Beverly Peace-Kayhill Knihy

Eleven year old Vicki Taggart knew that her family was different then other families that lived in the rural town of Piney, in Forsyth County, Georgia. Her father Mitch Big Daddy Taggart was a town leader and head of the Men's Association a group of like-minded citizens who met once a week in the trailer behind Vicki's house. Some nights Vicki was awakened by strange noises outside her bedroom window. It was the sound of truck tailgates dropping down and men speaking in hushed tones. Only once did she dare peek from behind her curtain to see white sheets seemingly floating around the yard. But then she saw the body. A Negro man being carried into the cornfield, the rope around his neck trailed along the ground. Frightened, she ducked down and scrambled back into bed. The morning daylight brought her to the kitchen where she joined her father and brother for breakfast. The talk was the usual, pigs for sale, and fixing the leaky ceiling in the front room. Vicki knew never to ask about the night time activities but her malleable mind came up with all sorts of acceptable explanations. So much so, that it wasn't hard when she had to make a decision that would mean the life or death of a new friend. Her decision on that fated day would alter her life in ways she never imagined.