Broken Dreams
Two cracks of the pistol and a short drop, that would be plenty except that the bum came around and kicked me in the head a few times for good measure. You’d imagine he would have been satisfied with just shooting me but that seemed to just fuel his derangement. As I lay there I tried to remember what his beef was with me. Lady trouble, money? I sure as hell couldn’t remember and now my favourite suit was getting ruined, blood doesn’t wash out I can tell you that much.
I shucked off my mortal coil and decided to follow him. Heh, the body was dying and I didn’t feel like waiting around to catch the last show. Possibly the only upside to death was that now I didn’t have to worry about my smoking habit anymore. At least I will die wearing the good suit so the after life would be greeted in style. I wish I had left my hat on, I felt incomplete without it. There was another upside, my packet of cigarettes made it too.
I followed his dumb ass to the river side where he threw the gun into the water. That might work but if I got lucky it would get stuck on some piece of trash and float up soon. If he got lucky they would never find the pistol. Tonight the luck appeared to be on his side though so who knew. Lady Luck has been distant of late, preferring to favour other men with her fickle smile.
He walked for quite some time, good precaution on his side. He blended into the crowd well and no car to stand out. Plenty people still drove of course but with the gas shortage people who drove stood out. I hoped my own car wouldn’t get stolen, standing open with keys in the ignition. At least he didn’t look smug, hands shoved into his coat pockets for warmth. Collar turned up to keep the breeze off his neck, didn’t he have a hat when we met earlier? Maybe Lady Luck wasn’t playing hard to get anymore.
After thirty minutes we were still walking, where the hell was he going? The area started looking more familiar but when you spend so much of your time staking out places every place looks familiar after a while. Had I been in the neighbourhood recently? Maybe to look out for a cheating spouse or associate? I should have kept better track of things I suppose, perhaps it was just a side effect of death.
The doorman let him in and he walked to the twin elevators and punched the up button impatiently. I stood patiently sucking on my cigarette, I exhaled the puff of smoke into his face. The curls twisted up around his head but he remained unaffected. That was a pity, I would miss being able to affect the world. The elevator doors opened with a ding and we boarded and headed off to the 20th floor.
A short walk later we stopped in front of a white door where he let us in.
“Baby, I am home! It is all taken care of and our new life can begin.”
Curiously I followed him to the bedroom where a beautiful woman lay sprawled in a revealing night gown.
Ah Doris, my love, my heartless wife. Lady Luck was not on my side after all…