Coming out of his dazed state, Cody, the little banty rooster, was fighting mad about being kidnapped. "You look stupid with orange hair!" he remarked, adding, "Bet they could squeeze a gallon of juice out of each greasy strand you got!"

"Then you know who I am?" he was coyly asked.

"Yea, you're Mark Bannister...aka Pee-Pot the Pretend, Wannabe, Clown!" Cody replied not the least bit intimidated, or afraid, of his captor.

Cody was positioned on his hands and knees in the dirt. The place he'd remained since being unceremoniously deposited there when The Clown arrived with the boy at his secluded hideout. Cody did not know the location as the effects of the chloroform he was abducted under were only beginning to wear off.

"It's Bee-Bo!" The Clown retorted with a firm, swift kick to Cody's ribs, "And don't you ever forget my name again!"

The force of the blow took Cody's breath away. He did not know if any of them were broken. But pain racked his body. It had been a long time since Cody was assaulted like that. But not the first. His mind flashed back to Palo Pinto.

Cody refused to let his tormentor see him cry. Bee-Bo did not know what to make of the boy's fighting spirit. All of the other boys he kidnapped before were blubbering babies soon after realizing he had taken them. The Clown almost enjoyed Cody's spunk. But not quite! It irritated him that he was having such a hard time breaking Cody.

"There ain't no tears in these blue eyes!" Cody found the bravery to brag telling Bee-Bo, "And you ain't Earl Anthony Schroder! You're a punk!"

"You'll do a whole lot more than cry long before I'm done with you, Cody!" Bee-Bo most assuredly promised him.

The Clown tied Cody's arms tightly behind his back. Cody attempted to keep the feeling of circulation flowing through them. They were tingling.

Bee-Bo grabbed the boy by his right arm and jerked Cody to his feet like a rag doll being tossed aside, saying, "Get up!"

Backhanding Cody hard across the face The Clown sent the boy sailing across the shed.

"I'm not Earl Anthony Schroder. I'm your worst nightmare!" Bee-Bo heatedly informed Cody, "I don't need to lay a two-by-four up aside your head like Daddy Dearest did to make you believe what he did to you was child's play compared to what I am going to do to you!"

"If my hands weren't tied behind my back, and this was a fair fight, I'd stomp a mud hole the size of Texas in you!" Cody replied, "But you're a lily-livered coward!"

Bee-Bo yanked Cody up on his feet again. He punched the boy in the nose. Blood flowed out of it. Shoving Cody down on a wooden chair in the middle of the shed, Bee-Bo rapidly restrained him with rope. Cody immediately struggled against his bindings trying to free himself. To no avail. Bee-Bo fastened him too tautly to the chair for Cody to move.

Backhanding Cody one more time, Bee-Bo told him, "Shut up! If I wanted comments from the peanut gallery I'd ask for them."

"You wait till Sheriff Daniels finds me," Cody said, his lower lip split from The Clown's slap, "he's gonna kill you dead, Dee-Do!"

"I'd pave Brock Daniels a yellow brick road if it would get him here sooner!" Bee-Bo snapped back at Cody, "Oh, he's smart. Too smart for his own good. He'll figure out exactly where you're at. And when he gets here I've got fireworks bigger than the fourth of July waiting for him. And you, Cody, are the centerpiece of my main attraction. KER-BOOM!"

Again Cody fought to get loose from his restraints.

Noticing his herculean efforts Bee-Be told him, "You can't escape me Cody. And when I'm done with Brock Daniels this is my little secret for you..."

Bee-Bo walked over to the corner of the shed. From there he wheeled out his blood-stained wood chipper and two five gallon gas cans. He strolled over to Cody, grabbed a large handful of the boy's blond hair, and pulled it out of the top of his head by the roots. Cody remained silent.

"You won't be so tough much longer Cody," Bee-Bo assured him, "and when you crack don't beg for mercy. There won't be any!"

Bee-Bo laughed heartily. Cody spit a mouthful of saliva in The Clown's face. He did not miss his target. That infuriated Bee-Bo. The Clown pulled out his trusty box cutter. Cody watched him open the blade. Bee-Bo pressed the sharp point of the blade against Cody's right cheek. It nicked his skin slightly. Enough to draw blood.

"I could cut you ear to ear you little pig!" Bee-Bo threatened Cody, "But I need you alive. For now!"

He moved the box cutter closer to Cody's mouth and warned him, "One more sound out of you and I'll cut your tongue out of your mouth! Then we'll see what noise you make!"

Quickly Cody sealed his lips together. He could taste blood.

"That's better," Bee-Bo remarked, "now you sit there all nice and quiet like for Uncle Bee-Bo."

Cody about threw up from The Clown's comment. He stayed silent. Far from defeated. His many fights with Earl Anthony Schroder taught him when to pick and choose his attack points. In his mind his battle with Bee-Bo was not over.

Laughing hysterically, Bee-Bo picked up the two full gas cans and strutted outside like a proud peacock displaying its plume in all its shining glory. He scanned the horizon wondering why Brock Daniels did not appear? The Clown would be laying in wait when he did.

Inside the shed Cody heard Bee-Bo's sinister laughing one more time.