This story is about a post modern executioner who finds himself at odds with his work when he is tasked to dispatch a youth. His decision to sabotage the execution and change his life causes political upheaval.

SYNOPSIS:

"Berry's Method, Art in Dispatch" Is a television program based in the near future that covers high profile criminal trials, especially those dealing with capital offenses. In the case of Christopher Dawson known as the "Baby Faced Vampire" there are many unanswered questions revolving around his guilt. Chris has been convicted and is awaiting execution for the murder of a schizophrenic drifter named Merritt O'Dowd and two local boys.

The executioner, Max Subban has serious doubts about whether Chris actually murdered anyone considering the lack of evidence and the fact that the crazy Merritt is nearly twice the size of the accused and reputed by the local town's people as dressing in women's clothing, acting out at people who come near his cabin and hunting for anything in the area to support himself, including house pets.

The story follows Chris and his friend Clement as they get to know the odd man in the woods and develop a warped friendship with him.

When Clement's brother and his friend turn up missing the town turns to Merritt as the culprit. When Merritt is found hanging in a tree by the river where he fished, his hands and feet bound and Clement suddenly disappears all eyes go to Chris who has no memory of what occurred the night of the hanging and the disappearance of Clement.

Convicted of the crime, Chris is sentenced to be executed by the star of the top rated, government owned television show "Berry's Method". Executioner Max Subban doubts the guilt of Chris and sets out to perform his own investigation.

In the end, Max has a crisis of conscience and cannot carry out the execution so he secretly sabotages his own killing machine. The fallout is a breakdown of the government run system of killing for profit.

Merritt's words:

"At the end of every night, all nights man, I'm still that face in the mirror. No it don't change, but I do. And when I do, who knows?

You see this is below psychology man. What we got here ain't mommy issues. We're talking about a pathology that flies straight out of the spirit world.

Yea, you know we all speak Summerian at some level, we just haven't trained our tongue to do it yet. You see we all have known each other for a very long time. We run around thinking we only got one chance at this.

Not me, you see I got the spiritual eye. I've exercised my soul for this moment. The coming of God? Shit, I knew the end of this before it even began. This is just leisure time. Business and pleasure all wrapped up in one.

Oh yea, and we got a hangin' to do. What do you think now mastoid to hyoid? Six inches maybe? I got a strong neck, seventeen inches at least.

you know it ain't murder if you kill yourself. Earth part of you might not know that, but your soul does. You see your souls alive, it's just your mind that's asleep.

I woke up to the light of the moon last night and I heard this voice, "Truman Capote" it said. Who the fuck is that?

That's where she told me, "you can avoid caring if you don't let yourself be touched."

That's where the killin' comes in handy. At first it was easy. Time complicates things though. Times just an amulet that God wears to protect himself from our immortality."

BERRY'S METHOD