My Crime Years

The argument raged in Spanish for over an hour. It ended with the dying old woman beating on his chest with her frail fists. “No Angel no!” she cried bitterly, “I shall have this thing. Give me my final wish: my death wish!” Angel hesitated and then slowly shook his head indicating that he understood.

Normally a passive woman who watched television by day and slept all night, his mother had been sick with cancer for years. Her time was short and he had never seen her this intense before. “Swear it to me Angel,” she demanded in a hoarse whisper, “swear it to me on your life!” “Si Mama,” Angel replied, “I swear it to you on my life.” He turned away. His mother had her last wish. The old woman lay back on the bed and closed her eyes. Angel was pissed as he stepped out the front door of the cheap flat and started down the street.

The mid-day sun blazed off the pavement as he scanned the rows of project tenement housing that seemed to stretch on forever. The dumpy buildings rose like canyons and covered several city blocks. The stench just hung in the air and was so bad that the police rarely came into this neighborhood. When they did, it took them so long time to arrive that the crime was done and the suspects long gone. It had always been that way.

He stopped to catch his look in a tinted window. “Damn!” he thought. Angel was proud of his good looks and muscular physique. Only nineteen, he had been through more conflict than most people see in a lifetime. He ran his hand over his clothing and squinted up at the noonday sun.

Spinning suddenly he saw some wannabe leaning against an SUV staring at him. It was common on the weekends for guys who had grown up in these projects and moved off to better neighborhoods to return and visit whatever family remained. It amused Angel that these guys liked to pretend they were bad when they returned in their new automobiles. Hell, most of them had practically lived in their apartments like scared prisoners until they finished their education or joined the military. Either way they were soft and not any real threat.

He flexed and stared directly at the intruder. Usually this was enough to send most people packing fast but this guy either left a long time ago or was just way too stupid because he actually said, “What’s your problem?” Angel never hesitated. He instantly attacked the guy beating him down into the gutter. He didn’t even bother to pull his blade. The guy tried to fight back but was forced into submission. It ended quickly with the intruder begging for mercy. Angel laughed. He robbed him of his cash, and let him go. It wasn’t worth the trouble. The guy loped off holding his beaten face. Angel quickly pulled the stereo from the SUV and fenced it around the corner.

He felt better after that but worry gnawed him. He had to figure out how to keep his word to his mother and perform one genuine act of kindness that very day. The thought made Angel uncomfortable but he owed her. She would die in peace and afterwards he would be free to do whatever he wanted. Grinning, Angel walked out of the projects and onto the boulevard. Moving through city streets filled with people, he spotted a bus bench and stopped to give the matter some thought. After a while his eyes came to rest on a building across the street.

The Department of Motor Vehicles was located in a bad area but it hadn’t always been so. Pat remembered how quiet it had been when he came to work here twenty years ago. Eventually, however, the middle-class moved and property values dropped. Pat had moved too and like many of his neighbors made the commute to work each day. It was what it was. Seriously though, he thought, the projects aside there were still a lot of good family people here. Most worked for a living and the kids played outside during the day.

Pat was college educated but his degree was in liberal arts. Today’s economy dictated he might as well be a college dropout for all the good it would do him outside of government work. No matter, he had simple tastes and enjoyed the respect the community afforded him for teaching the mostly Spanish-speaking housewives and young people how to drive. He would have been hard pressed to find the same happiness in a well to do area. After signing a form, he motioned for the next person in line. Angel stepped up.

“Yes may I help you?” Pat asked. A vague uneasy feeling like a black cloud came over him. “I need a drivers license,” Angel said flatly. “Certainly but first you have to complete a written driver’s test.” Pat felt intuitively that this young man shouldn’t even have a driver’s license but the law was the law so he offered Angel a test booklet and pencil. Angel knew he couldn’t pass the written test. His driving experience was limited to joyriding and an occasional carjacking. He debated for a minute about stabbing Pat with the pencil and running into the street but decided against it. He needed the driver’s license to show his mother. This was something tangible and would impress her. Then he would be off the hook. He snatched the test from Pat’s hand and went to the testing area.

He doodled for a while before noticing the person next to him. It was Miguel. Miguel was one of those studious apartment prisoners that lived in the projects. He knew the score. No way he was going to cross Angel. Angel whispered quietly in a menacingly manner to Miguel for a minute and then exchanged his blank test for Miguel’s completed one. He penciled in his name and got the keys to Miguel’s Nova in the process. He took the test triumphantly back to Pat who graded it and gave him a passing score.

Now it was time for the driving test. Pat motioned him to the drivers test area and hooked the driver safety sign to the top of the vehicle. Angel nonchalantly unlocked the doors and got in. He played it cool until they were out of the parking lot. Then he turned on the radio and twisted the dial to a local rap station. Pat’s uneasy feeling grew as he reminded Angel to keep his eyes on the road.

“You asking me or telling me?” Angel asked suddenly. “I must ask you to drive safely or return. You have made one unsafe lane change already, tailgated, and are going eight miles over the speed limit. Additionally, you are playing the radio excessively loud.” Pat felt the uneasy feeling peak as he finished.

Angel made a hard sharp right into an abandoned alley and slammed on the brakes bringing the car to an abrupt stop. “You want a black eye!” he screamed. Pat jerked as if an alarm had just gone off. Angel punched him in the face. Pat’s mind filled with brilliant colors and his ears rang from the blow. Pat opened the door and tried to make a run for it. Livid now, Angel leapt out of the car and sprinted toward him. Pat only got a few yards before being rammed to the ground with a body slam. Assuming the fetal position, he covered his head with his arms. It dawned on him that only his wits could help him survive.

“You stay put! Don’t you move one muscle of your fat ass!” Angel yelled as he ripped the driver safety sign off the roof of the car and threw it against a wall. Pat didn’t move. “You put that there to make me look stupid didn’t you?” Pat didn’t say a word. Angel opened the passenger door and motioned for him to get back in the car. Pat climbed in and within a short time they were out of the alley and heading south on the freeway.

“You think I’m stupid? You think you’re better than me?” Angel yelled. Pat shook his head no. “Yeah now you don’t but you thought you were damn smart a few minutes ago didn’t you?” Angel whipped out his butterfly knife and pointed it menacingly at Pat. “Don’t you try nothing you got that: nothing!” Pat nodded that he understood. The knife disappeared back into Angel’s back pocket.

They drove for a while; rap music blaring from the speakers. Pat looked out the passenger window at the passing manufacturing showrooms and tried to think of a way out. He was scared.
Finally Angel exited the freeway and drove through some abandoned buildings before coming to a stop on a pile of cracked asphalt in a vacant parking lot. Across the street were three Latinos sitting in front of a decrepit bar in a run down low rider. Angel flashed a sign. Their response seemed to satisfy him so he led Pat out of the car, over the sleeping body of a bum, and into the bar.

The place was decrepit. A row of cracked vinyl bar stools sat positioned in front of a foul smelling bar. The dim light revealed two thread worn pool tables in the middle of a room that was vacant except for a mean looking bartender and an old man nursing a beer. Angel led Pat to a booth against the wall and yelled for the bartender to bring over a couple of boilermakers, which he did. Pat paid.

“Drink up,” Angel said after another round. Pat hadn’t touched his drinks and very respectfully explained that he didn’t drink alcohol. Angel did the unexpected. He simply shrugged and downed Pat’s drinks. “Figures” was all he said. Then he ordered yet another round and began rambling about things that Pat couldn’t attribute any meaning to. After awhile, Angel got to the point.

“Here’s how its gonna be” he finally said. “I’m going to drive us back and you’re going to give me my driver’s license. If you don’t, you’re dead. It’s that simple. If I’m in prison for this one of mine is going to kill you. That will happen. There’s only one way out of this for you. You’re going to give me the license.” Angel cocked his head and waited for Pat’s reaction. “I understand,” Pat replied. Angel made him repeat it several times until he was sure that Pat meant it.

Cruising on the freeway heading back, an intoxicated Angel was having problems keeping the car in one lane. Pat dared not say a word. By chance, a patrol car appeared from behind and flashed them. Angel cursed as he pulled over and slowed to a stop. “One word or signal and you’re dead,” he hissed. Pat knew it was no bluff.

The police officer exited his squad car and walked quickly to the driver side window. “May I see some registration and identification?” he asked. Angel started in with an explanation. He got the once over. The police officer wasn’t impressed. “Sir, could you step away from the vehicle for me please?” he said. Angel was able to start the car and floor it in one easy motion. He left the officer in a cloud of burning rubber.

Quickly he brought the car up to over a hundred miles an hour and recklessly weaved between two cars. Pat covered his eyes. A short time later a helicopter appeared overhead. Pat dared to look and saw several police cars enter the freeway and position themselves about 100 yards behind them. Angel screamed curses and floored it narrowly avoiding an officer attempting to deploy a spike strip.

After twenty more danger filled minutes, a squad car sped up closing the distance between them, pointed a gun at the rear tires and shot them out. Angel lost control of the vehicle, which spun in circles at 80 miles an hour barely missing a motorcycle rider. The Nova caught a guardrail and flipped end over end. Angel was thrown from the car and in what was later termed a “freak accident,” impaled on a guard post as he landed. Pat had been wearing his seat belt and stayed in the car. The passenger side air bag saved his life.

The police rushed to free Pat from the wreckage marveling that he had no serious injuries. Pat looked over at the dying Angel. Spittle and blood ran down the side of his mouth a sign of massive internal damage. “Too late mama! It’s too late...” he gasped as some unseen terror took hold of him. Screaming a piercing wail Angel tried to sit up one last time but his body shuddered and grew still. It was over. Pat shook like a leaf as the police escorted him away from the scene. He was a very lucky man.

Copyright 2005 © West Coast Rockets. All Rights Reserved.

Mad and Ness

How I came to be in those dark woods on that moonlit night I have no idea. Two things I do remember, however, was that I was lost and it was cold. The dirt path in front of me was rugged and the forest towered on both sides leaving me with the impression that creatures not quite right inhabited these woods.

I pushed on until the path widened and broke free of the forest. By the light of the moon I could see a quaint two story wood and field stone cottage in the middle of a meadow. Light streamed from the downstairs windows and as I approached so did the sound of conversation. The path ended at a solid oak door that was both inviting and intimidating. I knocked deliberately.

“It’s open!” voices cried in unison. I pushed the door open and walked into an entryway. Directly in front of me was a long winding staircase that reached upward to the second story I presumed for it was too dark to see where it ended. To my far right was a kitchen and in between a living room with a couple the like of which I had never seen before seated on a Victorian couch staring directly at me. They motioned for me to close the door and enter so I complied and took a seat directly across from them in an old rocker next to the fireplace.

The woman was waif with the bluest eyes and whitest hair. Pale, slender, and dressed black from head to foot, it was as if she had just returned from a wake. The man, who was obviously her husband, looked very different. He was a strong man with big hands and a face that looked almost violently mean yet hid a crafty smile.

The man spoke first. “Always coming and going, we’ll die of a draft,” he stated somewhat somberly. “Forgive me,” I replied, “To my recollection I have never seen this place before and am quite lost. While I appreciate your hospitality might I inquire as to my hosts identity?”

The woman answered next. “Of course dear,” she said leaning forward to pat my hand in a gesture of feigned empathy, “This is Mad and I am Ness. We are the Starks.” “He knows that already,” the man snapped, “don’t you ever tire of reminding him.” I raised my eyebrows. “Your room is upstairs,” Ness added pointing toward the entryway stairs. After suffering several more minutes of Mad’s glare, I decided to leave the living room.

Following the entryway to the stairs I stared up into the blackness and felt suddenly alone and fearful. What was that? Was it the stress of my current predicament and the strange discussion I had just engaged in or was that actually the sound of something shuffling ominously above me. A cold shiver ran down my back. I stepped back into the light and called to the Starks, “Is anyone up there?” “No dear” Ness replied, “just you.” “He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed,” Mad muttered. Stepping back to the stairs and not wanting to offend my new hosts any further, I stood there quietly for a long time before summoning the courage to continue.

Once my eyes acclimated to the dark, I took the stairs one at a time and made my way to the top. There, I surveyed the upstairs. Several doors were locked save one. I turned the knob and pushed the door open. The moonlight streaming in through the bedroom window made it easy to see a dresser and stool in a corner of the room. I entered and saw a simple bed in the middle of the room with a wooden chest at its foot. On the bed were the remains of some poor unfortunate.

As plain as day it was and fear gripped me as I moved in for a closer inspection. The skeleton appeared fresh and completely intact with not so much as a speck of dust evident. My stomach tightened as I contemplated the situation. Obviously the Starks were aware that a skeleton was lying in one of their guest rooms and were not bothered in the slightest. Furthermore, they had offered me the use of the room for the night. This was not good.

Somewhat timidly I bent down and opened the chest searching for some manner of identification. I was at a loss for words at what I found. All of my personal belongings were present in the chest. My clothes were neatly folded on top and underneath were my tools and other assorted items that I carried when traveling. None of this made sense and it was at this moment that I looked up. Looking directly at me was the skeleton now seated on the bed rather than lying lifelessly on it.

I grabbed my chest in an attempt to still my heart as I stumbled to my feet and stepped back. The skeleton appeared to be enjoying my reaction and laughed eerily as it got to its feet. I could not believe my eyes.

“You’re standing,” I finally managed. My face felt like lead. “Yes I am,” the skeleton replied seriously, “and I want my body back.” “Your body?” I questioned, “Who are you?” The skeleton rose to its full stature and fixed its hollow eyes on me as it spoke these words, “I am you!”

Horror overcame me and I heard hysterical laughing from the Starks who had made their way to the bedroom doorway. “Give him his body back sweetie,” Ness said menacingly. In a twinkle of an eye, I grabbed the stool and smashed out the window. Leaping into the moonlit meadow I ran for the woods saving to look back only once. It was then that I saw the skeleton climb through the broken window, drop to the ground and begin its pursuit.

I reached the woods and tried to escape by running randomly through the forest. Soon, however, the forest hemmed me in, the trees arching strangely allowing only one possible course. I followed the pattern for some time until the great towering trees relented and I found myself on a familiar dirt path. The wind rose moaning and whistling and it grew colder still.

I grew dreadfully afraid and pushed on through the darkness. Then I heard footsteps in the distance and ran even faster. Once I glimpsed the awful creature and felt a sort of paralysis one only feels when face to face with such horrors. I ran for what seemed like an hour. I ran until my lungs felt as if they were on fire and I believed I could not take another step.
Finally, breathing heavily I crawled into a tangle of bushes. I lay on my side in the moist dirt looking frantically for some sign of the skeleton.

A long time passed without incident and I began to think perhaps I had indeed escaped. I closed my eyes, rolled onto my back and breathed a sigh of relief. To my horror, I felt something hard yet supple and warm brush against my cheek. I opened my eyes and came face to face with the skeleton lying next to me. “We are one again,” were the last words and the last thing I remember as the skeleton ripped open my chest.

Copyright 2005 © West Coast Rockets. All Rights Reserved.