Submarine: Pills
Click
Piece of shit jammed on me.
You sure you didn’t just empty out that motherfucker?
Man, I don’t know. I don’t even know how to check really. I shouldn’t have even brought this gun. I wanted to bring Lucille but you were beeping and stuff-
Don’t put that on me. You knew what time I was coming to pick your ass up. Don’t act like it’s my fault you were rushing as usual.
Nathaniel was laying on the floor bleeding, crying….. dying. Popcorn stepped over him.
Show me how to release the clip again.
Are you being for real right now?
Yeah, motherfucker show me how to get the clip out, man. Why you always gotta make you ask you twice for shit, damn.
Look, gimme here.
Congo, the big one put his gun between his knees, barrel up, while he took the rifle from Popcorn and easily slide the empty clip out. See? Empty. You just spray motherfuckers without looking. Here, with your sloppy ass.
Popcorn gives him a look that says, fuck with me again, go ahead I dare you. He mutters something under his breath, something I can’t make out but I’m sure he’s talking shit. It doesn’t matter, I gotta move. Still on my stomach I crawl towards the shadowy area of the barn. They’re really fighting now because all I hear is bitch this and bitch that and a couple I’ll fuck you ups. I belly crawl away making sure I don’t make as much noise as they do.
Nathaniel is still crying, bleeding and dying. I can see smoke coming out of the hole in his belly. I’ve seen this before, it doesn’t end well.
Will you shut the fuck up? with your nappy ass beard. This is Popcorn talking now. He’s always talking, that one. He’s the one that punched me in the face this morning, the one that kicked me in the nuts after he broke my nose. The one that shot Nathaniel in the stomach for not knowing what he was talking about. For not knowing about the pills. I remember his laugh.
Here, take this. Congo, the big guy pulls out a shiny pistol from his waistband. Don’t lose it. I got that 75 years ago or maybe it was last week.
They both cackle. Inside joke
Looking down at Nathaniel Popcorn speaks. I’m going to ask you again and you might as well tell me the truth because your ass is going die in a few anyway. Where are the pills?
Nathaniel tries to answer. He tries to tell them he doesn’t know about any pills. That he told him everything he already knows which is nothing. And why did he shoot him? Why did he kill him when they don’t even know each other? Why?
One of the great things about having kids is when they’re a baby, a real little baby; there are moments when you see the entire spectrum of human emotion flash across their face in a matter of seconds. Looking at Nathaniel now, it’s the same thing only I see fear, regret, anger and then nothing.
Standing over Nathaniel laughing and carrying on about someone who had said something to someone about something Congo and Popcorn didn’t notice Nathaniel’s last moments as a person. They didn’t have the privilege of seeing Nathaniel realize he was slipping away. That the hole in his stomach stopped hurting and his eyes were giving in to a deep, deep, sleep. At the very end he said something. He said something but nobody heard.
Screaming from the house. Martha.
Tell me old man where are the muthafucking pills?
Why you yelling at a dead man? Can't you see his ass is dead?
Aw what the fuck.
I’m telling you, your ass crazy.
More screaming from the house. Martha.
They cackle again not hearing or not caring about the screaming. Martha.
On my belly I crawl deeper in the shadows. I want to get away not just from Popcorn, Congo and what’s his face in the house with Martha but from Nathaniel and the look of sadness and regret on his still face. From the smell of blood and burnt flesh, from the sounds of Martha’s screams, from my broken nose and my swollen nuts. I think of my son. I think of my boy. I think of being with him. Wanting to hold him and tell him that it’s ok. That it will all be ok. To please, just take the pills. Please be careful what you do with them, be careful who you show them to.
Screaming from the house. Martha. Martha.
He ain’t talkin.
Not no more he ain’t.
More cackling from these two.
This is Popcorn talking now. Let’s bounce. We gotta find that other motherfucker. The one I fucked up this morning? He’ the one we’re looking for. Talking to Nathaniel he says I thought it was you but I was wrong. I guess you didn’t know what I was talking about. haHA!
What I tell you? Talking to dead people means you crazy. You crazy.
Popcorn cackles and slaps Nathaniel in his dead face.
Let’s go, man. I need to get back to my REAL TIME, I’m tired of this shit. I’m starting to feel sick.
That’s what happens when you don’t know what you’re doing. When you just bounce around time swallowing what doesn’t belong to you. I’m standing now, a few feet from them and Nathaniel. Congo is the first to speak
Quit playing, I’m sick. Give us the pills.
More screaming from the house. This time it’s not just Martha.
There are no pills you dumb ass. That’s what I was trying to tell you before. They make you swallow them when you first get here. The time released capsules know when you’re time is up and it’s wind chime city. Boom, you’re gone.
Popcorn, the little one stood a few feet from me holding a very sharp, very shiny knife. The big one, the one they called Congo from the mean streets of Skokie, IL with his shaved head, fair skin and hazel eyes fell to his knees in agony.
My friend needs to bounce back to his time and place and you need to quit playin’ with me and get me my pills.
His eyes dart back and forth between me and his little brother Congo.
What’s happening to him?
He’s got to go home
The house is on fire but we don’t’ notice. Windows shatter from the heat I suppose. I hear screaming from the house but it's not Martha.
I feel weird, Popcorn. I feel really weird. I feel like-
A really nice warm breeze came from the house fire blew Congo away mid-sentence. It was startling how sudden it was. Both Popcorn and I looked at where Congo was standing just a half second ago but he was gone. The wind blew him out like a candle and now he was no more.
In the second I had to look at Popcorn I saw the full spectrum of human emotions flash across his face. Then he was gone too.
I sit and watch the house burn to the ground. Martha didn’t get out but neither did what’s his face and that makes me smile. Everyone is dead except for me but that doesn’t mean I can skip my chores. I wait for the house to burn to the ground then I rebuild.
It’s lonely now without Martha and Nathaniel but I’ll keep busy and that helps till I hear the wind chimes again.










