{"id":356,"date":"2017-07-09T10:36:06","date_gmt":"2017-07-09T09:36:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/?p=356"},"modified":"2024-10-17T16:55:12","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T15:55:12","slug":"a-little-retribution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/2017\/07\/09\/a-little-retribution\/","title":{"rendered":"A Little Retribution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo I know you?\u201d said Packer.
\u201cNo, you don\u2019t,\u201d said the man.
The stranger had stepped into the elevator just before the doors closed and fixed eyes on Packer. That gaze had not faltered.
\u201cIt\u2019s just I swear this isn\u2019t the first time I\u2019ve seen you today,\u201c said Packer.
\u201cYou would have been stupid not to,\u201d said the man. \u201cI\u2019ve been following you since I spotted you at the diner.\u201d
\u201cThe diner? That was hours ago,\u201d said Packer.
\u201cIt was. Four and a half of them, to be precise,\u201d said the man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Okay. The man was well dressed, didn\u2019t look like your common or garden mugger. Did he work for the courts? Was Packer about to be served? He looked into those unflinching eyes, saw something, something\u2026 familiar.
\u201cI do know you,\u201d said Packer.
\u201cYou might recognize me,\u201d said the man. \u201cBut you certainly don\u2019t know me.\u201d
\u201cDid I do something on you? Cut out in front of you or something?\u201d
The man said nothing.
\u201cSchool,\u201d Packer blurted out. \u201cWe went to school together.\u201d
The man broke a small, very small smile. \u201cWe were in the same class, but we did not go to school \u2018together\u2019,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were about as far from \u2018together\u2019 as you could get.\u201d
Packer went through the faces in his head, all the way from elementary to-
\u201cJunior High,\u201d said the man. \u201cThat\u2019s where you don\u2019t remember me from. Even if you did, I look a bit different now. A lot of things about me have changed over the years. The level of forgiveness I afford those who take from me being one of them.\u201d
\u201cI\u2019m sorry?\u201d
\u201cYou will be.\u201d
The elevator came to a halt. Parker moved towards the doors, but the man blocked his path.
\u201cThis is my floor,\u201d said Parker.
\u201cNo, it isn\u2019t. It isn\u2019t yours at all. But you liking to think you own other people\u2019s property wouldn\u2019t be new, would it? Parky.\u201d
\u201cNo one has called me Parky since-\u201c
\u201c-you were the class-A class A-hole,\u201d said the man, pushing the button for the very top floor of the parking structure.
\u201cWhat\u2019s this all about?\u201d
\u201cA pencil case.\u201d
\u201cExcuse me?\u201d
\u201cMy pencil case. It had a tartan pattern on the outside, that I\u2019d had since kindergarten, that was given to me by my grandfather the same year he died. That you thought it would be good fun to take from my bag when my back was turned, write a hilarious ransom note and return to me in tiny little pieces until you got bored.\u201d
\u201cFish?\u201d
\u201cYes, or \u2018Stinky Fish\u2019, as I seem to recall you christening me.\u201d
\u201cLook\u2026 David, that was just-\u201c
\u201cThat name, I used to spend hours in the shower washing and scrubbing, convinced I did actually smell.\u201d
\u201cThat was just a bit of fun. Same with the pencil case. It\u2019s what school kids do, you must understand?\u201d
David Fish, no longer the fat, sad-looking kid down the back of the class, but this sinewy, shark-eyed man right up in Parker\u2019s face, smiled from ear to ear.
\u201cI do understand. Now,\u201d he said. \u201cI understand how all those little paper cuts over the years add up, how an individual\u2019s feelings can be hurt to the point where they plain don\u2019t work anymore, how one day you find you\u2019re able to just take emotions, especially all the ones that hold you back from fulfilling your potential \u2013 fear, anxiety, doubt, guilt, grief \u2013 out of the equation.\u201d
\u201cWhere are we going here?\u201d said Parker.
\u201cThe top floor,\u201d said Fish, pointing at the LCD display on the wall of the elevator.
\u201cI mean with this,\u201d said Parker. \u201cWhat do you want? Do you want me to tell you I\u2019m sorry? Then I am. About a lot of things, as it happens. There is so much I regret doing to people during that \u201cphase\u201d of my life. Like when-\u201c
\u201cI don\u2019t care about any of that, or any of them,\u201d said Fish. \u201cFeelings. Remember, Dickhead? I have no use for them anymore.\u201d
\u201cIf that\u2019s the case, then why are you here? It can only be for an emotional reason.\u201d
Fish wagged a pointed index finger at Parker. \u201cNow you\u2019re thinking. Clever boy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the pencil case, of course.\u201d
\u201cWell I can\u2019t give it back to you, if that\u2019s what you want,\u201d said Parker.
\u201cI get that. It\u2019s just that from time to time, it pops back into my head. Niggling little thing that makes me feel – which is a problem in and of itself – angry, sad.\u201d
\u201cI\u2019m sorry, what else do you want me to say, David?\u201d
\u201cNothing. Absolutely nothing,\u201d said Fish. \u201cPlease. Your voice sounds like fingernails being drawn down a blackboard to me.\u201d
Parker did as he was told. A bead of sweat rolled down the small of his back beneath his suit.
\u201cI actually still had the pencil case, stitched back together, mended by my mother way back when, until a couple of months ago. But I got rid of it. And you know? It actually helped a lot. Dispensed with some of those niggling feelings. Today, here and now, is about expelling the rest of them. See, feelings get in the way. Without them I\u2019m a whole lot more efficient at what I do.\u201d
\u201cAnd what, what is that?\u201d said Parker.
\u201cI told you to be quiet, Parky. But seeing as you\u2019ve asked, and you sound genuinely interested, I\u2019ll show you,\u201d said Fish.
The punch came out of the proverbial nowhere. No wind-up, no exertion on Fish\u2019s face.
Parker couldn\u2019t breathe. He clutched his throat with both hands. It felt different. Wrong. He tried to inhale but couldn\u2019t. The strength sapped out of his legs and he slid down the wall to the floor of the elevator.
Fish hunkered down in front of him. \u201cNice suit. Expensive shoes. You\u2019ve done well for yourself, Parky. Stealing other people\u2019s shit didn\u2019t do you any harm.\u201d
Darkness started to creep in like the tide at the edges of Parker\u2019s vision.
\u201cI\u2019m not happy at what I\u2019ve become,\u201d said Fish, \u201cat what you made me.\u201d He stood to his feet as the elevator doors opened. \u201cI do wonder how life will reward me now, now that I\u2019ve stolen something from you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cDo I know you?\u201d said Packer.\u201cNo, you don\u2019t,\u201d said the man.The stranger had stepped into the elevator just before the doors closed and fixed eyes on Packer. That gaze had not faltered.\u201cIt\u2019s just I swear this isn\u2019t the first time I\u2019ve seen you today,\u201c said Packer.\u201cYou would have been stupid not to,\u201d said the man. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-flash-fiction","category-short-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1386,"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356\/revisions\/1386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}