Friday nights are often more enjoyable and satisfying than the weekend.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZL5i71Bc4
Sam rests on the couch, cross-legged and drawing on a large sketch pad. It’s almost comically large when compared to his slight frame. Still, he’s quite an artist for his age, and his only gift request for his tenth birthday was a fifty-dollar mechanical pencil he had been eyeing at the crafts store.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOuPyoWIwuK
Bea emerges from her studio at Sam’s request, nearly tripping over herself as she scurried down the hall. She looks to me when she sees him sitting quietly, her glacial eyes hardening in disappointment when she realizes it’s not an emergency. I chuckle and switch off the stove. The pasta smells amazing.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdVHcKbM7X6
Pulling a head of lettuce from its bag in the fridge, I can hear my wife’s conversation with our son.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7gsSN2xKq5
“What do you need, honey?” she asks. He pauses and looks up at her with those mesmerizing mismatched eyes. Then he flips his drawing over to show her. I can’t see it from the kitchen, but I could see several light and dark streaks of graphite that sheen with the light of the lamp beside him.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEwmbyeZ8kx
“Can you show me how to draw scales? I already got the outline.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT1q0GUmdcE
Bea’s first reaction is one of astonishment and pride. She asks if she can borrow the pad for a moment to show it to me, and he nods in approval. When she shows his work to me, my response was equal to hers.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4A5kRMbdBe
On the page was a sophisticatedly-sketched western style dragon, clutching a shaded egg close to its body. Its horns, long and slender, stretch beyond the page and are covered in what appears to be a liquid of some kind, presumably blood. The dedication to minuscule detail put into his work makes my jaw drop. 95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7uFs1AKyM8
“This is awesome!” I say, scanning the piece once again. “Did you use a reference?”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwk8dYay5lI
“I saw a cartoon about dragons,” he says, shaking his head. “I like this one. He looks like a lizard. I like lizards.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAp3nXsek9Q
I smile widely at his train of thought as Bea returns the sketchbook to him. She sits beside him, assuming the same cross-legged position and borrows the pencil from his hand. She reaches over, giving a demonstration of scales on a separate page, which Sam absorbs like a sponge. Seeing them both like that is such a precious thing, it pains me to think of it all coming to an end.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHaawm92gV2
But that’s what a tragedy is, right? Unexpected. Unpredictable. Swift and sudden like an arrow in the wind. Tonight, I, John Harvey Marris, will die. I will be shot and dragged to an alleyway, leaving behind my wife, Beatriz, and my son, Samuel. All to become a national statistic. Just a cautionary number about the dangers of walking home late at night. I don’t know it yet, but in just hours, everything will fall apart—and shatter like glass.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX04oWKpkPD
I finish cutting up the lettuce and use the knife to scoot it into a large salad bowl. An amused gleam from Sam prompts me to look up at my family. Bea hands him the pencil for him to try drawing a scale, which he urgently takes. With one eye closed and his tongue poking slightly, his hand waves gracefully along the corner of a page. Bea looks up at me with brightened eyes, full of pride. Her lips are curled in a smug grin and she subtly mouths, “he gets it from me.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsG0K5ik73
I finish garnishing the salad with tomato slices, croutons, and ranch dressing and move the bowl to the dinner table. Bea rises from the couch without Sam noticing and gathers two large plates and a single, smaller dish.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuPFrmVfYfV
“How’d it go with Yvette?” she asks, splatting some pasta onto a plate. She hands it to me, and I use tongs to put the boast-worthy salad onto the other half of the platter. I do the same with Sam’s plate, which she hands me next.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfmnwyncyFw
“As good as it gets,” I smile. “She’s trying to squeeze in a meeting with the publishers, but she’s swamped already.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDOCJeLuwIU
“I get it. There must be a lot of rookies in the game these days. You should give them a shot.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKNrpnCLT2L
I nod in agreement. “That’s what I told her. I’ve already accomplished more than I ever thought I could. I say it’s time she worked with someone else a bit.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4g3SW2eNIP
Bea clicks her tongue. “Nah, you’ve become too much of an asset to lose. I mean, just look at your most recent book! Thirty thousand copies in a week? Who can do that but you?”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIFBxG2Xbqr
I can feel my face turn red. She’s had a glass of wine, which means she’s overly kind. But I’ll take a compliment from her any day.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl2O9GjbrJz
I hesitate to say the next words. “Clancy called today, too. He wanted to meet me at Goldcrest to celebrate.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qvLrq3VcC
“And you refused?”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XliobSCAu
I nod as I prepare the last plate. “I’d rather spend my weekend with you two. It’s been a rough week for all of us.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuK99zkM4na
Bea scoffed. “True enough. But John, you should go celebrate. I’m sure he’d like to know you haven’t forgotten him with all the fame.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZ8vkONlyX
I suddenly feel the urge to scratch the nape of my neck. “The only reason he’s still my friend is because of you.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7MOdAyX02
She laughs and says, “Oh, come on, now. This again?”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Kj0WNFksj
“It’s true. Ever since college, he’s tried to make his move. Then we happened… all I know is that he can’t stand me.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOc6nw0UiQ
Bea jokingly purrs. “Jealousy looks good on you. But I’m not taking no for an answer. Why don’t you meet him after dinner? It’s only five, after all.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ofXgvX8FY
I sigh and accept the fate. “All right, you win.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrKZ6mwx0OW
“I always do.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUx9Z2r1YN
That exchange marks the end for me. By eight o’clock tonight, I’ll be forced to my knees, begging for my life. I’ll look at the pictures in my wallet one last time before my attacker snatches it from a panicked hand. But his voice will be familiar. Deep down, I will realize who has played judge, jury, and executioner. It will be too late.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBij4PEzxhF
However, my death is only a means to an end. I know there’s far more to it than a simple trigger squeeze. Something else will happen; something I can’t fully explain. I will not die, but I will be “shifted” somewhere. I foreign place, alien to me. And perhaps I will finally answer the age-old question asked by many over the years.
What happens when the person you’d take a bullet for is the one pulling the trigger?95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjNKcQwX0i
