Downtown
This story has no actual end. It's like those schmaltzy Disney movies about the cycle of life; they never show you the lion eating the zebra.
I'm in what's left of downtown the other day when an altercation breaks out. First comes yelling, then bad words, then shots are fired (as the police would describe it.)
Many additional shots are fired and it seems the shooter has a 15-round magazine along with a bagful of backup magazines he carries for extended discussions.
As I am in the wrong place at the wrong time bullets are making sharp snapping noises going by my ears. They also make little snowflake designs with a hole in their middle, as they go through plate-glass store windows. It's like a Fourth of July celebration in a Folger's coffee can. If the combatants would only stop shouting phrases using “fuck” as a modifier we could bring the kids, get some ice cream cones and enjoy ourselves.
Absent ice cream, the shooter swiss-cheeses several storefront windows, myriad “fucks” are bandied back and forth, and then, as the shooter ejects an empty magazine and is inserting a replenishment, the other "fuck"-shouter nails him with a tire iron.
Most people with half-a-brain don't go downtown these days. Even if there's no active shooting in progress, crime-scene tape from the last active shooter makes detouring around taped-off areas a pain. Plus, if the main event is recently over, EMTs may still be cleaning up the losers and this might upset your stomach, making shopping difficult.
|
6
favs |
1002 views
7 comments |
274 words
All rights reserved. |
Author's Note
My town has its share of gunplay, also its share of inappropriate language.
Other stories by Larry Strattner
Tags
This story has no tags.
*
The last sentence.
What Kitty said, since shopping is where it's at. A lot of cynical panache in the telling here. I think I'd use dashes for the blanked-out words since Fictionaut doesn't format asterisks as punctuation.
The last paragraph. **
It's like a Fourth of July celebration in a Folger's coffee can
The bookends of the 1st. & last sentence are grimly stark & rivetingly frame the story.
Thanks all. This was a real shooting in my town. I made up the vulgar word being shouted;still I have a high % of being right. My writer's club meeting got cancelled that night because of all the yellow tape. Have a nice day.