Schadenfreude

Having a blast!

Thursday, December 6, 2007, 10:05 PM

Today was great! I finally finished my short story... Although we din win, (Vinny did), I still love it and am SOOOO proud of my accomplishment!! It ain't easy you know!! Well... i do need to give credit where credit's due so here we go!

Ashikin for helping me with all of 3 parts of the story
Sheng for the editing
Germaine with the editing and ideas
and lastly...
Cheryl Mallory!!!!!!!!! Haahaha! My partner in crime and associate producer of the story! Helped me alot tt girl...

And now, sit back and enjoy the story!

Black Tie Affair

Chapter 1: Happier than a rooster in a hen house

“Are there enough stock in the back room?”

“I think so! Go check!” Malcolm Steadman shouted back to his long-time business partner and best friend, Winston Chuphill. Winston walked to the storeroom to check.

Malcolm called to Winston, “Hey, I’m looking through the stock book. Business’s been pickin’ up son! Soon, we’ll be opening our second store!”

“Yeehaw! We’ll be rich yall! The past 3 yrs we’re tough but we’ve made it pal!”

Malcolm smiled to himself, he felt good and he was in a stable point of his life. He stayed out of trouble and out of sight from the KKK’s radar.

Residing in a small town like Babacale Texas in 1930 gets a black man nowhere. However, money equals power and in Babacale, if nothing else fails, bribing does.

As he packed his stuff, he thought of Marie, his wife. Marie passed on 4 years earlier when she broke the Jim Crow Laws, leaving him with his three daughters. She was shot in the head, but when the police did an autopsy, a calling card with a pentagram drawing was found. What had upset him the most was that the police did not look thoroughly into the matter. He demanded justice from them, but as usual, he got the run around. Since then, he forced himself to put in all of his energy and thoughts into the business.

As Malcolm closed his shop, Winston walked out and handed him the extra stock. He walked across the street to his pickup truck and placed the goods inside when he heard…

“CRASH! BANG! BOOM!”

Malcolm turned around and was stunned to see his shop window broken into and several men clad in white brandishing sticks and torches barging into his shop and attacking Winston. Winston was at the counter counting the remaining cash and was stunned at the sudden intrusion. He desperately tried to escape but the men did not allow it. They used the sticks to beat him and the torches to burn his skin. After attacking Winston, they moved on to the interior of the shop, destroying any remnant of Malcolm’s sweat and tears over the years. He wanted to go back in and destroy the bastards who was about to ruin his reputation and business. But common sense overtook him and he drove to the nearest police station. Out of breath and in shock, he told the police officer on duty what had happened and to quickly go to the store as the culprits might still be there.

The officer on duty looked at him up and down, taking in his disheveled appearance. His shirt was soaked in sweat and rumpled; he had dirt all over his face and hands, his eyes darting wildly around. The policeman looked at him skeptically and when Malcolm finished, he calmly passed him a form and told him to fill it out.

Malcolm was taken aback by the man’s nonchalance. As a black man, his first impression of the white folk was that they were too thick to see through race to understand that everyone was the same. From this man’s expression and tone, he realized that no rational white cop would risk his neck for a Negro. Disappointed, he turned around and slowly walked towards his truck. He started up his truck and in a flash, realized that Winston could be dying at this very moment from the attack. He sped towards his shop and rushed into the ruins in search of his good friend, Winston. The shop was ablaze when he left but when he got back, there was a crowd gathering around it. Apparently, the fire was put out by his fellow neighbors, a sea of concerned Negro citizens and no white men present. He lifted up the debris and screamed for Winston. His neighbors too decided to help and together, they searched the rubble.

The search was long and arduous but he kept going on. People were whispering nasty things like:

“He ain’t gonna make it, he’s as gone as a log on a winter’s night!”

“He thinks the sun come up just to hear him crow? That poor man’s dead and he’s tryin’ to get our men killed! Who does he think he is…”

After what seemed like hours, someone shouted “Over here yall! I’ve found him!”

Malcolm rushed towards him and with the combined effort of 10 men, lifted Winston from under a collapsed wall. Winston was badly burnt and had multiple cuts and bruises on his arms and legs. Fortunately, he was semi-conscious. Malcolm carried Winston in his arms to get him to the hospital. Suddenly, something fell out of Winston’s breast pocket which sickened and horrified him at the same time.

It was the pentagram calling card.

Chapter 2: This ain't my first rodeo

Winston Chuphill laid in the hospital with first degree burns on his hands and legs. He felt groggy and in pain when he awoke. He opened his eyes and saw a blurry figure on the chair next to him. Winston looked over and saw him. Malcolm was leaning above Winston, peering into his eyes.

“Winston? Hey! Are you ok? You’re lucky! I mean if you were there any longer you could have died!”

“Huh?”

The doctor looked at his chart and said, “Mr. Chuphill, welcome back! It was a harrowing time trying to save you but you’re fine now. The burns and cuts are healing fine but you’ll have to stay in the hospital for a few more days. The nurse will check in on you later, meanwhile, get some rest and you’ll be finer than frog hair.”

“T-th-thanks doctor…”

“Hey Winston, get some rest k? You’ve got more guts than you could hang on a fence after what happened. I’ma gonna get some work done first then I’ll visit you again…”

And with that, he drifted back to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day when Winston awoke, the hospital room was fairly empty. He found his colleague, Jeremy sitting at his bedside.

“Listen here, I need you to pass this over to Henderson, he’ll know what to do. Remember! Do not act unless I give the word! DO you understand?”
Jeremy merely nodded then stood up to leave.
As Winston watched Jeremy depart the room, he decided there and then, ‘No matter what, I’m going to finish this.’

Back home, Winston looked through his evidence pile and re-read through all of his notes. He felt confused about something and decided to check it out. He went back to the rubble which was once the shop and shifted through the debris. As he dug deeper, he hit payday as he found old record books on the shop’s expenses and profits. He took it home and looked through it slowly.

For a while now, Winston had been spying on Malcolm, suspecting him of laundering money and for something else. He had been chosen to represent the company for this mission and he was determined to find out the bottom of all this. He made sure he was careful at covering his tracks, as one of the locals had so fittingly said “Don’t dig up more snakes than you can kill.”

Brought in from New York to get Malcolm, he needed to be discreet. His company was responsible for the pentagram card and they were the ones who brought order to this world by removing corrupted people in power. Though small, they were gaining in influence and resources. They were targeting Malcolm and whomever he was working for because of the recent state of affairs in Babacale. Suspicious of the sudden deaths of several people there, they decided to check things out.

As for the attack on him, Winston knew that it was going to happen so Henderson ordered one of his colleagues to plant the calling card on him. So far everything was going according to plan.

Winston thought of sweet Marie and how she and him were once together but had to be apart for the plan to work. The company forced her to marry Malcolm when Malcolm started wooing her and proposed. For the greater good, she said yes and broke it off with Winston. He buried himself in work and other assignments but had to face her every other day. In the end, he came to terms with the arrangement and everything worked out for the best, they became best friends.

When she died however, her death had a devastating effect on him, but forced himself to regain his composure and act as though nothing was wrong. He was not a big hat with no cattle, he was Winston Chuphill and he will serve justice!

He watched a family pass by and wondered what will happen to Malcolm’s daughters when all of this was over. In the safehouse, he looked through the account books and tried to find a slip-up but it revealed nothing. Tired, he was about to turn in when he spotted a small letter underneath a book. He tried to pull it out but it was stuck into the book’s binder and it took some careful maneuvering before he finally got it out. He scanned it and then he found something which could bring Babacale to its knees.

In the letter, it was a hit list with prominent people who worked in Babacale town. Out of the ten names on the list, eight were crossed out. On those who were crossed out, one of them was Marie. The other name that stuck him was something he did not notice until he read the end.

Winston Chuphill

Chapter 3: He cleans up real good

Having looked through the rubble of the store, he gave a sigh of frustration. The books were missing! Boy, was the hirer gonna get mad! After all of Malcolm’s traits, sloppiness wasn’t one of them. He had always cleaned up after himself. To find that the books were gone was a terrible blow to Malcolm. He assured himself that the books were burned to ashes along with the shop and decided to report back to the hirer. Malcolm went to the payphone and dialed his number.

“Hello, whose this?”

Malcolm replied, “It’s me, about the list? I think it’s burned along wit the rest of that shop...”

“Wait, think? I want good answers out of you cowboy, not them thinkin’ types.”

“I mean yes sir. The list has been burnt. I’ve remembered the names and the job will be completed as per yer request.”

“Good, get it done soon.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Malcolm reached home and pulled out his homemade gun. He was cleaning it when he heard a noise coming from above. Malcolm carefully stowed his gun in the piano and went into the guest bedroom. In there was this guy; Jeremy, whom he caught nosing in his business. Malcolm found him with a note from Winston to a guy named Henderson about his operations. Incensed by the betrayal from Winston, he decided to take action against Jeremy. Torturing people was fun. After all, when you needed information fast, this was the only way to get things done. He dragged Jeremy by his legs to the backyard and stripped him. Malcolm managed to get the information out of him before he finally ended poor Jeremy’s suffering. As he wiped the bloody poker with his shirt, he looked into Jeremy’s dead eyes and said, “I told you, torture IS fun so don't get all het up about it.” and laughed wildly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Winston walked into Malcolm’s house and shouted for him. Malcolm calmly walked down the steps and asked” What do you want? My, my; you look lower than a snake’s belly.”

Winston walked over to Malcolm and jabbed a finger to his chest” I know you knew about Jeremy. Where is he?? He was last seen near you and just happened to disappear? What did you DO?”

“Wha-a? Who’s this Jeremy? And don’t you come in here makin’ a ruckus while not knowing nothing. You got somethin’ to say? We’ll meet up later tonight. Right now the girls are a-sleepin’ and you’re disturbin’ us.”

Winston gave him a once over and replied him curtly, “Fine.” before storming off.

Malcolm was stunned at how Winston knew Jeremy but managed to put two and two together. He took his gun from inside the piano, cleaned and reloaded it before placing it back. He walked to the nearby pay phone and called the hirer.

“I know who is behind all of this. I’m going to eliminate him tonight and before dawn, everything will be back to normal.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“W…where are you Malcolm?” Winston said nervously.

“Don’t be scared Winnie, I’m here, you wanna talk? Talk.”

Malcolm stepped out of the shadows and leaned on the wall. He glanced at Winston before looking into his eyes. Winston bravely stared back and said” I know you know”

“Yes I do. How did you find out who I am?”

Winston looked around Malcolm, probably checking for weapons then told him the whole story. The books, the hidden list and the information Jeremy gave him. Winston checked with the company he was working with and double checked the suspicious circumstances of the killings in the past few years.

Malcolm was a Hitman hired to kill the town’s prominent people for control of the oil production. The mayor hired him to get rid of the people who were “spoiling the chance for Babacale to be successful”. They were the ones who had stopped Washington from coming here and making money off the land by refusing to move. Quite frankly, they just HAD to die for the good of the town and mostly for the good of the people.

Malcolm applauded Winston’s effort and told him, “Well, since you know so much about me, let me tell you about you and your precious company. Think I don’t know your company’s calling card was the pentagram drawing? You need to be more discreet to who you meet up at night. And you liked my Marie right? Hah! It’s so obvious…”

“Why did she die? What could she have possibly done? She has given you three beautiful daughters, a loving home, and yet, she was killed by your company. Why?”

“Because she betrayed me!” Malcolm screamed harshly. He took a few deep breaths and continued.

“She was leverage too. Her father owns some estate here and in order to blackmail him, we needed her. Yes she was useful for a while, but she wanted to get away, free from this town and mostly me. Well, I thought she was useful until her father refused to give into the mayor’s demands and then she had to be taken care of.”

“And now, so will you…”

With that, Malcolm took out his gun and started shooting at Winston’s direction. Winston hit the dirt and took out his own small pistol. He ran from left to right, finding cover and shooting at Malcolm’s direction, but he kept missing. At the corner of his eye, Malcolm saw something coming at him. Was that Winston’s back-up? Not possible, the message was intercepted before it could get to Henderson. He continued shooting at Winston’s direction when suddenly; he was knocked to the ground.

“Wh-what?!?!”

Winston had somehow managed to get behind and tackle him. They were now on the ground and things were heating up. They both had a hold on Malcolm’s gun and neither wanted to die.

“Let go NOW!” screamed Malcolm

“You wish!!! LET GO” yelled Winston.

When… “BANG!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sipping a cocktail on the veranda, he happily chatted with the guest on the porch about the tragedy in Babacale.

One man was shot at an abandoned house in what was the most vicious and inhumane murder in Texas. The guy was brutally beaten until his skull caved in and was shot in places where the sun did not shine. He was also hung upside down and a warning was written to the people the murderer wanted to send the message to.

He gave the appropriate gasps and shocked looks when the story called for it but other than that, he was as happy as a clam. After all, this was a black tie affair and Malcolm had to look presentable, and of course, like an average Joe.

He had a target tonight.

~FIN~

Labels: The Reflex - Duran Duran