Monday, January 11, 2016

Story Seed - Last Goodbye

The door opened and Graham looked up to the the silhouette of a distinctly feminine form in in the window of light. He cocked his sixgun, the sound broke the silence almost like the gunshot it foreshadowed. "Hi Graham, 'bout time you came to see me," McKenna said as she entered the room. Graham didn't say a word. "Fine, fine, I get it. You're here to kill me. Course if you really had the guts you'd have pulled the trigger already. So what is it you are here for? Gonna pay off your debt to me? It's rather high after what you did to Chuckles." She tsk'ed, "Honestly, shooting him in the back like that. I thought you had better moral character than that."

Graham barked a harsh laugh at that, "Moral fiber; like you'd know anything about it." He flipped the light on with his left hand, "I seem to recall you have been as devious as a snake since you were in pigtails." He shook his head, "I'll kill ya if I need to Kate, but all things being equal I'd just assume you drop this bounty thing and we go our separate ways."

"Why mister McKenna, you are ever the romantic," she smirked, and Graham thought he could see a genuine touch of smile on her face. "I never thought that the great Graham McKenna would stoop to re-negotiating a deal at gunpoint, but maybe there's hope for you yet." She walked closer until he raised his gun, with an obvious look that told her any further would be dangerous. "If you want to call it square you'll want the contract, I assume, so you can destroy it. So if you'd be a peach you'll let me get at my safe so I can get that for you."

"Don't work that way this time. You've burned me for the last time." Graham pulled a pair of ionized binders off the table to his left and tossed them to his ex, "Put those on, then tell me the code for your lockbox."

"You thought of everything I guess. OK, I'll play. I always did like you best when you took charge." As Graham laughed bitterly she locked the binders to her wrists. "It's over there, behind the painting. The code is our anniversary."

Graham stood up and moved to the painting, it was a seascape, one he'd given her oh so many years before just after they had been married. "You're a real piece of work," he said as he keyed in the code. The safe popped open and Graham rifled through the papers inside for the contract. "Ah, and here it is. Most damned fool thing I ever did after wedding you." He tore the papers to shreds.

"So that's it then? The last of our ties severed. What's next?"

Graham turned and looked at Kate, he noted that a tear was running down her cheek. "Croc tears? That's unbecoming of you."

"Whatever you may think Graham I loved you, and maybe I still do. You're the one who left, the one who cheated, and welshed, and broke his commitments."

"Yeah. I do that." The gun thundered.

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