twenty-seven

where are you going, justin? out. oh? anywhere in particular? no. just out. well, let me know all about it when you get back. maybe. if i feel like it. x watched justin from the window as he disappeared down the road in the gathering dusk. justin was a strange person. x had rescued him from the scrap heap a few months before. he was the first man she had ever had. he often went for walks alone. usually, though not always, at twilight or at night. sometimes he told x stories about his excursions when he returned, sometimes not. on many occasions justin witnessed a woman or a child being mistreated, and stepped in to protect them and to chastise, or even kill, the miscreants who were abusing them. at other times justin admitted to being the aggressor himself, when he encountered persons whose looks he did not like, or who said something to offend him or who rubbed him the wrong way. another common occurrence was for justin to be waylaid or kidnapped by a group of persons, or aliens from another galaxy or dimension, or creatures like zombies or yetis. these encounters always ended badly for the kidnappers. women were often involved in these adventures. a typical story had unfolded a few nights before. justin had been walking along, minding his own business, something he usually preferred to do, unless he was really provoked. a bus had pulled up beside him. it had some of the markings of an old school bus, but was obviously not being used for that purpose. it was painted black, and the interior was not lit. the driver, a young woman with a pale face and long silky black hair, put her head out the window. where are you headed? she asked justin. my own way, justin told her. i think you are going the same way as us, the young woman replied. who is us? justin asked. the legion of the damned, she replied. i am my own legion of the damned, justin told her. ha, ha. don’t you want to know where we are going? all right, where are you going? besides the infernal regions. listen, i am serious. but it is starting to rain, so why don’t you get in the bus and i will tell you all about it. justin hesitated. he was still tired from his adventure of the previous night, but curiosity got the better of him and he agreed and went around to the door and got in the bus. he slumped back in a seat just behind the driver. she started the bus up and proceeded down the road. raindrops spattered the windows. justin could feel presences behind him in the bus, but did not turn around to try to look at them. all right, he told the driver, what’s your sad story? my name is carla. i am a prisoner of the dark lord. everybody is a prisoner of some dark lord or other, justin replied. nothing to write home about there. i see you are a philosopher, said the driver. you must be some kind of dark lord yourself. not me, i am just a guy traveling from here to there and back again. down a dark road, right? sometimes it’s dark, sometimes it’s light. sometimes it rains, like now, sometimes it snows, sometimes the wind blows. the road is the road. look here, my friend, stop speaking in riddles. do you want to be my champion or not? sure, i will be your champion. i got nothing better to do. thank you. when we get to the infernal regions i will tell you what you have to do. that sounds like a good game. the infernal regions was a little bar and casino on the outskirts of the mountains of hades. the driver stopped the bus. the lights on the bus went on and justin saw that the bus was empty except for himself and the driver. the presences were gone. looks like it’s just me and you, said justin. and the dark lord, said the young woman. let’s go inside. the little bar was empty except for a little man without a face sitting at a green felt table, rifflng through a deck of cards. this was the dark lord. you want to play? the dark lord asked justin. that is what i am here for. here’s the deal. i have a deck of fifty-three cards here, numbered from one to fifty-three. the dark lord fanned the deck of cards face up on the green felt table. they were covered with curious symbols and pictures but justin could see that they were indeed numbered from one to fifty-three. the dark lord shuffled the deck, placed it in the center of the table. you can cut the deck, the dark lord told justin. before you turn the top card over, you will guess whether it is higher or lower than twenty-seven. if you guess right, i will free the prisoner here. if you guess wrong, she is mine forever. agreed? what if twenty-seven comes up? justin asked. the universe disappears. fair enough. justin cut the deck in two, placed the former lower portion on top. higher or lower, the dark lord asked. lower. the dark lord nodded, and.justin turned the top card over. it was number twenty-three. the young woman’s name was carla simmons, she was a first year student of clinical sociology at t——— g—————— community college in tulsa oklahoma. her family and friends were overjoyed when she was reunited with them. that was just one of justin’s stories. he had a million more. sometimes x wondered if the stories were true. she was tempted to follow him when he went out. but she did not really want to know.