"But what's puzzling you is the nature of my game." βRolling Stones
* * * * *
All good things come to an end.
And so, like the sacking of Atlanta, there's really nothing more we can do here, gentle reader. The bill has arrived, the chairs need to be put up, and the lights are dimming. Dinner is done.
Ah, but wait, we are forgetting one of the rules of dining etiquette: end your meal the way you want to remember it. A lovely appetizer is nice, the entrΓ©e of course, crucial, but for a meal to end well, dessert must not disappoint.
And so, with any luck, this last taste before we bid adieu to our dining experience will wrap all things up with a flourish.
Bon Appetite
J
* * * * *
1997- Dessert
Now that was delicious. I laugh to myself, which is drowned out by the screeching of the subway training roaring past me. I'm a comfortable distance away from my little dining locale near the Commons. It's getting late now and the trains will stop running soon: good. The bars will turn out their doors and that friendly and oh so sympathetic bartender who was all ears and support while the drinks and tips flowed will turn out the disconsolate crowds into the warm hungry night.
And right into me.
A trash woman is digging through the garbage near me. The scent coming off of her is unbelievable, all the worse for those of us whose noses work for something more than a fun place to cram a finger. The smell is enough to put me off my feed so to speak. One does not chug dirty lard to cleanse the palate, hence the purpose of dessert.
Unfortunately, some people just can't take a hint.
"Hey mister, spare a dollar?" She more demands then asks. What happened to a little humility from a beggar?
"Sorry, not tonight," I reply as calmly as I am able. I should point out that when one has just committed felony sexual assault and a homicide, one's nerves are wound a little tightly. "C'mon mister, how 'bout it, one dollar?" She persists. Didn't this used to be 'Brother can you spare a dime?' The stink coming off of her is unbelievable; she is ugly through and through, a troglodyte.
"I'm sorry, not tonight!" I repeat with a little more fire in my voice. The stinking cow gets the point and begins to beat a hasty retreat. I settle back against the subway wall.
"Fucking prick," I hear her mutter.
That tears it.
"Excuse me," I say calmly. She whips around, her fat filthy face now wide in terror, good. I perk my ears; I can hear the vibrations of the oncoming train as it races down the tunnel towards the station. I peer around the station, nearly abandoned save for a pile of garbage at the far end. Perfect.
I lock my eyes with her, not a hard thing to do as she is staring in fear at me.
"Life is no longer worth living. It has become a burden you can no longer stand. So when the train comes, you are going to jump in front of it." I slash and tear at her mind with my own and it's pitifully easy to convince this wretched creature to end her own life. Depression, drug addiction, the bottle, dementia, despair, all these things have formed a thick black sludge within her addled mind and the notion of suicide sinks smoothly and easily within it.
She blinks a few times and for just a second, an instant, I see a human emotion in those dull cow eyes. A tiny spark of who she used to be, the little girl on the bicycle, the tenth birthday party, the person who believed in possibilities limitless, in God's mercy and in herself. I see a flicker of regret, of sadness and for a second I idly wonder if she will muster enough will to live to cast off my mental commands.
She does not. The spark fades, the dull pain returns to her face. Mumbling to herself, she positions herself at the side of the tracks. The train comes rattling through, a loud and hungry metal beast that is about to be fed. With not even a sound she leaps, for a moment it seems she is hanging there, suspended before the blinding lights of the train, everything freezes for just a second. Then time catches up, and the train goes careening down the tunnel taking her with it. It doesn't take long for the driver to realize what has happened and the sound of panicked screeching brakes covers the quiet, rueful chuckle coming from me.
"You killed her," a voice says off to my right, I spin round, for a moment concerned. The noise from the train has made it very hard to hear anything else and let's face it; I was focused on something else.
The pile of garbage, it seems, was concealing an occupant. Five foot six, emaciated, dirty black hair, dark brown eyes. She looks up at me with such a look, strange. No fear which is pretty unusual for someone who thinks they just saw a homicide.
"You're mistaken. She jumped. Excuse me," I turn to go.
"You made her jump. You took control of her mind and made her kill herself," she spits out. She has that semi-whiny tone that tells me she's a young one indeed, kind of like a serious younger sister scolding her older irresponsible sibling.
It's a tone I'm not used to.
Slowly, very slowly, I turn around to look at her, letting my human countenance slip, just a little, leaking out menace. Remarkably, she stands her ground and I realize that it is not bravery, but indifference. This child simply does not care whether she lives or dies.
"What's your name?" I ask, debating to myself whether or not I should kill her.
"Why do you care? You're just going to kill me," she replies again with that tone and I pick up a faint accent. Canadian, but without the French accent; B.C. then, probably Vancouver.
"Yes, but your cooperativeness here determines exactly how long it will take you to die," I explain calmly. The two of us regard each other, this human is...interesting.
"Rebecca," she replies and gives me a look. Vaguely goth I suppose, looking up at me, glaring up at me through her mangy black hair with those burning brown eyes.
"Rebecca. Splendid. I'm Jack. Now that introductions are made, tell me, have you given any thoughts to your afterlife?"
She ignores my question entirely and peers up at me, advancing on me. She looks me over and takes me in. It's a queer feeling, like I'm under glass or on display.
"You're pale, but you look like a person," she observes and then digs under her shirt and yanks out a cross brandishing it at me. I snort,
"And what is that supposed to do, exactly?" I sneer. She puts it away.
"So you are a vampire."
"What makes you say that?"
"Nothing else would have looked so, like, amused by it," she informs me. Curiouser and curiouser.
"Fair enough. So you know what I am, then you must know what I'm capable of doing to you, street urchin," I chuckle darkly.
"If you're going to kill me, then kill me, but don't like just talk about it and do nothing," she snaps back. I see, so the child has a death wish. Well, all right then.
"Where's the fun in that?" I ask, "How about a game of you? Tag..." I casually grab her face and push her away. My blood rushes into my arm and lends fairly impressive amounts of liquid momentum to my already inhuman muscular ability (think rigor mortis on steroids). She flies across the station and skids across the tile floor. She gets up on her hands and knees, nose blood and looks back at me, eyes wide.
"...you're it." I finish and then advance. She takes the hint and runs and I am not far behind. I draw the darkness around myself and cloak myself, still following her. She flees in blind panic up the stairs back into the night.
And straight into the arms of a burly older man, also dressed in the latest in street vagrant style. I sigh to myself, the Good Samaritan to the rescue,
"Bitch! I told you to stay the fuck out of my tunnel!" He slaps her hard, she drops.
Hmmm... maybe not.
"I didn't have anywhere else to go," she replies getting to her feet, eyeing him with a malice that I find quite refreshing. He grabs a handful of her ratty dark hair; she twists in his grip like some kind of animal.
"Bitch that ain't my problem, now you gotta pay," he snarls, spittle flying from his flabby face to land on her cheeks. He shoves her to the ground and unbuckles his pants, pulling at her clothes.
I can't stand to see an amateur fuck things up.