double a, part 4

by genghis gilgamesh

illustrated by konrad kraus

part four of four

for part three, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

the target’s name was moran he was a corpulent man with the body of a bear and the face of an otter he had a pious wife and a beautiful daughter how he had aroused callahan’s ire i did not enquire it might have been just callahan’s whim or a way to bind me to him i set about the job moran lived on the hill called nob with his daughter and his wife he lived a quiet life he had a butler, a chauffeur, and maid from his routine he never strayed the setup seemed easy enough no need for complicated stuff i waited for night to descend not knowing what fate might portend but before moran arrived home the daughter came out, alone she took me by surprise and looked me in the eyes by her ethereal beauty i was destroyed and fell into the void she asked politely, was i lost and i was - it suddenly crossed my mind to confess everything and not care what the future would bring but the moment passed and in gentlemanly fashion i asked the way to the bus station as a hopeful way to start a conversation the way to the bus station, she smiled is across town many a mile i will the chauffeur take you there so you will not have to pay cab fare thus it was that i became acquainted with sarah jane and abandoned ambitious criminal plans and all thoughts of evil mary ann in sarah jane’s delightful company for the first time i felt really free and knew that life’s only goal was to walk in the light of her radiant soul i tried to forget mary ann and the pact that i had made with callahan but they were creatures of the bottomless pit my dereliction with them did not well sit one night with sarah jane i was feeling glorious she looked at me with eyes somewhat curious darling, she said, i have heard strange tales of you i know you can assure me they are untrue they say you are a hoodlum from downstate whose notoriety is very great and that the record of your crimes would fill up novels that are sold for dimes i quickly saw that she had heard the tale of my entire life in great detail with a few lies thrown in for good measure such was mary ann’s and callahan’s pleasure i fled! i fled forsooth roasted in the barbecue pit of truth i fled! but there was not to be any escape for the likes of me i tried to disappear without a trace with a new name, and a new face with my kingdom gone, and none to come i became a drunken bum i wandered with bindlestiffs and hoboes through towns whose names i did not know always glancing over my shoulder hoping callahan’s pursuit grew colder as you no doubt have guessed, my friend my story came to no good end on an empty street one windy night a fellow approached me for a light as i complied with his request he stuck a pistol in my chest it was all part of the plan he said “good-bye - from mary ann” i felt nothing but relief at ending thus my life so brief and as my deliverer fled the stars whirled by above my head who put us upon this planet with heart of ice and smile of granite wth dreams of hope and facts of shame to think that we could beat the game? everybody is really everybody else they are only pretending to be only themselves everyone who dies fights the good fight everyone who dies alone dies under the lights