Fair Play
Written by Neil Addison on Friday the 8th of July 2011
A man jumps a queue in the chip-shop. It is effortless and invites
public scrutiny. Because you've been drinking heavily you are the
one who tells him he should join the back of the line. Collecting his
bag of chips, he suggests you both go outside and settle the question
there and because you've been drinking heavily this does not seem
like a bad idea to begin with.
You follow him round the corner where he pulls a gun from out of his
jacket pocket. You're now privy to a slice of life you've never
met before. He promises not to kill you, only to treat your kneecaps
like a pair of tin-cans up on a fence.
Threatened with being shot, anger comes to your aid. Anger and grief.
You find yourself telling him about your mother and how she died in
your arms and the fact that there was nothing you could do about it.
Surprisingly, the man appears to understand your complaint. He even
counters with hurt of his own (a brother killed in gangland, the year
before last). Together you appear to be beating up on a third party
that goes by the name of death.
As the gunslinger finishes his tale you spot a tiny pebble of cocaine
clinging to his septum, precariously balanced, and apparently going
to waste.