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Fiction: Between Heaven and Earth: chapter 4 |
Posted by
feralucce on Friday, November 14, 2003 - 04:15 AM PST
Interlude:
The National Weather Service has officially upgraded tropical storm Burt to a hurricane. According to predictions, the storm should reach the coast of Louisiana by early morning. It is recommended that all residents seek cover. Heavy rains and high winds may be hazardous. Winds may cause damage to buildings and property and flooding may result. Proceed with caution.
Chapter 4
It always happens like this. A tropical depression builds itself a power base, and then continues building up steam. Then he earns the title of Tropical Storm. He’s a big boy, with clout. But that is not the end of it. He needs more; he’s growing, and hungry. Building, building, and building, he keeps growing. Now, he’s almost where he wants to be – a hurricane. When he crosses this line, there is no turning back. He heads inland – he’s ready to flex his muscles and show people that he’s all grown up.
Once we reach this point, people get scared. This is a hurricane. This is serious business. The beauty of New Orleans is that when something serious crops up, we all head out for a drink. The only time that is busier is Mardi Gras. My place is full.
It all passes in a blur. An order screamed above the lyrics, “it’s the end of the world as we know it.” Cash and booze flow like water. The smells of clove, tobacco, alcohol, sweat and black khopesh incense all mingle in a haze that helps anesthetize me to the events of the past two days.
I tend to keep the door open till the money stops coming in, and the money keeps coming in tonight. I lock the door as the sun peeks over horizon. The place is trashed and I am too. Plastic cups, beer bottles, napkins and more litter the floor in an interesting pattern. I flip the switch to bring all the lights up and start to sweep up. The floor is sticky with spilled beer, but then, that’s why I had the carpet removed when I first bought the building. I sweep all the trash into a pile and begin shoveling it all into the trashcan.
At the bottom of the pile I catch a hint of metal. Sometimes, people drop valuables. They go into the lost and found box. If someone can identify an item, then I let them take it. More often than not, it just stays there and after a couple of months it’s mine. I push the detritus aside to see what it is.
A gun. A large, chrome plated handgun is in the middle of my floor. Someone lost a pistol in my bar. There’s a sign by the door with the rules of conduct. On that sign it says no weaponry - of any kind. One of my customers brought one in anyway. Well, it is a storm night, and it’s not likely one of my normal clientele – at least I hope it’s not.
I pick up the receiver and call the police. I mean, that seems to be the logical thing to do. I really don’t want this thing in my lost and found box for the next couple of months.
Thirty minutes later and Third Cop is at my door. I was expecting some kind of response to a lost handgun, but this was not it.
“Well, what brings you to this neck of the woods, Detective?”
He smiles, “Well, I hear you have been subjected to a hardware invasion.”
“That I have, sir.”
I show him the gun, which I have not touched. He pulls out a latex glove and pulls it on before picking it up and letting out a low, long whistle.
“That’s a serious hand cannon, my friend.”
Page: 1/4
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Average Rating : 5.0
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Between Heaven and Earth: chapter 4 | Login/Create an account | 4 Comments |
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Re: Between Heaven and Earth: chapter 4
by Anya on Nov 15, 2003 - 08:00 PM
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You've got an interesting plot going on in this chapter. It's been recent that I been reading people's stories and I'm fairly impressed. You can keep the present tense in grammar structures and first-point narrative much better than I ever could. Also, your descriptions are not too in-depth like Anne Rice and not too dim like a lazy rider. Well done, feralucce. Very well done.
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