Hurry up and Die
(A Short Story)
They lived across the street from one another, on Albemarle Street, they hadn’t got along for the past two years, and the son-in-low knew, the old man was moving out, away from it all. Often the old man’s daughter would walk through his yard, not say a word on her way to the bar that was across the alleyway. Her husband, Mike worked at the bar off and on. John and his wife, moved into the house with Jean lee; they worked for the old man for a few years, often took what they could get away with in merchandise, and John overcharged the old man for much of the work he did on his rental property he was for a long spell his manager of sorts (the old man gave him free rent, electricity, water everything was paid plus a salary); yet knowing the old man was ill, and had no one else to rely one, he would take advantage of him, along with the blessings of Mike and Jean lee. Then one day he up and quite on the old man, and when he found out life was not as sweet on his own, he tried to get his old job back, but the old man would not accommodate him.
Mike was not a very good helper you could say although he got reduced rent from living in one of the old man’s houses for years and he and his wife a paycheck, working for his father-in-law, he’d create jobs with John, robbing the old man when he could, even told the inspectors who would check the old man’s houses, to condemn them, when he saw something wrong, something he should of, or John, had taken care of for the old man. In addition, Mike would push gossip to the neighbors that his father-in-law was nothing but a creature, and pile lie upon lie, to the point of annoying the neighbors, yet for some reason, the neighbors wished to believe the ogre.
But this is not where the story begins, it is simply the background to a short story that sadly took place, and never should have, but too often is it not true nowadays—too often it does take place, with children badmouthing their parents, or in-laws, those who feed you. In any case, Janet the neighbor took a disliking for the old man now, whom once she had a fondness for, if not respect. But again, this is not where it all started, it started the day the old man sent a letter over to his daughter, the one who would not talk to him because of a prideful and greedy husband, the husband that grabbed him eighteen months earlier, and tried to break his ribs with a bear hug because he told him to fix the kitchen floor on one of the several rental properties he had worked on and done a bad job, the old man being a hundred and seventy pounds, the son-in-law, a hundred or so pounds more, and a few inches taller, he did survive that of course, and when the husband was told to leave, he whispered, “You’ll never see your two grandchildren again,” (ah, poor Willie and Keith) and he’d try to keep his word, for every time the kids seen the old man setting on his steps, or porch, and they’d walk by, if the kids would look at their grandfather, the husband would slap them in the head, “Turn around, don’t look…!” he’d tell the kids. And on they went.
But as I said, it all started with a letter the old man sent, saying in essence, he was moving away, far away (not giving any specifics), but it was hard on him to remain where he was, and not be subject to abuse by his daughter and her husband. So he gave her the remaining pictures he had of them, and her birth certificate, along with other items he had been safekeeping for her. She never did return an answer to the letter, although an answer was not asked for.
And so what took place was this:
It was the winter of 2004 that the old man had sent the letter, indicating he was leaving, and not ever returning, it would be in March of 2005, he would go, although Mike and his wife did not know of the exact date. Thus, Mike talked to John, saying: “I’ll never get a dime from him, he’ll spend it all now…!” For some odd reason, John came and told the old man of this, but he just smiled and walked away. Yet John and Mike were concerned. The old man, according to them had a lot of money, and was selling all his rental property, one right after the other, and they saw this, plus they say the old man’s brother coming and going with folks buying items in the house, so they had to make their move, if indeed they were going to. So they devised a plan, and they would carry it out.
It was 2:00 AM when the old man and his wife went to sleep. Janet was watching from her window next door, she called Mike up, saying, “Ok, he just turned off the lights…!” And John and Mike got out of bed, got dressed, their wives still sleeping and the kids, and then walked across the street to the old man’s house. Mike still had the keys to the old man’s garage (and perhaps John did also), and he figured, one of his old residents would get blamed for what was about to take place, but the resident was now in prison, so it would eliminate him from the suspect list. In any case, John and Mike opened up the garage door, a double garage, Mike thinking, it was now or never, Janet watching, and considered somewhat, she might be implemented, plus, she didn’t want her property destroyed along with the old man’s.
Mike walked about the garage, gathered some wood, a few brooms, papers and other flammable things, put them together, poured gas on them, then poured gas from where these items were (John watching, leaving his foot prints in the snow, hoping the bedroom light would not go on), to the car in the next stall, lit the fire, and smoke poured from the low lit flames, to the point they had to leave the garage early or be absorbed by them; soon the fire would surely burn the cabinet of wood next to it, and then being attached to the house, burn the whole place down in a matter of minutes, it just needed to burst into flames more.
During this time, the smoke seeped through the metal door, into the pantry and onto the kitchen, and slightly around the corner to the old man’s bedroom, in which the door was shut. (Had not the old man but a metal door in place of the old wood door by the garage, it would have allowed much more smoke into the house by now, for it was at least ten-minutes the smoke had been infesting the garage—circulating around it, and Mike and John had made their way out of the garage, back home across the street, and into their beds, as if nothing had happened.
The old man was sound to sleep, and his wife, some years younger, heard a voice, it sounded like her mother-in-law’s, Elsie’s voice: “Ros-a! …Ros-a!” And she woke to find out who it was, for Elsie had been dead going on four months. When she opened the door, the smoke almost smothered her, it engulfed her, but not to the point of subduing her. She looked for the fire, called her husband, “Fire…fire…!” But where was it, I mean the smoke was there almost everywhere, and her husband half in a daze, ill, said “Check the garage,” and she did, and there in the garage, it was worse than in the house by far. Next, she ran back into the house, grabbed a wet towel and covered the small fire, and opened the garage door, by that time the old man came into the garage coughing (and counting his blessings).
Had they not stopped the fire, when they did, as the Captain of the Fire Department would say later, “The way the fire was positioned against the cabinet, the whole house would have gone up once the flames got stronger, and you with it!”
And so I leave the good reader with this: beware of those who you try to love to death, for often they are the ones who wish deep in their hearts to harm you. For what comes out of their actions, and mouths, is from their heart.
Note: Written 10-22-2007
They lived across the street from one another, on Albemarle Street, they hadn’t got along for the past two years, and the son-in-low knew, the old man was moving out, away from it all. Often the old man’s daughter would walk through his yard, not say a word on her way to the bar that was across the alleyway. Her husband, Mike worked at the bar off and on. John and his wife, moved into the house with Jean lee; they worked for the old man for a few years, often took what they could get away with in merchandise, and John overcharged the old man for much of the work he did on his rental property he was for a long spell his manager of sorts (the old man gave him free rent, electricity, water everything was paid plus a salary); yet knowing the old man was ill, and had no one else to rely one, he would take advantage of him, along with the blessings of Mike and Jean lee. Then one day he up and quite on the old man, and when he found out life was not as sweet on his own, he tried to get his old job back, but the old man would not accommodate him.
Mike was not a very good helper you could say although he got reduced rent from living in one of the old man’s houses for years and he and his wife a paycheck, working for his father-in-law, he’d create jobs with John, robbing the old man when he could, even told the inspectors who would check the old man’s houses, to condemn them, when he saw something wrong, something he should of, or John, had taken care of for the old man. In addition, Mike would push gossip to the neighbors that his father-in-law was nothing but a creature, and pile lie upon lie, to the point of annoying the neighbors, yet for some reason, the neighbors wished to believe the ogre.
But this is not where the story begins, it is simply the background to a short story that sadly took place, and never should have, but too often is it not true nowadays—too often it does take place, with children badmouthing their parents, or in-laws, those who feed you. In any case, Janet the neighbor took a disliking for the old man now, whom once she had a fondness for, if not respect. But again, this is not where it all started, it started the day the old man sent a letter over to his daughter, the one who would not talk to him because of a prideful and greedy husband, the husband that grabbed him eighteen months earlier, and tried to break his ribs with a bear hug because he told him to fix the kitchen floor on one of the several rental properties he had worked on and done a bad job, the old man being a hundred and seventy pounds, the son-in-law, a hundred or so pounds more, and a few inches taller, he did survive that of course, and when the husband was told to leave, he whispered, “You’ll never see your two grandchildren again,” (ah, poor Willie and Keith) and he’d try to keep his word, for every time the kids seen the old man setting on his steps, or porch, and they’d walk by, if the kids would look at their grandfather, the husband would slap them in the head, “Turn around, don’t look…!” he’d tell the kids. And on they went.
But as I said, it all started with a letter the old man sent, saying in essence, he was moving away, far away (not giving any specifics), but it was hard on him to remain where he was, and not be subject to abuse by his daughter and her husband. So he gave her the remaining pictures he had of them, and her birth certificate, along with other items he had been safekeeping for her. She never did return an answer to the letter, although an answer was not asked for.
And so what took place was this:
It was the winter of 2004 that the old man had sent the letter, indicating he was leaving, and not ever returning, it would be in March of 2005, he would go, although Mike and his wife did not know of the exact date. Thus, Mike talked to John, saying: “I’ll never get a dime from him, he’ll spend it all now…!” For some odd reason, John came and told the old man of this, but he just smiled and walked away. Yet John and Mike were concerned. The old man, according to them had a lot of money, and was selling all his rental property, one right after the other, and they saw this, plus they say the old man’s brother coming and going with folks buying items in the house, so they had to make their move, if indeed they were going to. So they devised a plan, and they would carry it out.
It was 2:00 AM when the old man and his wife went to sleep. Janet was watching from her window next door, she called Mike up, saying, “Ok, he just turned off the lights…!” And John and Mike got out of bed, got dressed, their wives still sleeping and the kids, and then walked across the street to the old man’s house. Mike still had the keys to the old man’s garage (and perhaps John did also), and he figured, one of his old residents would get blamed for what was about to take place, but the resident was now in prison, so it would eliminate him from the suspect list. In any case, John and Mike opened up the garage door, a double garage, Mike thinking, it was now or never, Janet watching, and considered somewhat, she might be implemented, plus, she didn’t want her property destroyed along with the old man’s.
Mike walked about the garage, gathered some wood, a few brooms, papers and other flammable things, put them together, poured gas on them, then poured gas from where these items were (John watching, leaving his foot prints in the snow, hoping the bedroom light would not go on), to the car in the next stall, lit the fire, and smoke poured from the low lit flames, to the point they had to leave the garage early or be absorbed by them; soon the fire would surely burn the cabinet of wood next to it, and then being attached to the house, burn the whole place down in a matter of minutes, it just needed to burst into flames more.
During this time, the smoke seeped through the metal door, into the pantry and onto the kitchen, and slightly around the corner to the old man’s bedroom, in which the door was shut. (Had not the old man but a metal door in place of the old wood door by the garage, it would have allowed much more smoke into the house by now, for it was at least ten-minutes the smoke had been infesting the garage—circulating around it, and Mike and John had made their way out of the garage, back home across the street, and into their beds, as if nothing had happened.
The old man was sound to sleep, and his wife, some years younger, heard a voice, it sounded like her mother-in-law’s, Elsie’s voice: “Ros-a! …Ros-a!” And she woke to find out who it was, for Elsie had been dead going on four months. When she opened the door, the smoke almost smothered her, it engulfed her, but not to the point of subduing her. She looked for the fire, called her husband, “Fire…fire…!” But where was it, I mean the smoke was there almost everywhere, and her husband half in a daze, ill, said “Check the garage,” and she did, and there in the garage, it was worse than in the house by far. Next, she ran back into the house, grabbed a wet towel and covered the small fire, and opened the garage door, by that time the old man came into the garage coughing (and counting his blessings).
Had they not stopped the fire, when they did, as the Captain of the Fire Department would say later, “The way the fire was positioned against the cabinet, the whole house would have gone up once the flames got stronger, and you with it!”
And so I leave the good reader with this: beware of those who you try to love to death, for often they are the ones who wish deep in their hearts to harm you. For what comes out of their actions, and mouths, is from their heart.
Note: Written 10-22-2007
posted by Dennis and Rosa Siluk at 1:57 PM
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