al capone was walking down the street.
he saw billy the kid on the other side of the street.
billy - his old enemy, who had done him wrong.
al did not think billy had seen him, but he had seen billy.
al crossed the street, and came up behind billy just as they were passing an ice cream shop.
hello, billy, al said.
billy stopped and turned around. he did not seem particularly surprised to see al.
i remember you, billy said to al. you are al.
it’s a nice day, isn’t it, billy? al said.
yes, it is, billy agreed.
al pointed to the ice cream shop. a nice day for an ice cream cone.
billy looked over at the ice cream shop, as if he had noticed it before. why, yes it is, now that you mention it. a nice chocolate ice cream cone might hit the spot.
hit the spot, billy? hit the spot? the way you hit my spot, on that long ago day back in the day?
billy looked puzzled. what are you talking about? what day? you must have me confused with someone else. and why are you holding your right hand behind your back?
i think we both know the answer to that question, don’t we? al replied. he took his right hand from behind his back.
the hand held a .357 and al pumped billy full of lead.
you shot me! i’m a dead man! billy cried in amazement as he fell backwards on to the sidewalk.
al laughed heartily as he looked down at billy’s dead body.
some pedestrians hurried past, pretending not to have seen or noticed anything.
including a woman in a pink coat with a little dog. the dog started to examine billy’s body.
but the woman in the pink coat pulled the little dog away and it followed her.
unknown to al and billy, corinna corinna had been watching the whole episode from her seat beside the window inside the ice cream shop.
at first corinna had been too stunned to react, but when the initial shock wore off she rushed out of the ice cream shop and confronted al.
you just shot billy, corinna cried. and he’s dead!
he is, isn’t he? al replied coolly. but what do you care? where have you been so long? you never gave two hoots for billy when he was alive. don’t try to deny it.
but i do care! corinna cried. i do care! billy was a human being, just like me and you! he didn’t have to die - to be shot down like a dog in the street! he had a lot of life left in him!
tell me, al asked corinna with a smirk, have you ever seem anybody actually shoot a dog in the street? that is just one of those expressions people use all the time without ever thinking about them.
so what?”corinna replied. billy is still dead. people continued to pass by on the street and pretend not to notice billy’s body lying in the street. look here, you people! corinna cried to them. billy is dead! al shot him and he is dead!. don’t you even care?
no, lady, i do not care, a little boy in a sailor suit said. and you are standing in my way. i would like to enter the ice cream shop, if you please, and purchase a hot fudge banana split.
the little boy in the sailor suit did not respond to corinna’s outburst, and entered the ice cream shop with a supercilious smile on his face.
suddenly davy crockett and wyatt earp appeared. they were puffing on big cigars and discussing the coming mayoral election in gravely measured terms.
what is going on here? wyatt, who was the sheriff and proudly displayed his gold-embossed tin star on the outside of his black tailored vest, asked.
corinna pointed to the grinning al capone, who had placed his .357 back in his belt. this low-down skunk just shot and killed a perfectly innocent man, shot him dead in cold blood, just to watch him die.
she’s lying, al told davy and wyatt. she didn’t think he was an innocent man at all.
davy crockett turned billy’s body halfway over with his thick-soled black boot. looks like billy the kid. he wasn’t no innocent man.
no, he was not, wyatt earp agreed. he looked sharply at corinna. what do you have to say to that, miss?
i would not be too hard on her, davy said to wyatt. maybe she has been away too long.
and it was true.
she had been away too long.
No comments:
Post a Comment