Tag Archives: gun

To Become One’s Own Cause

“Tell me a story or I’ll shoot her.” He raised his gun. The pretty brunette made indistinct noises from behind the bandana in her mouth.

So I did. I told him about this aspiring writer who decides to do something crazy because he only knows how to write about “what actually happens.” He decides to rob a bank but falls for the bank teller. While he intended to write a note demanding all the money, he ends up writing her a poem. They go on a date a few days later. They go back to his place for a nightcap. There’s a knock on the door. The aspiring writer opens it and finds a man holding a gun. The man barges in and, for reasons unknown, ties up the aspiring writer and the bank teller.

“What happens then?” The man with the gun asked.

I told him how, in the story, the man with the gun forces the aspiring writer tell him a story.

“And then?” The man with the gun asked.

I told him how the aspiring writer doesn’t know how to finish the story and how the brunette begins to fear, more than ever before, for her life.


Crowded with Signs of Advancing Capitalism and the Influence of its Insignia

The cabin was perfect–miles beyond the reach of the last dirt road. It was well-tended; spaghetti sauce and crackers in the cupboard and an old but functioning television set in a makeshift upstairs bedroom with a cute little window.

He unloaded his provisions: barbed wire, nails, an axe, a gun, bullets.

He ate a meager meal. Then he set the barbed wire and secured the front door. Then he waited, crouched against the refrigerator, gun in hand. He waited more.

A knock at the door. He aimed and fired two bullets. Another knock. He backed away, aware that his little war was coming to an end, aware that he was going to lose. He ran upstairs to look out the window.

More assailants arrived. He fired from the window. His defiance only agitated them.

“You can’t win,” Opportunity called from behind the door. “You might as well give up,” Success shouted from somewhere in the darkness.

He listened to the noise of the front door being kicked in. He listened to footsteps ascend to the second floor.

He looked Happiness in the face. He surrendered, and he smiled a smile he had been running from for far too long.