemed kind of too bad to me to have a perfectly proper word degraded through usage.

I mean ... Hell ... No one gets to pick their parents, do they?

No ... Of course not ...

So how can I or anyone else for that matter ...
Hold someone accountable for something when they had no say in the matter?

I had to cut my philosophizing short ...
And even so I only managed to arrive back in the Execution Area in a nick of time!

Now this little lady, The Executioner was saying, Was the brains of their outfit.
According to the Asylum's Warden, who is a reformed Amazon herself and so understands their lingo ...
Their hunting party took it upon themselves to venture across the border from Amazonia
because here we have the Land of Milk and Honey, according to all the reports they had.
Sure enough, the first game they encountered was a small herd of a rancher's livestock.
They killed one of the cows, which they found a might easier to stalk than any deer.
And they might have gotten away with it if they hadn't stopped to light a small fire to cook their beef and eat it on the spot.

The rancher spotted the smoke from their fire and came out to investigate.
I guess he must have lodged some form of protest over his loss and the matter escalated.
Even then things mightn't have gotten out of hand had they been able to understand one another ...
But of course they couldn't and the upshot of the matter was that they left that rancher
bristling with so many arrows in him that the coroner said he resembled one of his grandmother's pin cushions.

And so here we all were ...
And I guess no amount of prayer was going to find her acceptable ...
And this little woman would remain defiant to the end!

She'd been looking downright cocky ...
But the Executioner knocked the wind out of her sails when his well-aimed shot struck her precisely in the navel!

The Amazon gasped ...

And at the same time a look of utter incredulousness remained frozen on her face.

But then like the others, her kness began to buckle ...

And in less time than it takes to tell it she had dropped to her knees ...

Toward the end, her composure slipped away entirely and in her death agony she literally howled in despair!

And then all was still ...

The writhing and howling had suddenly ceased and the Amazon lay quietly on the floor.

My partner and I shambled over to pick her up ...
And I don't think that I shall ever forget her death stare as she lay glaring up at us!

How were we to place her?
I didn't want to lay her across the tan girl ...

So we sruck a compromise ...

And laid her out in such a way that they were both shown off to good advantage.

I lagged behind and my partner caught me looking back in admiration of our handiwork ...

Y'can't quite get over that negro gal an' the way her chest swells up that-a-way, can you? My partner kidded me.

No ... And I don't think that I'm in any hurry to either! I replied.

Well ... I bet I know what you're thinkin'! He gloated.

I was quite willing to wager that he couldn't ...
But I didn't say anything ...
I just smiled at him in what I hoped was a knowing sort of way.

What I was thinking, I would never admit to him ...
And I scarcely dare admit it to myself even now ...
What I thought was ...

If only I had a can of Marvel Mystery oil ...
I'd rub each of those women all over and let the marvelous mystery do it's work ...
And restore life to each and every one of them!

Ah! The things that you think of in your old age!
Hey! But for a summer job, it was darn nice work if you could get it!

There are no "extras" for a gallery this time.
This was a set that I downloaded courtesy of Joe S. and I made use of each and every image.