The morning after Albert had left the Police Station he and Walter pulled up to the building that Tony resided in. Walter was wearing his fat man beach clothing again. His wrinkled freckles and his horseshoe hair is disheveled, looks like a red dust mope wrapped around his head. Walter also appeared tired.
Must have been up late jerking off to the Golden Girls, Albert thought.
At that moment Walter was eating a gyro. It was difficult for Albert to tell whether or not any of the sauce was getting in Walter’s mouth or if it all ended up on his white t-shirt. Even when Walter’s simply eating he manages to completely gross Albert out.
Why is he even here? There’s no kids here.
But Walter called him earlier and insisted that Albert pick him up. Walter said he was hungry for the gyro, but Albert had other suspisions. Ever since Albert had taken that young girls life, Walter had been acting strange… needy, one might say even nervous. Couldn’t tell right now though. He was eating that gyro as joyfully as a kid takes to ice cream on a hot day.
“Stay here,” Albert, said to Walter, “I’ll ring you up if I need you.”
Walter answers Albert by chewing with his mouth open and letting more of his gyro spill on to his shirt. Albert stood with the car door open. Albert gave Walter a ‘you’re so fucking gross’ look and shut the drivers’ door. Albert opened up the trunk of the black sedan and reached in to pick up a gun, folded white garbage bag and a second silver colored gun. Albert tucks his custom axe/scythe under his right arm. He put all the items carefully into a two-handled leather bag that looked like a large bowling ball case, zipped the bag, put it in his right hand and shut the trunk door.
* * * * *
Albert knocked twice on the brown apartment door and put his arm at his side. He then heard a familiar voice from the other side say, “It’s open.”
Albert opened the door and let himself in. The apartment was small and cramped, a few steps up the entrance hall where a large dent in the wall tells the tale of exactly one day earlier and Albert is standing where if he goes left he is in the living room which is adjoined by the kitchen and the dining area. If Albert went right, he’d find himself in the only bedroom there is. Albert went right.
There was Tony, sitting on the edge of the bed in his underwear. Just a small, balding, hairy-bodied Italian guy with a moustache staring at Albert as Albert walked in. Albert placed the case in his right hand on the four-drawer dresser. Daylight was pouring in and reflecting from the buildings outside the four windows in the room.
“Well this is good Tony. You didn’t run so that must mean you had the money all along and now I know what to do with the empty space in the case here,” Albert gestured to the leather case on the dresser. Tony didn’t say anything. “You do have the money right Tony?”
Tony shakes his head, while turning behind himself and grasping a handful of the white bed sheets in his hands. Tony pulls the bed sheet towards Albert like he is unveiling the latest year of a famous automobile. In one fluid motion what is underneath the white bed sheet is revealed: A young woman. Fair and light-skinned, her pretty blonde head and shut eyes resting on a white pillow like she is dreaming her favorite dream. Her skinny, right arm is at her side and her left arm is across her unmoving stomach. Exposed to just underneath her navel, Albert can’t help but notice that her average sized breast aren’t moving… and they’re quite nice.
Is she alive? Albert takes his eyes off the young woman’s fair form to think to himself, Tony, you sic- ass, you been screwing a corpse? Before Albert can ask anything aloud Tony spoke.
“I didn’t do anything yesterday or today to get Mel his fucking money. Could of borrowed, stole and hustled for it, but… All I did was drink and fuck. Though I think she drank more than I did. I tried to feed her enough sleeping pills in her drinks to put her down before you fuckers got here. But she passed out cold couple hours ago well I was working her from behind. I’m a gentleman so (hic) I didn’t finish.”
Albert nods in funny way, of course, very gentlemanly indeed, Tony.
As Tony was talking Albert noticed that there were empty bottles of every sort all over the place. Albert couldn’t help but feel that Tony had did what anyone who was given one day to live would have done, except Tony screwed up.
“She’s still alive (hic) … a bit anyway.” Tony slurred as he turned to look at the unmoving female form.
“She’s kind of…comatose…I guess.” Tony just stares at her before saying quite loudly, “Damn! Would you look at those titties, Al. Are those, (hic) are those not the best looking fucking tits you ever seen?” Tony’s drunkenness is quite apparent to Albert at this point. “If I had a nickel for every tittie…”
Tony’s sentence trailed off as his right hand reached back for the girls left breast.
“You know what this means don’t you Tony?” Albert’s voice stopped Tony from groping the unconscious girl. “See, I brought my case with me and if I’m not putting Mel’s money in the case then I have to put…”
“….Yeah, I know. I know. You have to put my head in the case. I know all about you and your precious fucking case.” Tony bellows indignantly. “You and your sense of simplicity (hic). Your sense of fucking…(hic)…justice or whatever.”
Albert was taken aback by what Tony was saying. Never had anyone had such balls to speak in this way before they die. Some put up a fight sure, but most of them simply begged for their life or mercy. Tony was looking death straight in the eye and saying-
“Go fuck yourself. That’s right (hic). I wanted to stay alive and conscious enough (hic) long enough to tell you, Mel and that twisted fuck Walter…where is Walter? Is he in the hallway?”
“He’s in the car.” Albert replies coolly.
“Yeah and to tell (hic) Walter and all of ya’ll to go fuck yourselves. This last twenty-four hours of my life have been the best twenty-sex hours of my life. I am going to die right now (hic) the happiest fucker on the planet. Mel can’t take that from me, can he Al?”
Albert reached for the lamp on the dresser and turned it on. “No, I guess he can’t Tony.”
“Fuckin’ right he can’t.” Tony finished indignantly as Albert walked to the right side of the bed and pulled the solid white blind all the way down past the base of the window. Albert didn’t even notice the small mattress and white woolen blanket protruding from under the bed.
“I’m not the bad person here Al (hic). Life just kept kicking me in the teeth is all. Should of stayed away from the likes of Mel I guess (hic). Gambling away his money…stupid! Twisted fuck.”
Albert listened and walked silently to the wall opposite the right side of the bed and pulled the blind of that window down as well, then the one above the window next to it. Tony watched Albert and continued to speak.
“You know I am nice guy right Al?”
“Sure Tony.” Albert replied low and sarcastically as he walked to the left side of the bed pulled the blind above the window there down as well. The only light in the room was coming from the lamp on the dresser.
‘I am a nice guy. I don’t have much but I got a… good karma. Do you know what karma (hic) is?” Tony doesn’t wait for a response before he says, “Karma for what I’ve done, I have always been there for people Al. I am always helping people (hic). I am!”
“Sure Tony.” Albert says again, sarcastically. Albert’s back at the dresser and he’s searching inside his case for something.
“I don’t worry either about revenge. About trying to fuck over the people who keep (hic) fucking me over. I know that their lives are going to punish them for me.”
Albert was listening, but he was also removing his large suede trench coat and putting on rubber gloves. He stood before Tony, whom was still seated at the edge of the bed in front of the unconscious girl. Albert reached in case.
“You will be pushed…a…I mean punished by your life Albert (hic). You’re life is going…”
In one move Albert pulled the silver gun-looking thing out of the case and held it to Tony’s neck.
“Shut up Tony or I won’t give you any of this.”
Tony looks at the silver gun down through the corners of his eyes. It’s a needle gun, with a compressed air delivery system.
“You’re going to use that to knock me out.”
“No Tony, this substance is going to kill you. The sunspot being that whatever is done next won’t hurt at all…for obvious reasons.”
“Why? (Hic).” Tony asks with wide eyes.
Albert was seriously annoyed by this question. He pushed Tony by the throat into the bed mattress, pinned Tony down, knelt over him and continued.
“Cause you stupid cunt, I’m not the sick fuck everyone thinks I am. I kill you with out this shit, it’s going to hurt a whole fucking lot. All right?!?!?”
Albert lets Tony up and stands back in front of the dresser.
“Should I shoot her up with this as well?”
“Yeah! You probably (hic) should.” Tony replied after a little thought.
Albert walked to the side of the bed where the young woman lay half exposed and still in a dead sleep. Tony watched as Albert lifted her arm to inject the needle. Albert looked back at Tony and Tony looked away from Albert. Albert pulled the silver trigger. A short popping sound is heard from the quick release of air. Albert pulled the needle back to his side. She didn’t even flinch.
Albert stood facing the girl and asked, “Any famous last words Tony?”
Tony doesn’t answer, he just stares at the floor in front of him, hands entwined between his hairy legs. Albert stares sympathetically at Tony for a moment before the silence is broken.
Albert remained with his back to the doorway. A small innocent voice was heard from the doorway behind Albert.
“Mom?”
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