NYC Midnight Flash Fiction 2010 Challenge #1

TITLE: A night at Mike’s

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Can Jason convince Harper not to quit the swim team? He has a lot at stake, personally and professionally, and a night at Mike’s Sports Bar might change one of their lives forever.

Jason took another sip of chilled beer as his eyes followed the hot blonde who had just entered the bar. She walked over to the pool table, kissed the guys who were playing, and took a cue stick. Jason swiveled on the barstool as she bent to take a shot. His rugged features crinkled into a smile. This was what made Mike’s worth coming to, despite the expensive drinks. It was a great place for bird-watching, and being a sports bar, the wife always assumed he was out with his buddies so he was spared the third degree.

“I thought I’d find you here.”

Jason was jolted out of his musings. He’d told Harper that they could never meet in public. Jeanette might not mind him sitting at the bar and leering at the goods, but she always suspected his students of trying to seduce him. For good reason too.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, putting his glass down casually. He’d do best to get this conversation out of the way and make the bitch leave him alone. She’d become so clingy, ever since she’d found out…

Harper took the seat next to him and placed a pair of swim goggles on the bar.

“I’m quitting the team.”

Jason’s eyebrows knotted together.

“Why?”

Harper was one of the best swimmers on the team, their best shot at making the state championship.

“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t come in every day and face you and act like…like it doesn’t matter. I don’t blame you. I wanted this, I decided to along with it and…I don’t want anything from you, but I’m keeping the baby.”

Jason’s hands balled into fists. This was what he got for screwing stupid underage girls. He exhaled deeply, trying to calm himself. He could handle this.

“Harper, honey, I know you’re emotional about this, but consider the long term consequences. You’ve a real shot at a swimming career. You give it up now, and you’ll never get it back. No teenage Mom has ever grown up to be an Olympic gold medalist, you know. I already told you – I’ll take you to this place I know. It’s quick and it’s easy, in and out. It’ll be like it never happened and your life can go on as planned.”

“Shut up, shut up! I don’t have to hear another word. You think it’s that easy for me to … to kill this gift that was created by our love? You said that you’d leave her, that you’d marry me – as soon as I was legal. But then you accused me of sleeping around and denied that this could be your child. And now you want me to kill my own baby. I may be stupid enough to believe that you ever loved me, but I’m not a murderer.”

She was crying now; big round tears streamed out of those gorgeous blue eyes and onto the bar. For the millionth time lately, Jason regretted the day he’d decided to have his fun with her. It had seemed like a good idea at the time; she’d had a crush on him, and hell, she was sixteen and toned and gorgeous. He’d be a fool to let that go. But every good thing came with a price, and with Harper, it had first been the starry-eyed clinginess and now this insistence on ruining everything. He couldn’t let that happen. If she kept the baby, Jeanette would eventually know and he’d be cut off. The damn pre-nup he’d been forced to sign clearly stated that he would get nothing of her estate if he cheated on her. Despite her claims that she loved him, the bitch had known from the beginning that he couldn’t be faithful.

Jason took another deep breath to steady himself. He knew what he had to do. He would make this work. He picked up the blue goggles, stared at them for a minute, and then handed them back to Harper.

“Okay,” he told her, managing a smile. “We’ll do it your way. I’ll leave Jeanette and we’ll get married and raise this baby together.”

Harper stared at him disbelievingly.

“You’d do that? Really?”

“Of course, sweetheart. Come on, you know I’d do anything for you, and if you want to keep this baby, you can. We’ll do it. Together.”

“Oh Jason,” Harper cried, jumping off the stool toward him.

He pushed her away quickly. “Not here,” he said. “Don’t forget the rules. Nothing in public, ever. Go to our place and wait there, I’ll be there in ten. And don’t tell anybody about the baby yet. Let me figure out how to break it to Jeanette first. It will hurt her, I’m sure, but it will be for the best.”

“Yes, yes,” Harper said, softly, wiping away her tears. “Okay, I’m going there now. You’ll be there soon, right?”

“Yeah, see you there, honey.”

Jason watched her leave the room, clutching the goggles in her right hand, almost bounding out the door. He finished his drink and asked for the check. The bartender handed it to him with a smile. Luckily, she’d been in the kitchen when Harper had stopped by.

“Have a good night, Jason. I’m working the night shift on Wednesday, so maybe I’ll see you then?”

Jason nodded as he put a couple of bills down and got off the stool.

He walked to his car and opened the door. He revved up the engine, enjoying the beautiful sound. Then he turned up the music and started driving. Shaking his head to the beat, he opened the glove compartment and took out his trusty revolver. It was only the first murder that made people squeamish, he mused. Swaying to the music, he pulled into the motel parking lot. He’d better get this done quickly so that he’d be in time for dinner.

NYC Midnight - Challenge 3

This was written for the NYC Midnight Challenge #3 - 1000 words or less in 48 hours

Genre: Open

Location: Garbage Dump

Object: Laptop

TITLE: The last day of his life

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: On what he’s decided will be the last day of his life, Gerard muses about what went wrong, and how he can fix it.

Gerard picked up yet another dirty milk jug and put it into his plastic bag. Being at the Santa Maria dump didn’t bother him so much anymore; the mounds of rubbish, the stench, he was used to it now. After several months of rag-picking, he’d finally settled on “working” here – it made him the most money. He got here every afternoon, shortly after the dump trucks made their deposits. He had his routine; he’d sift through the trash, collect everything he thought was valuable, then deliver the goods to Shorty. He didn’t care what Shorty did with the junk – sold it or sent it to the recycling center – as long as he got his money.

How had he come to this point? Gerard ran his hands through his matted, graying hair, side-stepping a dirty diaper. He wore a torn t-shirt, covered by an old tweed jacket, and his pants had threads hanging. Just a year ago, he had everything – a beautiful family, friends, and a stable job teaching high school Chemistry. Yet today was going to be the last day of his life.

What if he hadn’t met John that fateful Friday? He’d had a stressful week at work, and it was just one joint. But John had got busted that night, and Gerard’s name was in all the papers alongside his. His testimony had ruined Gerard – they did not bring charges against him, but the school let him go, and they made sure he’d never find a teaching job again. A bad influence, they’d said. What else could he do? All he’d ever wanted to do was spread his love of science, try and influence young minds to embrace the mysteries of atoms and molecules.

He’d tried – he really had. But everybody in his small town knew him, and no one was willing to give him a break. He had no money, and shortly after his health insurance expired, Lily got sick.

Gerard shook his head. He couldn’t think of that now. He was finally going to do right by his family. His annual life insurance premium was paid for till the end of this month. If he was to do anything worthwhile, now was the time. He put his gloved hand into his jacket pocket. He’d seen it on TV. Suicide by Police, they’d called it. All he had to do was go to the nearest police station, and aim his hairbrush at the cops. He was an unshaven 6’2” black man with bloodshot eyes. The cops would shoot first and ask questions later. And Mary would get $25,000 from the life insurance company. It was the right thing to do – she was young, she’d find somebody else who would take care of her. All he’d ever done was make her unhappy.

Gerard knew she must blame him. And she was right to – it was all his fault. He’d failed Lily. But today, he’d set things right. He’d be gone, Mary would get the money, and she’d be able to move out of this place; out of the shadow of humiliation he’d put her under.

Scanning the trash for more valuables, his eyes caught sight of something colorful peeking out from a Princess schoolbag atop a mound of stinking debris. Gerard opened the bag – it was a toy laptop – orange and blue, with a little plastic mouse dangling from it. His mind was whisked away to a day he’d tried hard to forget.

***

“I wish I had a computer.”

“What would you do with a computer, love?”

“I’d build a robot. To replace me, you know. To help you and Mom when you grow old. I wanted to be the perfect kid – to take care of you and always make you proud.”

Ignoring his wife’s crying in the background, Gerard hugged his ten-year old daughter. “You’ve always made us proud, and you’re going to be with us for a very, very long time, sweetheart. But you could always build us a robot if you want to. I can always use the help,” he said, smiling through the tears.

“Dad, I know you did your best, but we have no insurance. It’s not your fault. At least you have one another. Keep each other strong after I’m gone, alright?”

“Don’t talk like that. I’ll get you that chemo, don’t you worry about it. I’ll knock on every door I can. I’ll beg if I have to, I promise.”

He knocked, begged and pleaded. But he got caught in an unending loop of paperwork, and while they waited, the cancer progressed quickly and spread. His Lily wilted and then passed away on a gray autumn evening. “It’s Gerard’s fault,” they whispered. He believed it.

***

Keep each other strong after I’m gone.

Without thinking, Gerard picked up the toy laptop, and started walking. Out of the dump and onto the road. Before he knew it, he was standing at his little girl’s grave. Bending down amidst the wild flowers that had grown there, he placed the toy near her headstone, and said a little prayer. Then, wiping away a tear, Gerard reached into his pocket and threw the hairbrush away. “I’ll keep your Mom strong, sweetheart. I guess I won’t be meeting you today, but whenever the Lord decides it’s my time.” Then he picked up a single daffodil and headed home.

Mary didn’t even look at him when he opened the door. That was the way it was these days, they were strangers living under the same roof. He walked over to her and handed her the flower silently.

“From Lily’s…?” she asked, her voice hoarse.

He nodded. “I went by.”

Sobbing, she slumped into his arms, and his own tears fell fast, like the dam holding them in had broken. They cried together for a few minutes before he broke away.

“It’s going to be okay,” he said. “We’re going to get through this together.”

Far away, a little angel smiled.