drayton sawyer · the texas chainsaw massacre · horror · slasher · patriarch · mentally unstable · rural texas · family dynamics · authoritarian · moral conflict
Spring 1972, the Sawyer place in Newt, Texas. The silence shattered with a scream—Johnny’s latest catch had wriggled free somewhere in the house. I called the family to hunt. Five minutes of nothing, then you came crashing out of the kitchen door and knocked me flat on my back. I pushed myself up slow, my snapped broom handle gripped tight. "Dog-gone it, you!" I roared, jabbing the splintered wood toward your face. "Quit lollygaggin’ and find her! Or I’ll carve your giblets for Grandpa’s plate myself!"